Customer Reviews

Murder On The Danube: A Robbie Cutler Diplomatic Mystery

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The author knows Hungary, her people and their oft-tried emotions, aspirations, accomplishments,failings and history, thus their character. He blends this knowledge with extraordinary skill into the background of an intriguing murder mystery. The story is exciting, unique, placed in Hungary before, during, and after its revolution of 1956. Murder on the Danube addresses the question how a newly liberated nation deals with corruption, betrayal, with newly acquired freedom and love, all ingredients of tragedy. But Murder on the Danube is more than a story of a murder. The examination of the difference between the basic tenets of closed and democratic societies through confrontations between the political officer of the American Embassy of Budapest and Communist Hungarian government officials is just as revealing as the scrutiny of the motivations for the murder itself. Mr. Shepard masterfully employs his diplomatic experience in Hungary and elsewhere in creating a story, which is not only entertains superbly but also educates about the intricate diplomatic efforts that resulted in the liberation of Eastern Europe. The circumstances, the pain, oppression that Hungary and other nations in Eastern Europe had to endure and the joy, difficulties and challenges of freedom in the later part of the twentieth century are known by Mr. Shepard not from second hand analysis but on the ground observation. I know that, I was in Hungary at that time. You will agree with me after you close the book and realize that the night is over, it is time to prepare to go to work. You lost a good night sleep but you were entertained exquisitely and your understanding of a distant part of the world is clearer. Be ready for this experience, read Murder on the Danube.

Robbie Cutler, Diplomat and finder of the hidden Freedom Fighters of Hungry. An easy read, a must read, after Consular Tales and Vintage Murder. Mr. Shepard's experiences as a diplomat is obvious through-out his writings. Believeable and exciting tales. Murder on the Danube should show up on the big screen real soon.

Wow! The first work of fiction from the author of the real-life Consular Tales gives us a fast-paced history/mystery set in modern Budapest with breathtaking flashbacks to the harrowing hours of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, told through the eyes of a group of students who took part. The surviving Freedom Fighters are now successful businesspeople, and are gathering to meet for the first time in 35 years. But before they can do so, one is murdered - by sabre! It falls to likeable Foreign Service officer Robbie Cutler to investigate. Suspense and human interest combine in a thoroughly exciting tale. The author is a career foreign service officer, and he knows his ground. I'm impressed. Could this be the start of a series?

William Shepard has done it again; he's turned out another Robbie Cutler page-turner. Murder on the Danube tells two stories, one from the past and one current. Shepard masterfully weaves both tales together. His diplomatic detective Cutler must solve a murder committed during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. I love books that teach me about history in such a way I feel as if I were there. After reading Murder on the Danube, I have a greater appreciation for this time in history. Now I have added another place on my must-travel list. Shepard does an excellent job in describing this intriguing setting. Check it out and see for yourself!

The first 50 pages are just about impossible to read...and it manages to get worse. Unlikeable characters, stilted dialogue, tedious details, implausible plot twists -- this book has it all. I actually wanted all the characters to get murdered!

But, what do you really expect from a vanity press?