I enjoy Frank Tallis' books. I was disappointed that the same story was published under different titles. One should have been told.

I really don't know where to begin. How could the other reviewers rate it so highly? But better keep things simple:

(1) The characters are two-dimensional. Many words are written about, but nothing is really said of, their being, their personality. Thus, why are the Police Inspector and the analyst friends? Because they play music together? Not a single significant thought is exchanged between them in this whole series of disconnected vignettes that passes for a book.

(2) The plot, and its dénouement, are absurd. The murder is presented as a fascinating locked-room mystery, but the solution to this particular puzzle is demeaningly cheap.

(3) Freud appears in three (?) half-pages only to smoke and utter total trivialities, so giving "local colour" to the story.

(4) And what's the point of the meanigless, idiotic twaddle exchanged between Amelia and the Professor? "Fluxions" in Continental Europe, in 1900, in the language of Leibniz, indeed! Why include chapters that make anybody with a minimum of science college training laugh at you?

And that's it. (5) Oh yes, there are some details about food, the psychiatric practices and theories of this fascinating period, and a glimpse of its courting customs, and that must have taken some (not much) research to write about. That's why I'm giving the book two stars instead of one.

But if you're genuinely interested in those times, then read Stefan Zweig's autobiography, or Sándor Márai "The Final Meeting" (I don't know if this is the exact title in English), or "Wittgenstein's Vienna" by Janik and Toulmin. These are wonderful books, and the time it takes to absorb them is well invested.

In a nutshell, avoid, even if there are enough loose ends to flesh out the following volumes, which I don't even dream of buying.

This is a well-written and interesting mystery, but be aware that "Mortal Mischief" and "A Death in Vienna" are the same book! One is the British title, the other the title used in the States. Don't buy both.