PhilPaine.com

This is a well-writ­ten mys­tery nov­el, with a very lean prose style and direct, sequen­tial plot­ting. Mur­der and may­hem in a Vien­nese mil­i­tary acad­e­my, 1903. Detec­tives improb­a­bly using psy­cho­an­a­lyt­ic tech­niques to solve the mys­tery, but, hey, that’s the con­ceit of the tale. Music every­where, pas­tries, waltzes, and absyn­the bub­bling on the spoon. Tallis’ inser­tion of piquant his­tor­i­cal details is care­ful­ly cal­cu­lat­ed to please the read­er — nev­er too much at a time, nev­er too didac­tic. The decay­ing poly­glot Aus­tro-Hun­gar­i­an Empire is the per­fect back­ground for the thriller and mur­der mys­tery writer, espe­cial­ly with our ret­ro­spec­tive fas­ci­na­tion with its sex­u­al and psy­chopath­e­l­og­i­cal obses­sions. Even old Kraft-Ebbing turns up in a toast.