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Vienna Blood: A Max Liebermann Mystery Paperback – January 8, 2008

by Frank Tallis (Author)

4.5 727 ratings

Book 2 of 7: The Liebermann Papers

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The second in the Dr. Max Liebermann series, literature’s first psychoanalytic detective.

In the grip of a Siberian winter in 1902, a serial killer in Vienna embarks upon a bizarre campaign of murder. Vicious mutilation, a penchant for arcane symbols, and a seemingly random choice of victim are his most distinctive peculiarities. Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt summons a young disciple of Freud - his friend Dr. Max Liebermann — to assist him with the case. The investigation draws them into the sphere of Vienna’s secret societies — a murky underworld of German literary scholars, race theorists, and scientists inspired by the new evolutionary theories coming out of England. At first, the killer’s mind seems impenetrable — his behaviour and cryptic clues impervious to psychoanalytic interpretation; however, gradually, it becomes apparent that an extraordinary and shocking rationale underlies his actions. . . .

Against this backdrop of mystery and terror, Liebermann struggles with his own demons. The treatment of a patient suffering from paranoia erotica (a delusion of love) and his own fascination with the enigmatic Englishwoman Amelia Lydgate raises doubts concerning the propriety of his imminent marriage. To resolve the dilemma, he must entertain the unthinkable — risking opprobrium and accusations of cowardice.

Book 2 of 7

The Liebermann Papers
Print length

485 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Random House Trade Paperbacks
Publication date

January 8, 2008
Dimensions

5.21 x 1.07 x 7.94 inches
ISBN-10

0812977769
ISBN-13

978-0812977769
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. British clinical psychologist Tallis follows his superior debut, A Death in Vienna (2007), with this gripping sequel. Viennese Det. Insp. Oskar Rheinhardt, already faced with finding the person who butchered the emperor's favorite anaconda, comes under even more pressure from his superiors when several murders are committed in quick succession. The inspector enlists the assistance of insightful Freud disciple Max Liebermann, who quickly deduces that the killer is choosing his victims to correspond with the plot of Mozart's The Magic Flute. The book's strength lies in the relationship and interplay between the two detectives, whose friendship, which includes a shared love of music, may remind some of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey and Maturin. The clever plotting and quality writing elevate this above most other historicals, even if the solution to the crimes comes as no great surprise. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Praise for Mortal Mischief:
“An intriguing, impressive achievement — puts the psychological back into crime and written by a real expert.”
–Oliver James

“Smart detection and a mouthwatering view of Viennese cafe society . . . good prospects for the Liebermann series, of which this is book number one.”
–Literary Review

