Oskar and Max investigate an execution-style murder and discover an anarchist conspiracy and bomb plot which they try to foil. Good escapist reading. ( )

I ordered the first book in this series after finishing this book. I think that's probably the greatest compliment for a book you can give. And, Mephisto Waltz knocked my socks off with its atmospheric setting in Vienna, a mysterious murder mystery and the great teamwork of Oscar Rheinhardt and Max Lieberman. A policeman and a psychiatrist working together. I love it. It worked so well together and I also love the fact that Lieberman is a disciple of Sigmund Freud.

Mephisto Waltz is the kind of book that I adore because of its dark and mysterious feeling. It's a time of tumult, with anarchist wanting to change the world. The story takes place just a couple of years after the assassinating of Empress Elisabeth of Austria who btw made a small, but important cameo in the prologue. Her husband and yes even Sigmund Freud also makes cameo appearances in the book.

As for Oscar Rheinhardt and Max Lieberman did I instantly like the way they worked together, how Rheinhardt often got Lieberman's help to analyze a suspect. I mean for instance; why is the man biting his fingernails? There must be some darker meaning to it.

There is so much I enjoyed about this book, the cameos of real people, Lieberman romantic life, the suffragette moment, the murder mystery, etc. Altogether it made me truly enjoy this book and I can't wait to read the first book!

I want to thank the Pegasus Books for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!

4.5 stars ( )

Disappointing. It has been some time since Tallis has written a book for this series. I suppose my expectations were to high. ( )

In 1904 Vienna, Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt enlists his friend, psychiatrist Max Liebermann, to help him solve the murder of an unidentified man who has been found in an abandoned warehouse, seated on a chair, with three empty chairs in front of him. The murder scene looks suspiciously like an execution, and the man’s face has been disfigured with acid to further conceal his identity. The search for the killer or killers will take Oskar and Max into the heart of Vienna’s political mayhem, with anarchists planning to bomb the nobility, the intelligence service determined to succeed by torture and a legendary anarchist known only as Mephistopheles rumoured to be hanging around the city somewhere…. The above description only covers the main plot of this, the seventh Max Liebermann novel; there are also discussions of gender parity, sexual policies, the strengths and weaknesses of empire, the first appearance of motor carriages and, as so often in these books, a brief appearance from Sigmund Freud himself (a man who, in this telling at least, appears to have been inordinately fond of puns and bad jokes). The era and the setting are beautifully drawn, giving the reader a real sense of what Vienna around the turn of the 20th century was probably like. Max and Oskar are, in addition to being interesting characters, very musically inclined (Max plays piano, Oskar sings) and it’s quite delightful to sit in on their musical sessions together. And I haven’t even mentioned Amelia! A really rewarding historic series, highly recommended. ( )