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Requiem in Vienna: A Viennese Mystery

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In 1899 at the Vienna Court Opera, a blazing curtain falls from above barely missing the famous director Gustav Mahler, but hits and kills a performer standing near the renowned composer-conductor. This is not the first incident apparently aimed at Gustav though this is the first deadly assault.

Private inquirer Karl Werthen is hired to keep Mahler safe and uncover who the stalker is before this person succeeds in his or her deadly intent. With his pregnant wife Berthe insisting on helping Karl, he also asks criminologist Hanns Gross to join the investigation into the deadly incident, previous threats and new accidental attacks that seem to target Mahler. Their inquiry leads to music rivalries starting with the composer Richard Wagner and with anti-Semitism though Mahler is a former Jew.

Requiem in Vienna is a superb historical mystery that uses the terrific private investigation as a springboard to present life in Vienna at the turn of the last century. The story line is fast-paced as Karl worries about his beloved Berthe who insists on being part of the inquiry team while working through the mud of the music world, which proves no waltz. Fans who prefer a strong historical presence in their mysteries will enjoy this delightful whodunit.

Harriet Klausner

Famous music composer and conductor, Gustav Mahler is preparing for a new musical production. Unfortunately, someone does not want the show to go on. Maestro Mahler's leading lady and lover becomes the victim of a horrible accident on set during rehearsals. It seems that Mahler was the target. One of Mahler's other lover's Alma Schindler fears for Mahler's life. She turns to private investigator, Karl Werthen for help. Mr. Werthen brings his old friend and criminologist, Hanns Gross in on the case. Together Werthen and Gross hope to solve the mystery before it is too late.

Requiem in Vienna is the second book in the Viennese mystery series. It can be read and enjoyed as a stand alone novel. As I was reading this book, I couldn't help but feel hints of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The author of the famed Sherlock Holmes mysteries. This is a good thing, because I really loved Sherlock Holmes stories. This was one of my reasons for liking this genre. It is refreshing to find another author who could rise to the level of Sir Doyle. Mr. Jones brought to life the city of Vienna as well as his characters and storyline. This book draws you in bit by bit. I like that Mr. Jones incorporates fiction with one or two real people. True mystery fans will fall in love with this book...as I did!

Requiem in Vienna, the second in Mr. Jones' Viennese Mystery series, shows once again the same thorough, historical grounding of fin de siecle Vienna. He shows a surer grasp of his characters, which is natural since he, too, is getting to know them better. Gross' ego and self confidence contrasts nicely with Werthen's lack of experience in the investigation game. Werthen and his wife Berthe are evolving as well, showing a more complex dynamic in their relationship. The cast of notables appear in a very logical way. The famous are not just forced into a scene. To us, especially Americans, the historical figures of the Vienna of the day are pretty much unknown. So it is good to learn of Alma Mahler, whose own history is better than fiction, and of Karl Kraus, who just about single handedly wrote his literary newletter, Die Fackel/The Torch for thirty years and comes across as a delightful combination of Mark Twain and San Francisco's Herb Caen. Kraus, especially, should be able to pop up in succeeding stories since he seems to have his finger on the pulse of society. Sorting out which character is historical and learning a bit more of them is most enjoyable and gives an added bonus to the story. The mystery itself (which does its job of keeping us guessing until the end) gives the author opportunity to throw in some wonderful historical tid-bits such as Brahms' musical coding, the inner workings of the Opera of the time, the last days of Johanne Strauss. A lot of serious research was done for this. For "Vienna-philes" it's another journey back to a lost world. Hopefully, there will be more.

Vienna 1899. At the Hofoper, the Court Opera, a fire curtain falls, the conductor's podium collapses. Clearly, someone is trying to kill Gustav Mahler, the greatest conductor of his day. A beautiful young woman, Alma Schindler, who has a crush on the maestro, enlists the aid of attorney and criminal investigator, Karl Werthen, to find the culprit. But, could it be that Mahler is not the only target? Could the villain be trying to kill all the great names of Viennese music, Johann Strauss and Brahms amongst them?

Fin de siecle Vienna is the star of this thoroughly engaging mystery. The author know his stuff about this famous period of outstanding creativity, and peppers his mystery with hisotrically relevant detail from the musical life of the city, to its cafe life and food. If you love the Vienna of this period, this novel is definitely for you. The characters are engaging, including Werthen's feminist wife Berthe, and the plot does not disappoint. I was totally fooled by the author's red herrings.

If you enjoy Sherlock Holmes, you will enjoy this thriller set in old Vienna. Syd Jones' own experience living in Vienna comes through in the lively and detailed descriptions of streudels and cakes, zweibelrostbraten, narrow, cobble-stoned streets echoing with the passing of fiakers, and elegantly-dressed opera-goers as his heros solve the mystery of who is trying to kill Vienna's most famous composer. "The small, tangled world of Viennese music and musicians," as Jones writes, comes alive as the plot twists, turns and thickens.

