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 hu...
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Aug 17, 2011
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 d More...
At first, I found the novel somewhat d More...
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May 29, 2008
E
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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-Sem
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Mar 04, 2009
Tony
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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 elect
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Nov 16, 2011
Marfita
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Jan 22, 2011
Monica
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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
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Mar 26, 2010
Emily
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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
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Nov 24, 2009
Barb
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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 More...
Frank Tallis has done a More...
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Jul 25, 2011
Malcolm
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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
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May 06, 2010
Timothy
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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
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Aug 11, 2011
Vanessa
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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 a
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Nov 04, 2010
RuthAlice
rated it:
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
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Feb 12, 2009
Paul
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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
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Apr 05, 2010
Writerlibrarian
rated it:
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
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Nov 23, 2008
Kellie
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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
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Nov 22, 2010
Elisabeth
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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
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Mar 19, 2010
Carolyn
rated it:
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 t
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Jan 11, 2012
Elli
rated it:
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
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May 15, 2011
Karmen
rated it:
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 exte More...
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 exte More...
Mar 23, 2010
Beth
rated it:
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.
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Dec 18, 2009
Janice
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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 p
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May 25, 2011
Crystal
rated it:
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"
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Sep 07, 2010
Jimmy
rated it:
When not solving crimes, the detective and psychologist protagonists of Mortal Mischief are enjoying the milieu of turn-of-the-century Vienna (19th/20th): the cafes, the concert halls, the art museums displaying the latest trends. Against this backdrop comes a baffling murder, seemingly unsolvable without resorting to supernatural explanations. That the dastardly crime is ultimately solved scientifically does not lesson the tension as the investigation bogs down and pressure mounts.
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Sep 04, 2010
Bibliophile
rated it:
A Death in Vienna is the first of Frank Tallis's mystery novels set in early 20th century Vienna, starring the unlikely duo of a police inspector named Oskar Rheinhardt and Dr. Max Liebermann, a follower of the new discipline of psychoanalysis.
Tallis is himself a clinical psychologist, so perhaps that accounts for the strangely detached tone of this fictional work - there's a lot of "history of psychiatry" stuff and appearances by famous Viennese of the time such as Freud, More...
Tallis is himself a clinical psychologist, so perhaps that accounts for the strangely detached tone of this fictional work - there's a lot of "history of psychiatry" stuff and appearances by famous Viennese of the time such as Freud, More...
Apr 30, 2008
Heather
rated it:
Kudos to the author, who is evidently a serious musician, for choosing good music for his characters to play and for describing it accurately. (That's one of my litmus tests for historical novels!)
Maybe I was reading too quickly, but I have to confess that the mystery itself didn't really engage me. It seemed like a waste of time to stir up all the mystery around a "supernatural" crime and an Egyptian god (obviously ridiculous). I didn't believe that anyone apart from the c More...
Maybe I was reading too quickly, but I have to confess that the mystery itself didn't really engage me. It seemed like a waste of time to stir up all the mystery around a "supernatural" crime and an Egyptian god (obviously ridiculous). I didn't believe that anyone apart from the c More...
Feb 15, 2008
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Jan 17, 2009
Nancy
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Set in fin-de-siecle Vienna, as the story opens, a medium is found dead in her home under strange circumstances, none the least of which include a room locked from the inside and no bullet in her body (with no exit wound) even though she was clearly shot. At first it looks like suicide, from a note that she left behind, but as the main detective furthers his investigation, all signs point to murder. But there are a lot of suspects, most notably the regular circle of people who attended the medi
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May 02, 2009
Anne
rated it:
About once a month, I crave a good mystery. I have received numerous suggestions over the years and have a number of go-to authors. I discovered the Max Liebermann series, about a psychoanalytic detective, from a Powells Book review. A Death in Vienna, the first book in the series, takes place in Vienna in 1902. A famous medium has just been found shot dead. She is found in a room locked from the inside with no murder weapon. Detective Oskar Rheinhardt leads the investigation, with a little help
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Aug 22, 2007
Devi~
rated it:
Yup!! Ini tipe kehidupan yang bakal lu suka yo... Wina di awal abad ke 20, fresco bethoven, strauss, bach, dll. skalian teater tempat the magic flute pertama ditampilkan... surga dunianya rio...
Pertama bacanya rada bingung... tuh frank tallis ngebagi2 bukunya jadi beberapa bagian yang dibagi lagi jadi beberapa chapter. Tiap chapter isinya pendek banget. kaya satu scene dalam film dan selalu loncat-loncat dari satu tokoh ke tokoh lainnya, yang rasanya, tidak ada hubungannya dengan cha More...
Pertama bacanya rada bingung... tuh frank tallis ngebagi2 bukunya jadi beberapa bagian yang dibagi lagi jadi beberapa chapter. Tiap chapter isinya pendek banget. kaya satu scene dalam film dan selalu loncat-loncat dari satu tokoh ke tokoh lainnya, yang rasanya, tidak ada hubungannya dengan cha More...
May 11, 2008
Indah
rated it:
Diterjemahkan dari Mortal Mischief
Pengarang : Frank Tallis
Penerjemah : Esti A. Budihabsari
Proofreader : M. Kadapi
Cetakan I, Maret 2007
Penerbit : Qanita, PT Mizan Pustaka
Tebal : 580 halaman; 20,5 x 13 cm
Seorang psikiater muda, Max Liebermann membantu sahabatnya, Inspektur Oskar Rheinhardt, memecahkan misteri kematian seorang wanita muda, Charlotte Lowenstein, yang dikenal sebagai seorang perantara atau medium atau cenayang.
Frau Lowenstei More...
Pengarang : Frank Tallis
Penerjemah : Esti A. Budihabsari
Proofreader : M. Kadapi
Cetakan I, Maret 2007
Penerbit : Qanita, PT Mizan Pustaka
Tebal : 580 halaman; 20,5 x 13 cm
Seorang psikiater muda, Max Liebermann membantu sahabatnya, Inspektur Oskar Rheinhardt, memecahkan misteri kematian seorang wanita muda, Charlotte Lowenstein, yang dikenal sebagai seorang perantara atau medium atau cenayang.
Frau Lowenstei More...
Jul 11, 2007
Ferina
rated it:
Seorang wanita ditemukan tewas di apartemennya dengan meninggalkan pesan misterius. Wanita itu bernama Charlotte Löwenstein, dan dikenal sebagai seorang mediator. Setiap minggu, sekelompok orang datang ke apartemennya untuk upacara pemanggilan arwah.
Tepat di malam kematian Lötte, badai hebat sedang melanda Wina. Kematian Lötte kemudian dikaitkan dengan persekutuan dengan setan. Ada kekuatan supranatural yang ‘terlibat’ dalam kematian itu. Fakta itu didukung dengan pesan teakhir yang More...
Tepat di malam kematian Lötte, badai hebat sedang melanda Wina. Kematian Lötte kemudian dikaitkan dengan persekutuan dengan setan. Ada kekuatan supranatural yang ‘terlibat’ dalam kematian itu. Fakta itu didukung dengan pesan teakhir yang More...
