Murder in Vienna is a late entry into the MacDonald series and is set in, It is a work of a skilled wordsmith, It was quite nice to read about Vienna and it's places and history, It has one absolutely fascinating character, . . Webster. It has a good atmosphere and sense of place,
However,it's a murder mystery at its core and not a bad one, There is a large number of people involved and sometimes it became a challenge to recall who was who.
I also had a sense that some of the characters besides MacDonald and Reeves had made previous appearances in the series.
However, I don't think anyone would be likely to crack the case as the murderers actual identity and motive is very well hiddenyou may say not hinted at all.
Overall,this was a complex mystery with some story elements found more commonly in an Ambler or HighSmith novels rather in british detective stories.
It was very readable,never boring but ultimately somewhat less satisfying than her best books, But atrupees in Kindle ,it was easily worth it, MacDonald is on holiday in this book, He books a flight to Vienna apparently on a Viscount and although this is mentioned a lot, is irrelevant.
During the flight he notices a young woman who would like to look out of the window, but is obstructed by a man reading a book who has the window seat.
At Zurich the plane lands and the passengers are divided by those who wish to carry with the flight and those heading for Vienna.
This young woman attaches herself to MacDonald, as she thinks he looks trustworthy, for his help on carrying on her journey to Vienna.
He learns that the woman is going to be a secretary to an elderly man writing his memoirs.
For the first days of his holiday he meets this woman and tells her of the sights and places Vienna is famous for.
Shortly after this he hears that the woman has gone missing and so sets out to find her.
This is where the story really begins and a murder does take place, Needless to say, MacDonald has to cut his holiday short and help the police with their investigations.
I found the start of this was more like a travelogue, than a fiction book, so was pleased when the action got going.
Once this stage was reached, it was quite a complicated plot, bringing in various different but interesting characters.
Superintendent Macdonald, CID, studied his fellowpassengers on the Vienna plane simply because he couldnt help it, because he hadnt conditioned himself to being on holiday.
The distinguished industrialist he recognised: the stout man he put down quite mistakenly as a traveller in whisky.
The fair girl was going to a job he was right there and the aggressive young man in the camel coat might be something bookish.
Macdonald turned away from his fellowpassengers deliberately they werent his business, he was on holiday or so he thought.
Very much enjoyed this twisty murder mystery set ins Vienna, Inspector MacDonald flies to Vienna for aweek vacation, having not been there since before the war, and stays with some repatriated friends who he knew as refugees in London during the war.
Unfortunately, many of the other British passengers on his airplane flight are not going to Vienna for quite so straightforward reasons.
. . and so he gets drawn into an intrigue that involves an elderly opera singer, a retired diplomat's household, and a wellknown author.
MacDonald manages to solve the case in a day, allowing him to return to his holiday with barely a pause.
Really good look at Vienna in murder mystery context
I really enjoyed this book.
The Visuals made extra fun, Part of a strong series, which Im enjoying, Good way to spend a Saturday morning, This is an already "tested and approved" author in a genre I love, Maybe Macdonald isn't Poirot, mas he's an interesting character all the same, Lovely even. It's also very interesting to get to read about Vienna after World War II, so very different from today speaking as a tourist.
I only recommend a little editing, because there are some mistakes especially commas and a lot of typos.
Excellent story marred by poor production
This is another ebook that should have been read by a human before being published or at least have gone through a spellcheck.
Seeing how many characters an apostrophe had been turned into detracted from the story,.Great Vienna atmosphere made this a good read, I haven't read tons of Lorac but of those I've read, this one comes in last place.
It has a great setting in Vienna described beautifully with MacDonald on vacay, There's a somewhat interesting group of travellers on his plane who figure into the larger story, But in the end, the actual murder mystery plot was very slow and I'm sorry to say, not up to MacDonald's abilities as shown in other books in the series.
It took far too long for him to get there and if I'm not counting it as a lack in the plotting, it can only be a feature of his being on vacation and in a different mode.
Still, not great. Adding to my surprise here is that I love books about bookish type things and this even had that.
Every book can't dazzle but YMMV, I think that if you skip this one in the series, you'll have lived a full life.
Now I'm off to find my next read,.
I'll make this review short amp sweet,
I really enjoyed an earlier Lorac I read, sitelinkFell Murder,but this one fell tee hee! more than a little flat.
