A Death in Vienna (Liebermann Papers, #1)

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A Death in Vienna (Liebermann Papers #1)

3.65 of 5 stars 3.65 · rating details · 864 ratings · 147 reviews

In 1902, elegant Vienna is the city of the new century, the center of discoveries in everything from the writing of music to the workings of the human mind. But now a brutal homicide has stunned its citizens and appears to have bridged the gap between science and the supernatural. Two very different sleuths from opposite ends of the spectrum will need to combine their tale...more

Paperback, 471 pages

Published May 8th 2007 by Random House Trade Paperbacks (first published 2005)

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Oct 21, 2012 Sara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It's refreshing to read of a time in history when guys got together to play and sing Schubert lieder for fun! This is the pastime of Dr. Max Lieberman, psychoanalyst, and his detective friend, Oskar Rheinhardt...they are good musicians too, one can tell by their chosen repertoire and the way they talk about music. Truly skilled amateurs are a thing of the past...
A beautiful blond medium has been mysteriously murdered and Rheinhardt must discover not only the perpetrator but how the murder was ac...more

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Aug 17, 2011 Jeffrey added it

Shelves: mysteries

It would sound snarky if I said, "This is a novel about a man who uses psychoanalysis to fight crime," but, well, it is. The story centers on two characters working together to solve a puzzling murder: Oskar Rheinhardt, a detective in the Viennese police force (and a gentile), and Max Liebermann, a young Jewish physician who treats hysterics and has an active interest in the new ideas of Freud (who makes a couple of brief appearances).

At first, I found the novel somewhat difficult going. The des...more It would sound snarky if I said, "This is a novel about a man who uses psychoanalysis to fight crime," but, well, it is. The story centers on two characters working together to solve a puzzling murder: Oskar Rheinhardt, a detective in the Viennese police force (and a gentile), and Max Liebermann, a young Jewish physician who treats hysterics and has an active interest in the new ideas of Freud (who makes a couple of brief appearances).

At first, I found the novel somewhat difficult going. The descriptions are probably too long (e.g., the detailed accounts of people's desserts, which are referred to by their German names), and Tallis has a tendency to use similes that are not so much overwrought as pedantic (i.e., relatively arcane words used in extremely and at times comically specific descriptions). The repeated suggestions early in the novel, by both the characters and the narrator, that the crime may have been supernatural are just annoying, since the reader knows that if the solution is "A demon did it," this is a terrible mystery.

But as I read on, the novel grew on me. The portrait of Viennese society and politics became better, and I rather liked the details of Liebermann's struggles with his supervisor at the hospital (as well as the appearances by Freud, which are nicely done by the author--he neither puffs Freud up to something larger than life nor makes any crude or obvious effort to humble him). What at first seemed like the most conventional and pointless of subplots, Liebermann's courtship and proposal to a family friend, turns out to develop into an increasingly complicated and subtle story. I also enjoyed the detection part of the novel, though the ending is unnecessarily (and unconvincingly) dramatic, I'm pretty sure Tallis stole the solution from an episode of CSI.

I wasn't entirely sure what to think of the parts of the novel involving psychoanalysis. At times the explanations of psychoanalytic theory were lucid and interesting, but I was surprised by how stagey Liebermann's use of it often was: hypnosis, what seems like a miracle cure of hysterical paralysis and the emergence of a secondary personality, dream analysis that proves, to Liebermann, a character's innocence, etc.

So, overall I liked this book quite a bit, and am looking forward to reading the next in the series. The mystery is good, and even better is the evocation of the cultural and intellectual life of turn-of-the-century Vienna, where radical liberal and scientific ideas ran up against quasi-medieval political authority and anti-Semitism. I especially liked the nuanced presentation of the early dissemination of Freud's ideas and Liebermann's somewhat ambivalent attitude toward them (as well as toward Freud himself), even as he is totally unambivalent in his rejection of the contemporary medical orthodoxy.(less)

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May 29, 2008 E rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: history buffs, Freud fans, mystery readers