About the Author

Frank Tallis is a writer and practicing clinical psychologist. He has published seven non-fiction works (including Changing Minds: The History of Psychotherapy as an Answer to Human Suffering; and Hidden Minds: A History of the Unconscious.) His new novel, Lovesick, is also published by Century.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Italian lunged forward. He was a small, lean man, but very muscular. Any disadvantage he suffered because of his lack of height was amply compensated for by his sharp eye and astonishing speed.
Liebermann successfully deflected the foil’s thrust but lost his balance. He was unable to produce a counterattack and his opponent advanced yet again. The tip of the Italian’s foil came perilously close to the protective quilting over Liebermann’s heart. Recovering his footing, Liebermann chose to make a passŽ–darting behind the Italian and taking a few steps backward. A trickle of sweat slid down his hot cheek. The Italian shrugged and walked away, flexing his foil in a gesture of indifference. After a few paces he swung around and adopted the preparatory stance, his chin tilted upward in an attitude of arrogance. Liebermann edged forward.
The Italian seemed to relax, his foil wilting a little in an apparently weaker grip. Liebermann noticed the subtle change and struck. A violent brassy clang was followed by the shriek of scraping metal: the Italian’s foil yielded, offering no resistance. Liebermann congratulated himself, believing that he had taken his opponent by surprise–but the concession was merely tactical. The Italian’s blade deftly flicked around Liebermann’s, displacing it with a powerful grazing action, and, once again, the tip of his opponent’s foil effortlessly penetrated Liebermann’s defenses. Liebermann retreated, executing a series of deflective maneuvers that barely contained the Italian’s renewed fierce attack.
{ 3 }
Frank Tallis
They circled each other, occasionally touching blades in glancing contact.
“You should have anticipated my froissement, Herr Doctor,” said the Italian gruffly. He tapped his temple and added: “Think, Herr Doctor! If you do not think, all is lost.”
Liebermann examined the blank oval of Signore Barbasetti’s mask, eager to observe some mark of humanity–a conciliatory expression or the glimmer of a smile, perhaps. The mesh, however, was impenetrable.
Their foils clashed again–blades flashing in a shaft of early-morning sunlight. A swarm of lazy dust motes was sucked into a miniature cyclone of displaced air.
Barbasetti produced a feint, switching from one line of attack to another, forcing Liebermann to draw back. However, the young doctor retained his composure and made a move that he intended should fail, thus provoking a predictable and powerful thrust from Barbasetti. Liebermann dodged and struck the forte of the Italian’s foil as he stumbled past–Barbasetti almost lost his grip.
“Bravo, Herr Doctor,” Barbasetti said, and laughed. “An excellent falso!”
“Thank you, signor.”
Barbasetti came to a halt and lifted his blade, scrutinizing it closely. “Please excuse me, Herr Doctor.”
Barbasetti walked to the other side of the drill hall and pressed the hilt of his foil against the surface of a battered wooden table. He then hung a small iron weight from the tip and watched the metal blade bend. Its gentle curvature elicited an equivocal grunt from the watchful Italian.
“Is everything all right, signor?” Liebermann asked.
“Yes, I think so,” Barbasetti replied. The Italian raised himself up, marched back, and warned his student: “En garde.”
{ 4 }
Vienna Blood
Immediately they were engaged, Liebermann’s foil sliding along his opponent’s blade until the hand guards crashed together. The fencing master pushed and Liebermann was thrown back: he landed awkwardly, but was nevertheless able to execute an impressive flying parry.
Barbasetti disengaged. “Much better.”
Liebermann noticed that the button at the end of his foil was trembling–he was feeling tired. After his lesson, he would have coffee and croissants in the little coffeehouse close to the Anatomical Institute. He would need something in his stomach to keep him going. . . .
“En garde!”Barbasetti barked again. The Italian had noticed that his student’s mind had begun to wander. Liebermann was astonished by the fencing master’s insight.
Again their blades connected, and the plangent clatter of contending steel filled the hall. Liebermann thought that Signore Barbasetti was tiring too. His pace had slackened slightly and his movements were less balletic. The Italian deflected Liebermann’s lunge, but failed to resume his guard. Observing the exposed chest protector, Liebermann recognized a rare opportunity. Excited by the prospect of victory, he raised his foil, ready to strike.
But the blow was never delivered.
His body froze, paralyzed by the inexplicable pressure that he felt against his heart. Dropping his gaze, he contemplated the tip of Signore Barbasetti’s foil, which had found its home precisely above the intercostal space separating ribs five and six.
Barbasetti pushed, and the cold steel curved upward.
“I don’t understand,” said Liebermann.
“You were not concentrating, Herr Doctor,” said the Italian. “Such an error would certainly lose you a competition . . . and of course, in some circumstances, your life.”
{ 5}
Frank Tallis
Barbasetti lowered his foil and then raised it in salute.
Liebermann returned the gesture politely. In spite of the fencing master’s dramatic declaration, the young doctor was ashamed to find that he was still thinking of the little coffeehouse near the Anatomical Institute: crisp flakes of buttery pastry, a pot of plum jam, and a cup of very strong black coffee.
{ 6}

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House Trade Paperbacks; First Edition (January 8, 2008)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 485 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0812977769
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0812977769
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.21 x 1.07 x 7.94 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #646,853 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #6,829 in Historical Mystery
- #10,689 in Police Procedurals (Books)
- #11,031 in Psychological Thrillers (Books)

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4.5 727 ratings

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Frank Tallis

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Dr Frank Tallis is a writer and clinical psychologist. He has held lecturing posts at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and King's College London. He has published over 30 scientific papers in international journals and has written a textbook on cognitive and neuropsychological aspects of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). He has written six works of psychology for the lay reader: Changing Minds (a history of psychotherapy), Hidden Minds (a history of the unconscious), Lovesick (an exploration of the relationship between romantic love and mental illness), The Incurable Romantic (a clinical memoir), The Act of Living: What the Great Psychologists can Teach us about Surviving Discontent in an Age of Anxiety, and Mortal Secrets: Freud, Vienna, and the Discovery of the Modern Mind.