I did really enjoy the traveloguelike descriptions of Vienna, I've been to this city twice, both times a long time ago, amp loved both visits, But when the mystery began, I rapidly became bored, There was so much repetition on quite trivial matters that the whole story just dragged, By the time of the resolution, I no longer cared who had done it,
If I read any more Lorac, it will be books earlier in her career than this one.
sitelink
sitelink com/view/carolshess Superintendent Macdonald goes on holiday to Vienna and is pitched into a series of crimes, This is a late addition to the series, first published in, the year after the ending of the Allied occupation of Austria.
As is often the case with Lorac, the setting and atmosphere are really well done, from the depiction ofs airtravel, to description of the faded splendours and lingering deprivations of the onceproud Imperial capital.
What the novel lacks is detection and a interesting puzzle to unravel,
This one may be only for completists or ardent fans, Macdonald is everinteresting and complex and the writing is evergood, but as for the plot, it is too negligible.
.I know her reputation seems to be on the rise of late but I'm not sure if Lorac is really the author for me.
This is the third novel I've read and I can't say any of them have excited me all that much.
This one sees Macdonald on vacation in Vienna, looking up some old friends and being reluctantly drawn into a complicated murder investigation.
The buildup is slow, measured and deliberate, almost ponderously so in the opinion of this reader.
Languorous description seems to be a characteristic of the author, which I know holds considerable appeal for many but it's not a style I'm overly fond of.
Precious little happens for the first half of the story although the pace does pick up slightly from that point on.
While I can't claim to have been gripped at any stage, the book does improve as it goes on.
By the end, I found myself regarding it, somewhat grudgingly, as OK if not especially good,
I do wonder if my choices of books by Lorac have been poor, I have a few more to hand, but I'm not in a rush right now to get back to any of them.
E. C. R. Lorac is a Golden Age mystery author that I've come to like, Her Robert Mc Donald series has produced another detective that I've come to like, I've read a few in the series due to the difficulty of finding the printed editions and I find her style is comforting.
As much as the mystery, she gives us an enjoyable story with her beautiful writing and her choice of interesting characters.
But, this last installment of the series is a bit of a disappointment, It's altogether a weak mystery the weakest that I've read so far in the series, Perhaps having written it in her sixties might have affected the sharpness of her creative ability, In any case, the murder mystery was a confusing mess, and when resolved, it was just meh.
The characters were not up to the level of her other novels, Few were interesting of course, but some wouldbe interesting characters were dropped in the middle without any reference to them afterward.
Even Superintendent Robert Mc Donald didn't shine here as he used to, Of course, being out of his jurisdiction his role is restricted, but I felt there was yet a possibility to make his role more active.
However, the setting somewhat compensated for the disappointment in the mystery element, The Viennese setting was truly enchanting, Through the story, we are taken to important destinations in the city, including the Schönbrunn Palace, its beautiful garden, and the Gloriette.
The story brought back fond memories of my visits to Vienna, which was comforting, Many moving parts
I put off reading this for quite a while, because I didnt think I would enjoy a mystery based in Europe.
I was wrong. I enjoyed the many different aspects of the mystery, and I also enjoyed getting a sense of the Vienna of that time.
.stars
Another entertaining
mystery featuring C, I. D. 's Robert Macdonald. This one is set in the mids,
Macdonald is taking a wellearned vacation to revisit Vienna,
Of course he is inevitably drawn into the police world when an Englishman with high connections is murdered.
The descriptions of Vienna were wonderful, the mystery was twisty, I was just about ready to call 'foul' when the killer was revealed, but I then remembered a scene earlier in the book that set up the killer's identity.
Lorac always plays fair you just have to pay attention!
A note on this editionyikes! the scanning errors!! Be prepared for numerous typos.
There were aspects of Murder In Vienna which I liked, but overall I found it a bit of a slog.
First published inand a late book in a longrunning series, this is a tale of intrigue and detection in a Vienna which is still recovering from the devastating effects of the Second World War and its aftermath.
Superintendent Macdonald of the CID, is going there for a holiday to meet an old friend, when he becomes involved in trying to solve strange goingson including attacks on two Brits who shared a plane with Macdonald on the way out.
As a plot its adequate but not brilliant, the characterisation is quite good but somewhat stereotypical and Im afraid the dialogue is horribly stilted sometimes.
Lorac does set a very good background: the description of air travel inis very interesting and she paints a fine picture of Vienna at that time.
This lends the book a good deal more interest especially for me because much of the action is set in the suburb of Hietzing, to which I have strong family ties.
I found that very poignant without it, I may not have stuck with the book to the end, and even as it is I was quite glad to get to the end and start something else.
So not terrible, not great. I may give Lorac another try at some point, but I can only give this a very qualified recommendation.
.