Shelves: mystery-detective-fiction, historical-fiction

I enjoyed this detective novel set in Freud's Vienna. Main characters are Detective Rheinhardt and psychologist Dr. Max Liebermann, both on the forward edge of innovations in their fields. The psychologist applies "talk therapy," hypnotism and dream analysis to unravel clues, working with the detective and his sidekick. Freud has a cameo and is presented with respectful humor. Most interesting is the setting of the book in turn-of-the-19th-century Vienna, including its growing anti-Semitism, wit...more

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Apr 05, 2010 Writerlibrarian rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1900s, april-pile, atwi80, mystery, read2010

The murder mystery is not *that* interesting but the setting is wonderful. Really. It has some of my favourite things mixed in an historical murder mystery. So it has birth of psychoanalysis lit (Freud, Vienna 1902), the hero is a young Jewish Doctor, a fan of Professor Freud. We have Vienna, 1902, music (Beethoven, Mahler, Strauss, Chopin) both our hero and his counter part in the police are music lovers. We have Vienna, 1902, and the 14th Secession exhibition, dedicated to Beethoven. Klimt, Kl...more

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Mar 04, 2009 Tony rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-crime-detection

Tallis, Frank. A DEATH IN VIENNA. (2005). ****. This was the first novel in what is now a series by this author featuring Dr. Liebermann (not to be confused with Kaminski’s Liebermann) as the psychologist/sleuth in an unusual murder in turn-of-the-century Vienna. Don’t confuse the title with Daniel Silva’s novel of the same name, either. They are very different books. This period in Vienna saw the emergence of the city, under Franz Joseph, into the modern age. The city was becoming electrified....more

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Mar 21, 2013 Dave Freas rated it 3 of 5 stars

With a few exceptions, I am not a fan of historical mysteries or books set outside the U. S.

This is not just a mystery. It is more complex than that. Tallis weaves several story lines throughout the book. At first they seem to have no bearing on the main plot, but as the novel progresses, several slowly weave into that mystery while others only peripherally relate and a few are unresolved by the end, providing an inducement for the reader to pick up the next book in the series.

Tallis does an exc...more

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Sep 15, 2012 Nancy Day rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

OK, I have to say I just finished a Jo Nesbo novel before this one, so I was on a whirlwind of suspense and not quite ready for a slow-moving, old-fashioned Victorian novel. But I could have adjusted if this book had been better.

So here's what I liked about this book: Nice historical details, particularly about Freud's personality (which I assume are true, since the author is a psychologist) and the art nouveau innovations (which I looked up on Wikipedia and was quite impressed). Also, the writ...more

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Nov 16, 2011 Marfita rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people too timid for Caleb Carr

Shelves: mysteries, period-mystery

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. ** spoiler alert ** This mystery steeps the reader in Sigmund Freud's Vienna, with its Riesenrad, Torten, and undercurrent of antisemitism. A beautiful but manipulative medium is murdered in a most ingenious way: a locked room! no bullet! a mysterious ancient Egyptian whatsis! Detective Rheinhardt needs help and so turns to his friend and piano accompanist, Herr Doctor Max Liebermann.
Although I really enjoyed the book, I thought the mystery was too outlandish and the climax forced. Yes, yes, yes...more

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Jan 22, 2011 Monica Carter rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: international-thrillers

A Death in Vienna by Brit writer Frank Tallis is a thriller that is palatable, meant for those who like their thrillers civilized and steeped in intellect. It’s a polite whodunit with an added mystery of how’dtheydunit and filled with all the hat-tipping and decorum that has fallen tragically by the wayside in today’s society. A historical thriller set in turn-of-the-century Vienna, this is a novel that takes the marks of that era and place--Freud and Mozart--and uses them as a backdrop for a ca...more A Death in Vienna by Brit writer Frank Tallis is a thriller that is palatable, meant for those who like their thrillers civilized and steeped in intellect. It’s a polite whodunit with an added mystery of how’dtheydunit and filled with all the hat-tipping and decorum that has fallen tragically by the wayside in today’s society. A historical thriller set in turn-of-the-century Vienna, this is a novel that takes the marks of that era and place--Freud and Mozart--and uses them as a backdrop for a case that centers around a supernatural murder. Charlotte Lowenstein, a medium that holds séances on Thursday even with a select and motley group of devout followers, is found dead by a gunshot wound in her room. The mysterious elements are that there is no exit wound and that the room was locked from the inside preventing any viable means of escape for the murderer.

