Howland Weston Witherell is a debonair well-to-do American, who finds himself in Vienna undergoing psychological counselling after a howler of a sailing accident takes the life of his best friend. Enrolling himself as a patient in the clinic of the famed psychoanalyst Dr. Birnbaum, Witherell also becomes a regular at the Café Sisi, a watering hole for the foreign correspondents in Vienna to trade stories, scoops, and alcoholic spirits. On an uneventful morning, the police in the village of Grinzing discover the smouldering remains of a car, with the driver burnt to cinders. The cops are aghast to find out that the unfortunate victim who had driven his automobile off a bend on the tricky Cobenzl terrain, is none other than Howland Witherell. A suicide note addressed to his girlfriend back home, and left behind at his lodgings in Vienna, confirms the finding of the Grinzing police. Aspiring foreign correspondent Esme Carmichael, however, believes that there is much more than what meets the eye in the supposed suicide of Witherell. Determined to investigate further, she requests historian Archie Laverick to assist her on her impetuous endeavour, by accompanying her to Austria. Archie after much persuasion decides to indulge Esme and, in the process, expedite his ongoing work of a biography of Prince Eugene.
Mystery
WHERE ARE THE KINGS – DONAL RYAN
Novelist and playwright, Sebastian Barry calls Donal Ryan "the king of the new wave of Irish writers" — and here Ryan pulls another rabbit from his glittering hat. Bleak, dark, deceptive, and beguiling, Where Are the Kings delivers a sledgehammer blow to its unsuspecting reader. As the covers close, it is time to draw a deep breath and contemplate, in silence, a plot that is not merely ingenious but deeply penetrating. A bildungsroman, the book follows the tumultuous journey of young Jack in three arresting acts: tempus edax ("time the devourer of things"), tempus fugit ("the flight of time"), and tempus imperator ("time the ruler"). On the cusp of adolescence, Jack is dealt a devastating blow when his mother, Grace, drowns herself. Unable to bear the consequences of his wife's death, Jack's father descends into mental chaos before being dispatched to an asylum in Limerick.
Stop Dead – Katrín Júlíusdóttir
The world owes a huge debt of gratitude to Katrín Júlíusdóttir for abdicating a thriving political career and instead assume the profession of penning mystery novels. Since leaving politics in 2016, the former Minister of Finance and Economy in Iceland, has admirably reinvented herself as an author of prominence. Her latest book, Stop Dead is not exception to the norm. A racy thriller set in some of the bleak and windswept remote corners of Iceland, Stop Dead is a one sitting breathless read.