Frank Tallis’ novels are: KILLING TIME (Penguin), SENSING OTHERS (Penguin), MORTAL MISCHIEF (Arrow), VIENNA BLOOD (Arrow), FATAL LIES (Arrow), DARKNESS RISING (Arrow), DEADLY COMMUNION (Arrow), DEATH AND THE MAIDEN (Arrow), and MEPHISTO WALTZ (Pegasus). In 1999 he received a Writers’ Award from the Arts Council of Great Britain and in 2000 he won the New London Writers’ Award (London Arts Board). In 2005 MORTAL MISCHIEF was shortlisted for the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award and for the Quais du Polar Award in France, 2007. FATAL LIES was longlisted for the International Thriller Writers’ Best Paperback Award, 2010. DARKNESS RISING (VIENNA SECRETS in the USA) was runner up for the 2009 Medical Journalist’s Association fiction award and shortlisted for the Elle Prix de Letrice in 2010. It was also nominated for an Anthony and an Edgar in 2011. DEADLY COMMUNION (VIENNA TWILIGHT in the USA) was shortlisted for an Edgar in 2012. The Liebermann books have been translated into fourteen languages and adapted for television as the internationally successful TV series VIENNA BLOOD. For more information see postings on X: @FrankTallis

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Jana L.Perskie

An outstanding masterfully written thriller!

Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2015

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British novelist Frank Tallis continues "The Liebermann Papers:" the diaries of his fictional turn-of-the-century Viennese crime-solver, Dr Max Liebermann. This is the second book in the series and my favorite.
In "Vienna Blood," British novelist Frank Tallis continues "The Liebermann Papers:" the diaries of his fictional turn-of-the-century Viennese crime-solver, Dr Max Liebermann. This is the second book in the series and my favorite.

In 1902 a serial killer is stalking Vienna. Vicious mutilation, arcane symbols, and a seemingly random choice of victims are the murderer's most distinctive peculiarities. Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt summons a young disciple of Freud - his friend Dr. Max Liebermann - to assist him with the case. Liebermann, an amateur sleuth, is a professional physician and a member of the first generation of psychoanalysts. His experience in dream analysis and symbolism are invaluable tools in solving cases. This is an exceptionally well written and conceived mystery thriller. Tallis's balancing of Reinhardt's old style detection and Libermann's radical theories, an early form of forensic profiling, is extremely effective.

The author has interwoven here the growing popularity of pan-German ideology into the discovery of the murderer. Well before World War I and the Versailles treaty, these ancestors of the Nazis trace their identity back to a 4th century Germanic tribe's victory over Rome. They are proudly anti-Semitic, anti-Freemason, and anti-Catholic and worship the pagan Norse gods of old. This group of fanatics denigrate Mozart as "a superficial composer." Gustav Mahler is also ridiculed. These and other composers, musicians and artists, are considered to be "Teutonic trash." A famous opera turns out to have provided the template for the murders, but the motivation is not solely political -- there are roots in the killer's psychological history which Liebermann deftly uncovers, with the help of Freud.

Oddly the anaconda Hildegard, Emperor Franz Josef's favorite snake in the Vienna zoo, is the first victim. What does the murder of a snake have to do with those of three prostitutes, a madam, a Czech chicken seller found with a padlock in his throat, and a Nubian servant?

Tallis handles this complex plot brilliantly and the characters are memorable. Evoked here are fascinating details of turn of early 20th century Vienna. Tallis describes and muses upon the city, Viennese politics, racism, European classical music, literature, and also gives a keen insight into the early development of Freudian psychoanalysis. The most compelling feature of the book, however, is the plot.

There are numerous twists and turns in the storyline. The author's writing and character building are masterful. If you value intelligent writing and edge of your seat thrillers, this book should be on your bookshelf.
JANA

10 people found this helpful

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C.A. Hawthorne

It's strength is its weakness

Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2012

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This is a difficult book to review because nearly every aspect was feast-or-famine. Liebermann and Rheinhardt investigate a series of horrendous murders in Vienna that are seemingly unrelated. The story is exquisitely rich in detail as long as we're talking about sites in Vienna, native food, classical music, and psychology. In fact, you'll be nearly buried in detail concerning these topics, which is the book's primary flaw. At the same time that the constant parade of terms add a richness to the story, they also place the reader at a distance unless, of course, they happen to be experts on these topics. I found the parts that most deeply delved into psychoanalysis the most interesting, but wearied of foreign terms and in-depth classical music/opera knowledge. Thankfully I knew a little about Mozart, Wagner, and others, but if you have no experience with them at all it makes the read far more difficult. Too, when the book steps out of those topics the detail seems slim in comparison, to the point that it's noticeable.