Oskar Rheinhardt, a local police detective, is called upon to investigate the case. What makes this particular thriller interesting is that it doesn’t lend itself to easily to the mystery/thriller formula because Tallis, a psychologist himself, brings in a psychologist to help solve the puzzling factors of the murder of Fraulein Lowenstein. This may not seem all that unusual, but the historical confluence of the supernatural and psychology in their infancy makes this an interesting read. Lieberman, who is a contemporary of Freud, discusses with facility the possibility of what the motivations of each suspect would or wouldn’t be. And because the supernatural deals in the realm of the abstract, much like psychology, there is a intellectual pull at the reader to consider the possible options for murder that may not seem plausible. Rheinhardt poses as the pragmatic voice:

“I believe,” said Rheinhardt, selecting his words with utmost care, “we should only consider a supernatural explanation when all other explanations have been eliminated.”

Lieberman is not, per se, a believer in the supernatural but he is a scientist at heart with the mind as his area of study so he doesn’t rule out the supernatural because it is a reality that the mind creates. Lieberman is an obviously talented man who can suss out psychological motivations for just about any quirk of human behavior. For instance, on Thursday nights, Lieberman and Rheinhardt share a musical evening in which Lieberman plays the piano and Rheinhardt sings. One particular evening Lieberman notices that his friend is preoccupied and is able to figure out that the reason is because of the murdered Fraulein Lowenstein without having knowledge of the murder:

“So, how did I give myself away this time?”

“Earlier this evening,” began Lieberman, “we were discussing Schubert and you unintentionally confused the ‘Death and the Maiden’ string quartet with ‘The Trout’ quintet! Now, I know for a fact that you are very familiar with the Schubert repertoire. So I considered that the mistake, the slip of the tongue, was significant. Being, as you are a detective inspector, the kind of death that naturally preoccupies you most is a murder. The term ‘maiden’ implies youth and beauty…Putting all this together, I inferred the influence of the unconscious memory. An unconscious memory of a murdered young woman.”

Rheinhardt shook his head in disbelief. “All right. But what about the blood--the blood on the blue dress? How did you work that out?”

“When we were performing the Hugo Wolf song-- ‘Auf dem See’--you stumbled over the word ‘blood’ on both renditions. I took this to be confirmation of my earlier speculation. When I asked you just now what you intended to buy your wife on your wedding anniversary, you said a dress. But you couldn’t, at first, remember the color of the material that her dressmaker had recommended, however, some time later, you were able to say that is was blue. I took this to mean that the idea of the blue dress was being repressed.”

This would definitely disturb me if I had a friend who knew what was happening in my life without my consciously divulging anything. Obviously, Tallis uses his skills as a psychologist to a heighten the tension of the novel and with a pleasing effect. Playing with the idea of association and verbal miscues is a original take on the use of psychology in thrillers. Tallis’ particular talent and his penchant for historical accuracy makes for a solid combination of creating a high-brow thriller that doesn’t lag or pile up murders when the plot begins to slacken.

The other complementary aspect of A Death in Vienna is his writing style. Erudite and fluid, it helps set the tone of the period and of the more intellectual tenor that Tallis invokes. This thriller also comes with a plethora of varied characters from opium addicts to sexual victims to moneyed society folk. At times, it reminded me of Murder on the Orient Express with its healthy cast of bizarre characters and the unexpected turns in plot.

And if the novel weren’t compelling enough, there is a dossier after the novel where Tallis writes an essay about the presence of Freud and his presence in psychological thrillers and detective fiction. I found this as fascinating as the novel itself and think that there is definitely a non-fiction book ready made for this topic. This is the kind of thriller that reads like literary fiction but will be accessible for books groups and almost all fans of well-written thrillers.
(less)

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Mar 25, 2010 Emily rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010

