Murder In Vienna

 Murder In Vienna

Reviewed By  Grasshopper2       May 24, 2025

 

Author  E.C.R. Lorac

Distributor:      New South Books
ISBN:                 9780712355612
Publisher:         British Library Publishing
Release Date:   April 2025. Originally published in 1956.  

   Website:   https://newsouthbooks.com.au/books/murder-in-vienna/

FaceBook:    

YouTube:   

Instagram:   

X Formally Twitter:    

Murder in Vienna as well as, The Haunted Vintage and Tea on Sunday have been chosen by the British Library Publishing to be reprinted. The books written in a period from the late 1800’s to the mid 1900’s are enjoyable crime fiction novels but also of historical significance. The use of language, and some of the attitudes expressed expose their timeline but the publishers felt readers could enjoy these rare books from the British Library Crime Classics series and note the way the world was viewed.

In the introduction we find readers of the time wanted escapism from a post war austerity. Agatha Christie in the early 1850’s had written, “They came to Bagdad, which was a move away from Miss Marple and Poirot, in which the reader was taken to exotic locations and situations. Some of the Crime thriller series were set in the Riviera, in Switzerland and La Torquet.

Murder in Vienna introduces Superintendent Robert McDonald of the CIB. He is flying to Vienna for a long-awaited holiday. On the aeroplane McDonald meets some of his fellow passengers and chats with a young lady (Elizabeth). She is taking up a secretarial role with a man known to McDonald. While in Vienna he is staying with an old friend Natzler, who is a psychiatrist, and who also knows the family Elizabeth will be staying with and working for. Dramatically, they hear from the family that Elizabeth has disappeared.

The author shows her ability to evoke the sense of place, the characters and setting which makes these stories eminently readable. Her wry sense of humour in noting that a novelist within the story was so popular he had his photograph on the book cover. Even though her stories were widely read her photo never appeared.

Commencing with Murder in Vienna the three books in the series will take you back to a time when life was lived quite differently; collectively they are a fascinating look at the past as well as reflecting how attitudes have changed so much.

Crime, Fiction, Historical