Requiem in Vienna is J. Sydney Jones' second novel featuring Dr. Hans Gross and Karl Werthen - the Austrian version of Holmes and Watson if you were. Set at the turn of the 20th Century Werthen is enlisted by the young lady Alma Schindler to look into a series of "accidents" involving Gustav Mahler. Schindler believes these to be more than mere coincidence. Werthen having expanded his law practice beyond wills and trusts to now also include criminal law and private inquiries takes the case. After his initial interview with Mahler it is Mahler who then hires Werthen to handle some amendments to his will. Both are convinced that the accidents are merely that. However the next one gets Mahler's and Werthen's attention while Hans Gross pays Werthen a visit during his leave from Frans Joseph University where he is setting up a department of criminology. Together with Werthen's wife Berthe Meisner they follow an interesting trail through the contentious world of Vienna's music scene of the day in an attempt to discover who is making these attempts on Mahler's life. Jones does a good job of pacing the novel so that readers will stay interested but not be likely to guess the ending.

There are many similarities to Jones' prior novel The Empty Mirror. Readers will find liberal use of German words in the text. If you read The Empty Mirror or any of Frank Talis' novels, you will find Requiem in Vienna on par. Jones uses many real figures from historic Vienna such as Hans Rott and Johann Strauss in additional to Mahler and Gross. However I was pleased that Jones tightened up his narrative this time. The historical angle didn't feel as forced as it did in The Empty Mirror. The slowly building boil of Anti-Semitism present in both Jones and Talis' novels also plays an important part in the story.

This second installment gives hope that Werthen and Gross will be staples for years to come in Viennese mysteries. I look forward to seeing what Jones comes up with next time.

Overall: B+

A fire curtain that falls during rehearsal. A podium that collapses. A cup of tea that is diluted with paint thinner. Taken separately, each of these incidents seems to be accidental. Together, however, they pose a threat to the unfortunate soul they are directed at - which happens to be famed composer and conductor Gustav Mahler.

The year is 1899 and Mahler's tenure at the Vienna Hofoper is in full swing. The demanding director doesn't feel that there have been threats on his life, but one of his devotees, young dilettante Alma Schindler, seems to think that the incidents are attempts at murdering the composer. Schindler contacts lawyer Karl Werthen to investigate the events to find a connection and a killer. Initially reluctant to see the accidents as anything more than bad luck, Karl changes his mind and is helped in his investigation by criminalist Hans Gross, a friend with whom he had worked a previous case, and his new wife, Berthe.

Werthen and Gross begin at the opera house, where it seems Mahler has made several enemies. His new way of directing is seen by some as being too modern, while others are simply angry that a Jew has been promoted to such a high position. While the two focus on the world of Vienna opera, Karl's wife Berthe begins exploring Mahler's past. What she uncovers is a series of events that include the famous rivalry between Wagner and Brahms, tales of love gone wrong, and a man who claims Mahler plagarized his work.

When the investigation moves to the country, the attempts at Mahler's life become more critical. Soon after, a mysterious note arrives at Werthen's office claiming that other famous composers who have recently died were also murdered. Is Mahler merely the most recent victim? Who is trying to kill him? Someone upset by his actions in the present? Or is the key to the mystery in the conductor's past?

In "Requiem in Vienna", J. Sydney Jones once again mixes the historical (with characters such as Mahler, Hans Gross, and Alma Schindler) and the mysterious into an intriguing web of fiction. While it wasn't as exciting as its predecessor, "The Empty Mirror", this book is a delectable mystery that has great action until the final page.

J. Sydney Jones's Viennese mystery series is reminiscent of the novels by Frank Tallis set during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Both authors incorporate historical figures into their fiction; both wax ecstatic about Vienna's rich cultural life and cuisine; both allude to the virulent anti-Semitism that presaged the horrors to come with the rise of Nazism. Vienna's mayor, Karl Lueger, is an avowed enemy of the Jews. Both Jones and Tallis have protagonists who moonlight. In the Tallis books, Max Liebermann, a Freudian psychologist, helps Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt solve homicides. In Jones's "Requiem in Vienna," a follow-up to "The Empty Mirror," lawyer Karl Werthen teams up with his friend, criminalist Dr. Hans Gross, to investigate a series of murders and try to prevent Gustav Mahler, director of the Court Opera, from becoming the next victim. The sleuths are ostensibly cooperating with the police, but the burden of the investigation falls on Werthen and Gross.