You can tell that this is a first novel, especially in the way the author sticks to short scenes, but the character and milieu are promising; I'll read the sequels. The protagonist is Max Liebermann, a Vienna psychiatrist circa 1902; he spends his evenings smoking cigars and playing the piano to accompany his friend, baritone and Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt. Naturally Rheinhardt ends up with a murder that he can't solve without drawing on Liebermann's expertise. A famous medium has been...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Neiya rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I Love this book so much!!! Penyakit mental memang selalu menarik ya? Latar belakang sebagai pemicu awal dari penyakit itu yang lebih menarik tepatnya.
Adalah Dr. Max Libermann yang seorang psikiater muda yang digambarkan ganteng ini dalam buku dikisahkan hidup di sekitar awal abad 21an kurasa, mengingat setting kuno tempat, gaya berpakaian, gaya hidup dan kendaraan yang serba kuno. Tapi disini menariknya, karena aku selalu penasaran pada kehidupan sosial, gaya hidup dan cara berpikir kaum purit...more I Love this book so much!!! Penyakit mental memang selalu menarik ya? Latar belakang sebagai pemicu awal dari penyakit itu yang lebih menarik tepatnya.
Adalah Dr. Max Libermann yang seorang psikiater muda yang digambarkan ganteng ini dalam buku dikisahkan hidup di sekitar awal abad 21an kurasa, mengingat setting kuno tempat, gaya berpakaian, gaya hidup dan kendaraan yang serba kuno. Tapi disini menariknya, karena aku selalu penasaran pada kehidupan sosial, gaya hidup dan cara berpikir kaum puritan kuno di eropa dan amerika sekitar abad 20-21.

Dokter Libermann sang tokoh kita ini mempunyai sahabat sehati yang saling membutuhkan, tidak saja dalam pekerjaan, mereka juga sehati dalam seni dan musik meskipun latar belakang pekerjaan dan kehidupan sosial sangat bertolak belakang. Detektif Oscar Reinhardt... detektif handal dan orang kedua dalam serial ini. Ini mengingatkan kita pada Sherlock holmes dan teman sejatinya Dr. Watson. Detektif Reinhardt selalu mempercayakan kasus-kasusnya ikut ditangani oleh Dr. Libermann, karena sebagai psikiater, analisa Libermann sangatlah tajam dan akurat... kurasa kalau duo Liberman dan Reinhardt disatukan dengan duo sherlock holmes dan Watson, pasti hasilnya luarrr binasa hahaha... kenapa tidak? Superhero aja ada The Avengers, Jagoan laga gaek juga ada The expendables xixixi...

Dalam buku ini, kasus yang harus ditangani adalah kasus terbunuhnya seorang wanita yang biasa berprofesi sebagai cenayang atau orang yang mendatangkan arwah orang-orang yang ingin menemui orang yang dikasihinya yang telah meninggal (what the....?) Kerumitan kasus terletak pada TKP yang terkunci dari dalam dan satu2nya jalan keluar adalah pintu kamar yang terkunci dari dalam tersebut. Lebih anehnya, walaupun ada luka tembak, tapi tidak ada senjata dan tidak ditemukan peluru? apakah itu pembunuhan supranatural? atau trik sulap tingkat tinggi?

Point lagi untuk buku serial yang bersetting di Vienna atau Wina Austria ini adalah, banyak sekali detail keindahan kota vienna dan makanan khasnya yang dieksplore secara mendetail... opera-opera dan nama2 tokoh2 music klasik dunia yang berbasic di vienna adalah orang2 yang benar2 ada, contohnya bach, bethoven dll. Ini abad dimana para musisi music klasik sebagian besar masih hidup.(less)

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Oct 06, 2012 Rob Kitchin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There’s lots to like about A Death in Vienna (also published as Mortal Mischief). The plot is cleverly conceived and well executed, with a couple of substantial subplots that add, rather than detract, from the story. The locked room element of the story is well realised and Tallis does a good job of keeping various suspects in the frame. The characterisation is nicely executed with respect to all the principle and secondary characters, with Rheinhardt and Liebermann being nice, complementary foi...more

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Nov 24, 2009 Barb rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2009, historical-mystery, edwardian-1901-1910, dick-lit, series-trilogy

It's 1902, Oskar Rheinhardt is investigating the murder of the beautiful medium, Frualine Charlotte Lowenstein in Vienna, Austria. The victim has been found shot in the heart in a room locked from the inside with what appears to be a suicide note, no weapon or secret means of egress are found. Rheihardt enlists the help of his good friend, Max Lieberman, who is a doctor of psychoanalysis. The medium's regular customers become an interesting circle of suspects.