Liebermann is by far the better drawn character of the two and few others standout at all, especially if they're female. Still, in the end I enjoyed the book for the most part after I forced myself to not be put-off by its excesses. The plot is a good one and cleverly crafted and it was interesting to watch Liebermann and Rheinhardt (Liebermann, especially) figure out the murderer's thinking. The pacing is very good and the chapters are, with few exceptions, very short so the story moves along quickly. In the end the story and its characters inspired great fascination, but little passion.

5 people found this helpful

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Alison S. Coad

Excellent Series Continues

Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2015

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Vienna Blood is the second entry in Frank Tallis’ Liebermann Papers series. It is 1902 and in Vienna, young psychiatrist Max Liebermann is asked by his friend, Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt, to use his powers of observation and psychological insight to help discover an apparent serial killer. The deaths are baffling, including a madam and two prostitutes, a young immigrant, even a snake in the royal zoo - all highly ritualized and all seemingly completely unrelated. It is up to Max and Oskar to discover the connections, hopefully in time to prevent yet more murders…. The really interesting thing about this series is the times and the setting: Vienna at this time is very sophisticated, but also home to virulent anti-Semitism which Max, as a Jew, encounters first-hand, albeit somewhat muted given his status as a doctor. The ideas the ultimately found expression in Nazi Germany are in their formative stages here, and it’s fascinating to see how these people justified their ideas to themselves and others. That said, the story is also well-plotted, the characters are well-drawn (and evolve from book to book) and the mystery fairly clued; altogether, a superior series in my eyes. Recommended!

6 people found this helpful

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xx00

I have been wanting to read the Liberman series since I saw the programs on PBS.

Reviewed in Canada on February 28, 2024

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The books are coming slowly and there is one book that is not on your site but belong to the serie. The title is "The melancholy countess". If I could get this book, it would complete my serie.

Susan Armstrong

Susan Armstrong Review

Reviewed in Australia on October 11, 2018

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Reading the entire set. His knowledge of history and his analysis of human beings and behaviours is extraordinary. Thrilling to read.

Maria

Spannend

Reviewed in Germany on December 24, 2012

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Spannend geschrieben. und mit den Charakteren sehr interessant. LIest sich gut. Hat gefallen. Und kann weiter empfohlen werden in jwswe HInaixhr

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AK

Celebration of the fin de siecle Vienna like the first book in the series

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 4, 2010

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The second installment in te Liebermann Papers series is definitely every bit as good as its predecessor, Mortal Mischief: The Liebermann Papers (Liebermann Papers 1) . It combines a crime novel with an exquisitely researched fin de siecle Viennese life and society description. This includes the cafe intellectualist side, as well as the love of music, art mre generally, and on the daker side secret societies and the rise of race theories.

It might not be as fast paced as a crime novel playing in more modern surroundings but I find the mix of describing the life of the protagonists in many facets next to the crime story to be much better in tune with the historical period described. The rendering of culinary pleasures to be had (frequently enjoyed by all the protagonists) makes one easily salivate and both Liebermann (the young psychoanalist) and inspektor Reinhardt (the main detective) are portrayed as rich, complete personalities. The slightly stronger focus on Lebermann's personnal life and feelings than in the first novel and his indecision between his fiancee and an enigmatic former (English) patient adds another dimension to the work.

This is certainly a more satisfying and more complete pleasure than something from The Da Vinci Code mould, if perhaps a slower burner, which replaces the often silly ideas and elements of the latter with thorough research and understanding of the subject matter as well as a very rich and much more pleasant language.

The only aspect I am still undecided on is the psychoanalytic level in the book - it is either quite strongly simplified, or potentially more approapriately represents the then current knowledge and understanding of the field. Be that as it may, it often adds an additional witty element to an otherwise already accomplished book

7 people found this helpful

Don Marsh

Excellent!

Reviewed in Canada on July 26, 2023

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Excellent Service.

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