Mahler, known as "the drill sergeant," is not universally beloved. Although Mahler is a creative genius, he is also a perfectionist and a martinet who eviscerates inferior musical compositions, instrumental performances, and singing efforts. One day, he bullies a young mezzo named Grethe Kaspar who is rehearsing for her role in Wagner's Lohengrin. "You're singing like you're calling in the pigs for slops," the director shouts at her. Kaspar burst into tears, and shortly thereafter, a terrible accident occurs. Someone has made an attempt on Mahler's life, with tragic consequences. Who wants him dead and why? A nineteen year-old-woman, Alma Schindler, who is besotted with Mahler, asks Karl to look into the matter, especially since the police do not take the threat to Mahler seriously.

The year is 1899, and Advokat Werthern is newly married to his beloved Berthe, a beautiful, intelligent, and independent woman. After recovering from a dueling injury, Karl realizes that he is bored with wills and trusts, the bread and butter of his practice, and decides that he would like to return to criminal law and branch out into private inquiries. Although Werthen and Gross spend an inordinate amount of time drinking fine wines and smacking their lips over "succulent fried bits of onion and beef" followed by linzer tortes, they also manage to scrutinize the long list of people who might want to do Mahler in. They interview witnesses, follow up on promising leads, and turn to a number of people, including Berthe, a knowledgeable journalist named Kraus, and various acquaintances of Mahler, to help them understand this complicated case's many nuances.

"A Requiem in Vienna" is a step-up from "The Empty Mirror." The author, who knows Vienna inside and out, includes delightful details about this cosmopolitan and colorful locale. The plot is involving, the dialogue sharp, and the conclusion, eminently satisfying. Jones has fun with his material, lacing his text with delightful humor and satire. He pokes fun at the Viennese obsession with opera, the fierce competition between musicians, the power of the monarchy, and the tendency of the citizenry to gossip about which luminary is bedding whom. In addition, although Jones skillfully handles the puzzle about who is out to get Mahler, he does not neglect Karl's and Berthe's relationship; the newlyweds still have one or two issues to work out. "A Requiem in Vienna" succeeds as a character study, a story of crime and punishment, and a riveting look back at Vienna's splendid musical heritage.

I was so happy that Mr. Leighton Gage to suggested this author to me...The books are similar to Calab Carr, in the fact they are historical mysteries, and the characters are wonderful..I hope he continues with the series of Wertham and Gross..the description of the two are such that you can see them , along with experiencing seeing the landscapes of the various areas depicted in the books, plus I feel as if I am sitting at the table with them eating...I only hope Mr. Jones continues in this style of wonderful, wonderful writing.

Yesterday I was sitting in the home of Gustav Mahler, current conductor at the Vienna Court Opera House, near a glorious Bosendorfer grand piano. A tall woman dressed in a long white gown is playing Bach. It is the summer of 1899.

Advokat Karl Werthen, one of the few fictional characters in Jones' mysteries, is looking into a series of incidents surrounding Mahler's current performances: a young mezzo soprano crushed by a fallen asbestos curtain and a suspicious hanging death of the third violinist. He has been hired by a charming Alma Schindler to investigate these incidents and more personal attacks against Gustav Mahler, the renown composer and youngest conductor at the Hofoper. Werthen is soon joined by his sidekick in Jones' first Viennese mystery, the real-life Dr. Hanns Gross, the father of modern criminology.

The action, the tour of fin de sicle Vienna, begins at the funeral of Johann Strauss at the Zentralfriedhof, the Central Cemetary, the largest and most famous of Vienna's almost fifty cemetaries. The funeral cortege has consisted of eight carriages of flowers. the hearse drawn by four gray Lippizanners.

Later Werthen and Gross interview the likely suspects. The men behind the curtain: Hans Richter, the former conductor at the Hofoper; Leitner, the financial director; and Siegfried Blauer, the stage manager. The music critics including Everhard Hassler, the anti-Semitic, and Edward Hanslick, a stauch enemy of the new music; the head claqueur of the time, Peter Schreier, whom Mahler has banned from his performances (he has no need for professional applauders): and Karl Kraus, a most interesting journalist and young writer of The Torch magazine. The detective duo interview the members of Mahler's household including his sister Justine who has been disinherited and his faithful companion, Natalie Bauer-Lechner, and the friends and enemies of Mahler's student days at the Austrian Conservatory including Hugo Wolf, who accuses Mahler of plagarism.

Jones' novel touches on the political side of the era: the Jewish-driven renaissance of musicians and the Brahms-Wagner controversy. And the Austrian food sounds delicious: wild boar with red currant sauce, coffee with sclag obers and a linzer torte, a spicy goulash served with new potatoes and a famous Viennese pastry.

After Mahler survives arsenic poisoning in his Turkish delights imported from Istanbul, the killer is discovered ... before a performance of Tannhauser.

Requiem in Vienna is a satisfying and didactic mystery. Highly recommended.