Frank Tallis has done a nice job of...more

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Mar 06, 2013 Briansmom rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, mystery-thriller

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 04, 2012 Dawn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-modern-twentieth

Max Liebermann is a disciple of Sigmund Freud and is a doctor in the new field of psychoanalysis. Set in Vienna in the early 1900s where science and art are hotly debated topics and the benefits of psychology are viewed with scepticism and electric therapy is in prevalent use.
Oskar Rheinhardt is a detective with a loving wife and children. When a so called medium is found murdered in her apartment with the door locked from the inside, rumours are rife with tales of the supernatural. With politic...more

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May 05, 2012 Katherine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, freud

Psychoanalyst Dr. Liebermann helps his detective friend solve a baffling murder. The level of detail about early 19th century Vienna was interesting and the main character was pretty likable. The only thing I didn't like was the shoe-horned in growing romance between him and his English patient despite having just proposed to his girlfriend. The poor fiance is kind of immature and loves talking about fashion and gossip (she seems really sweet, though) but the English girl is all about Science an...more

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Jul 23, 2011 Malcolm rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime

Sad to say that the best observation about this is that it proved a diversion from the big pile of seriously pointy-headed other things I have to read/work on at the moment – but still the evocation of turn-of-the-20th-century Vienna seemed plausible, and I kept seeing the places where the action was: streets I've walked, buildings I've viewed/visited, locations experienced, and so forth. Alas, setting the climax on the Riesenrad was oh-so-3rd-Man clichéd – surely we can have moments of Viennese...more

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May 06, 2010 Timothy Hallinan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've been reading a lot of period mysteries about Berlin and Vienna lately, and someone said she liked this, so I tried it. I knew immediately it wasn't for me, for two reasons. First, it has a Sherlock Holmes character, and I have no patience for Sherlock Holmes characters other than Nero Wolfe. Second, it's got real people in it (Sigmund Freud, in this case) and I'm not usually crazy about that, either. But I gave it 50 pages. Then I gave it 100 pages. Then I finished it and ordered the second...more

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Aug 02, 2011 Vanessa rated it 3 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this murder mystery, most especially because it was a period story set in early 19th century Vienna. With the music, art, culture -- and yummy pastries -- thrown in, it was exquisite. And maybe because I was really buying the period setting, I could totally visualize the events happening in black and white. As if! While the goal, of course, was to find out who did it, in this case, more interesting was how it was done. And I am happy to walk away from this book with all the...more

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Nov 04, 2010 RuthAlice Anderson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Max Lieberman is a psychologist and student of Freud who assists his friend Rheinhardt in the Homicide unit with psychological insights that combine psychology with the deductive and observation skills of Sherlock Holmes. I love the series and its vivid portrayal of late 19th century Vienna. It is the heydey of the arts and culture and Vienna is a city alive with brilliant minds, great musicians and lively arts. Meanwhile, under the surface, the roots of fascism are slowly spreading. The story i...more

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Feb 12, 2009 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars

A leisurely murder mystery set in fin-de-siecle Vienna, with the likes of Freud and Mahler making walk-ons. It is too long and the solution to the murder is hardly convincing, yet I stuck with it. Why? Its fine evocation of the city of cafes and whipped cream during the early days of psychoanalysis, with its cranks and crackpots, anti-semites and charlatans, and nervous, intelligent women on the cusp of independence. Tallis has done his research (maybe he shows it off a little too much) and know...more

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Nov 23, 2008 Kellie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2007-reads, bookclub-books, mystery-thrillers

A Woman is murdered in the early 20th century of Vienna. There is no bullet found and the door of the room where the murder takes place is locked from the inside. Dr. Lieberman is called by his detective friend to help solve the case. I thought the setting was interesting. I liked the references to Sigmund Freud. The mystery did not grab my attention, however. I thought there were too many mini-plots that were really not pertinent to the story. I wondered if they were intentional to make the boo...more

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Nov 22, 2010 Elisabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Wasn't exactly fast-paced, but the author's tendency to leave you hanging at the end of the chapter and pick up a totally different plot thread in the next had me really turning pages. I very much enjoyed the detailed descriptions of turn-of-the-century Vienna, one of my favorite literary settings. I felt like the author's attempts to work in descriptions of the main character's personal life a little brittle and one dimensional, although it seemed to work better with other characters. Got a chu...more

