The Silence [Hardcover]

I'm delighted that J. Sydney Jones sent a PDF of this book to me for review. It is the third in a series of mystery novels set in historic Vienna, a city Jones lived in for some time years ago. The fact that I hadn't read the first two was no barrier to enjoyment of this one, but certainly convinced me that I must read the others very soon. They are, in order: The Empty Mirror and Requiem in Vienna, both published last year. I should add that these are print books with gorgeous covers appropriate to the setting.

Attorney and private inquiries agent (private detective) Karl Werthen is the protagonist but by no means alone in his investigations. His wife Berthe is one of my favorite characters, so level-headed, patient, and fully invested in each case. She gives him fresh eyes and good ideas. Another partner in solving the crime is a real person, Dr. Hanns Gross who was the father of criminology. He is gruff and abrupt with people but has a better grasp of the issues than anyone else.

In addition to his case, Werthen is beset by family squabbles involving his orthodox father-in-law, and his snobbish parents who apparently don't credit Werthen and his wife with the good sense to take care of their baby daughter, the apple of Werthen's eye. Leave it to the grandparents to muddy the waters when the first grandchild is born.

Werthen is at first hired to find a wealthy family's oldest son. As he goes to their mansion we learn one of the many things about 1900 Vienna that make this book so charming and interesting to read. The wife has a migraine, so city workers have been dispatched to spread straw on the street to muffle the sound of horses' hooves. There are descriptions of homes, the architecture of city buildings, the sounds and smells of the city, and the Vienna Woods. We also learn of the anti-Semitism rampant in the city so long before WW II, and the great gulf between the rich and the poor.

At the same time, a councilman who is second in power only to Mayor Karl Lueger (who has visions of undermining the rule of Emperor Franz Josef) has apparently committed suicide in his office. Werthen becomes involved in that case as well and finds himself and his family in great danger.

Two of my favorite characters are two young boys, one a son of the wealthy family, the other a street urchin that Werthen's legal assistant wants to adopt. The boys become unlikely friends. I liked both of them immensely.

I find it difficult to tell you much about the story, partly because there are several plotlines, but also because I don't want to give anything away. Let me just say that it is a great story told by an author who is capable of putting the reader in 1900 Vienna (so much so that I was startled when a horn honked outside my house), and the characters are ones that you will enjoy getting to know. My next job is to order the first two books. Highly recommended.

This is another top flight journey back into the lost world of fin-de-siecle Vienna. Jones has tossed in red herrings and false leads enough to make it a real whodunnit, all the while giving us another painless history lesson in introducing us to personages less well known such as the fascinating Wittgenstein family, the Austrian equivalent of the Rothschilds or Rockefellers; the popular, yet anti-Semitic, mayor of Vienna, Karl Lueger, who forms a surprising plot against the monarchy; and the acerbic journalist, Karl Kraus, the man who knew all the secrets of Viennese society. Throw in Gustav Klimt, Otto Wagner, and Viktor Adler. All and more are brought into the story in a believable manner. All these combine to paint a portrait of a time of emperors, of radical changes in art and thought, yet still these are people with motives that are as contemporary as any of today's political scandals. A good read that should leave readers wanting to do their own further research into this long gone era.

I first stumbled across J. Sydney Jones a few years ago and eagerly read his first two Karl Werthen works, "The Empty Mirror" and "Requiem in Vienna". I was pleasantly surprised to discover that a third installment in the series has been written (with #4 due out on June 1 of this year) and snatched it up during a recent trip to the local library. Though it has been nearly three years since I was last in his world, I quickly found myself drifting back to early 1900s Vienna and the world of Karl Werthen.

Married with a young child, Karl Werthen is a lawyer who doubles as an investigator. When an old client, Gustav Klimt, recommends a new case for Werthen to work on, he eagerly takes it on; a wealthy businessman's son has disappeared. Karl is quickly able to ascertain the son's whereabouts, but this seemingly easy case quickly embroils him in a deeper mystery involving two recent "suicides", the world of underhand politics, and double-dealing that may put his young family in danger. With the help of his old friend, Hanns Gross, Karl is determined to get to the bottom of what is going on, even if it results in the death of someone he holds dear.

It's easy to compare this series to Frank Tallis' Max Liebermann series; after all, the two both take place at the same time period in the city of Vienna. Where Tallis focuses on the use of psychology, featuring Sigmund Freud as a secondary character, Jones has chosen to focus on the real-life Hanns Gross as the "sidekick" to his protagonist. Both series are fabulous, and this book held me captive until the last page. I can't wait to read the next one!