Review: Death and the Maiden by Frank Tallis

A Mysterious Review of …

Death and the Maiden by Frank Tallis. A Max Liebermann Mystery.

Review summary: This murder mystery is a compelling combination of whodunit and opera, with components of the latter incorporated into the plot. The fact that both lead investigators are musicians themselves adds to the appeal and provides a calming balance to the gravity of the murder and its aftermath. (Click here for text of full review.)

Our rating:

Death and the Maiden
Frank Tallis
A Max Liebermann Mystery
Random House (October 2012)

Publisher synopsis: Ida Rosenkranz is top diva at the Vienna Opera, but she's gone silent for good after an apparent laudanum overdose. Learning of her professional rivalries and her scandalous affairs with older men, Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt and Dr. Max Liebermann suspect foul play instead. Their investigation leads them into dark and dangerous conflicts with Gustav Mahler, the opera's imperious director, who is himself the target of a poison pen campaign, and Karl Lueger, Vienna's powerful and anti-Semitic mayor. As the peril escalates, Rheinhardt grows further into his role as family man, while Liebermann finds himself at odds with his inamorata, Amelia, who's loosening both her corset and her tongue in the new feminist movement.