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Mar 19, 2010 Carolyn Crocker rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The beginning of an excellent series set in early 20th century Vienna. Young psychoanalyst Max Liebermann is Freud's student, a talented musician, a middling fencer, a coffeehouse regular, and best friend of a police detective, Oskar Rheinhardt. The hub of culture, science, and political ferment, 1903 Vienna is itself a character in these books. It is the stage on which the personal, intellectual, and historical intersect with well-plotted solutions to puzzling crimes. Each volume illuminates th...more

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May 05, 2012 Dustytexas rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The first in a series of mysteries set in the decadent world of Vienna at the turn of the century. The main character is Max Lieberman, one of the new practioners of psychoanalysis trained by Sigmund Freud. His good friend is Oskar Reinhart, an detective with the Viennese police whose secret joy is singing. To be honest, I enjoyed the book because I read it while staying in Vienna. I walked to each location while I listened to the music discussed in the novel on my IPod and ate the same traditio...more

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Jan 11, 2012 Elli rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-historical, austrai, world-war-2, detective, vienna

Maybe 3 and a half, but probably 4 stars for me. It's a good book. Slow and a little faster for a good bit of the book, but I never could quite put it down. It dealt with the period in Vienna rather going from the greater imperial age to what then was more modern, but still quite stilted with social distinctions and rituals connected that might rival the class system in India. Music and the arts were at a high point. Freud and some of the modern psychology forerunners were part of this era at th...more

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May 15, 2011 Karmen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-police, historical-fiction

Max Lieberman is a very retiring character, a practicing psychologist.His good friend is Oskar Reinhardt, a Viennese police detective.

Oskar is called into investigating a closed room setting. The victim was a "seer" and the suicide is suggested to be a murder by demonic means.

The investigation continues as Max deals with a supervisor insistent on using electro therapy instead of the "talking" therapy. The "talking" therapy is a new practice extended by Sigmund Freud,a Jewish doctor.

Both topics,...more

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Mar 23, 2010 Beth rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An intriguing time (around the turn of the century) and place (Vienna) with a Freud-following psychologist pairing up with a detective to solve the murder of a medium. The subtlest and best modulated aspect of this piece, however, wasn't the mystery but the love interest. The psychologist/doctor (Liebermann?) becomes engaged to a lively, pretty woman, a friend of the family but Liebermann finds himself increasingly attracted to one of his patients, an English woman who wants to study medicine. N...more

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Dec 18, 2009 Janice rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was enjoyable to read, and I read it quickly about a month ago. When it came time to discuss it at a book group though I found I had to go back to it and re read parts because I had forgotten most of it. I prefer to read books that stay with me for years and don't mind struggling through them if they are dense rather than reading a book that I forget as soon as I put it down. Some in my bookgroup found that there were too many characters and subplots but did find it an interesting peri...more

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May 25, 2011 Crystal rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: liebermann-papers

I'm happy to have stumbled on this book at the library. I'm even happier to know that it's the first in a series and I can look forward to catching up. The author, Frank Tallis, is a clinical psychologist and brings his knowledge of psychotherapy and specialty in obsessive behavior to his writing. The book is set in turn-of-the-century Vienna. Psychoanalysis and talk therapy are in their infancy. One of the two main characters is Dr. Liebermann, who is refusing to treat a "hysterical" patient wi...more

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About Frank Tallis

Aka F.R. Tallis.

Dr. Frank Tallis is a writer and clinical psychologist. He has held lecturing posts in clinical psychology and neuroscience at the Institute of Psychiatry and King's College, London. He has written self help manuals (How to Stop Worrying, Understanding Obsessions and Compulsions) non-fiction for the general reader (Changing Minds, Hidden Minds, Love Sick), academic text books and o...more

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Books by Frank Tallis

Deadly Communion (Liebermann Papers, #5)

Death and the Maiden (Liebermann Papers, #6)

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“We must remember that possession of physical beauty can easily weaken the moral faculty.” — 7 people liked it

“It is my opinion that the isolated mind loses its purchase on reality all too easily and becomes prone to fantasy.” — 7 people liked it

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