Vienna Blood by Frank Tallis

This is a historical mystery. It takes place in (as you might gather from the title) Vienna in the very first years of the 20th century. Our main characters are Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt and his friend, psychologist Dr. Max Liebermann. The story opens with the slaughter at the zoo of the emperor's favorite snake. This killing is closely followed by the brutal slaying and mutilation of several women of dubious reputation. Detective Inspector Rheinhardt is called in to investigate and he consults Dr. Liebermann (a student of Freud) about the possible mental/emotional state of what is shaping up to be a serial killer.

The relationship between the two men is interesting. They are both very musical and find a musical connection with the murders as well. I found the political background of the mystery very interesting too. One gets a sense of the social turbulence that preceded the coming war. I started reading the next in this series, but found it a little too Freudian for my taste. A little Freud goes a long way, I believe. Still, this book was captivating and I enjoyed it very much.

I have to mention that Frank Tallis must have the largest vocabulary of any writer I am familiar with. I encountered at least a dozen words in this book (a mystery, no less!) that I had to look up in order to define. So fun! I was romanced from the beginning by Mr. Tallis' use of words like "fenestrated", "hierophant", "horripilated", "batrachian" and "crepitating". Sigh. Loved that.