Operation Vienna

Though Michael Ridpath is often associated with his early financial thrillers and his Icelandic Detective novels - this historical-murder-mystery series set between the war years in Europe is where he’ll be deeply celebrated.

Ridpath’s follow-up from last year’s Operation Berlin, is extraordinary. Now that the backdrop has been established and the various characters carefully positioned on the chess board - the author is free to deliver a hypnotic [and devious] murder mystery.

WW1 veteran Archie [Sir Archibald] Laverick [accompanied by his manservant / batman Arthur Lister] finds himself in 1931 Vienna. He is ostensibly researching the life and battles of an Austrian General, Prince Eugene [of Savoy] for a book he wishes to publish. Archie finds the activity of examining the battlefield strategies of renowned military officers helpful in managing the physical and mental damage inflicted by the horrors of his time in the trenches during [the so-called] Great War. He also relies on the companionship of his ‘batman’ Arthur Lister, who also served in that conflict.  Archie Laverick, is accompanied by the young American woman, Esme Carmichael who hails from the Mid-West, but has her heart set on becoming a Journalist [a Foreign Correspondent] in Europe for a Chicago newspaper. In order to break into the profession, she works in an ad-hoc capacity for Archie as his research assistant. Esme is fluent in German and French, and tenacious in delving into the required libraries and typing up both her own as well as Archie’s notes. Though, Esme Carmichael’s work as Archie’s research assistant provides her an income, it also proves a useful front in her journalistic investigations.

Carmichael has been contacted in Berlin by Journalist Joe Moretti regarding the death of a young American [Howland Weston Witherall] close to the Vienna Woods. What appeared at first as a tragic automobile accident is soon confirmed as suicide by the Austrian Police.

Joe Moretti is aware that Esme Carmichael is actively seeking a news story to sell [and/or syndicate], so he advises her that Howland’s suicide may be murder, and she should investigate. It appears that Howland, the young American came to Austria for psychotherapy with Dr Birenbaum [a former colleague of Sigmund Freud]. Dr Birenbaum is bound by his professional oath not to reveal what he uncovered during his sessions with Howland Witherall. Instead, the psychotherapist spoke with his friend Dr Gustav Reinitz  - telling him that his patient was far from depressed, and is adamant that there was no way Howland Witherall committed suicide – despite what the police concluded.

It is not long before Esme contacts Archie and persuades him to join her in Austria where she can assist him researching the Austrian General Eugene, in-concert with her investigation into the suicide of Howland Witherall.

Soon the game is indeed afoot.

Much of the action centres on the machinations of the journalists at the Café Sisi, the news-hub for the Foreign Correspondents; as well as Archie’s interest in rare book collecting especially when there’s a possible Gutenberg Bible for sale from an Austrian monastery.

As the investigation into the suicide of the young American runs in parallel to the research into the Austrian General, more sinister matters become revealed, and perhaps there are linkages to darker rumours. There are whispers about Austrian banking irregularities, as well as sexual liaisons.

Though Operation Vienna can easily be read as a standalone, the experience becomes totally immersive if you have read its precursor Operation Berlin. Many of the previous minor characters reappear, such as the book dealer from Dresden Moses Garfinkel who adds light relief, or the unpleasant Grayson Trexler and his former lover, the communist Ruth Jakubowski – who without Esme Carmichael’s help would have remained in a German prison cell before hanging for a political murder she did not commit. There are an array of new characters in the shape of the Foreign Correspondents who meddle in the intrigue of the time from their cups of coffee and liquor at the Café Sisi. Even Archie finds comfort from the horrors of his wartime scars. Though his batman / man-servant Lister is always on hand; he only makes small [but important] appearances when guile and brute force are required.   

The novel carefully combines the deviancy and darkness of human factors within a golden-age murder mystery, to the wider political economics of the Austro-German situation in the lead up to the Second World War.

Michael Ridpath is an author of extraordinary skill – miss this novel at your peril.