Psychiatrist readers, whether devotees of psychotherapy or sceptics, should all enjoy this rich Viennese brew received for review. Professor Sigmund Freud is glimpsed on the fifth page and occupies centre stage briefly in the 52nd of its 87 short chapters. Whilst the breaks are convenient for pausing, the narrative is of the can't-put-down variety, tempting you to turn to the next page.

The amateur sleuth who uses his familiarity with psychoanalytic formulations to solve this Mortal Mischief is a young psychiatrist in Vienna around the turn of the century, and the tale is embroidered with lashings of medical controversy and local colour, all very thoroughly researched and introduced convincingly.

The very first paragraph, with its five similes, was quite a turn-off but, having pushed on, I decided retrospectively that it was parodic of the murder mystery genre, a reading pleasure that I hadn't indulged for many years. Once there was a beautiful corpse we were well away.

The climax suggests that the London-based author (of the Institute of Psychiatry and King's College London) was well familiar with The Third Man and had not long before enjoyed riding the London Eye?

Dr Tallis also indulges his cultural predelictions, notably for music I guess, to my delight. Whilst professionally engaged as a clinical psychologist and a gifted author with awards to his name, is he too a keen pianist, clearly more proficient than me? (His medical detective hero Dr Liebermann is able to toss off Book 1 of the "48" before work!)

The book is attractively printed and produced, and available from Amazon. By clicking on my two links, you can read a full review in The Guardian, and meet Dr Tallis himself.

PGW

Response from author:
- - yes, your musical deductions are correct. I used to be a very good pianist (not so these days - too busy seeing patients and writing novels) - -

P.S. Mortal Mischief is now out in paper-back, and its sequel Vienna Blood is proving equally rewarding holiday reading. Dr Tallis has taken to fencing in a big way and maintained his cultural and gastronomic interests in Freud's and Mahler's Vienna, besides a good supply of period psychiatry.
(Both available from Amazon at favourable prices)

A full review can be found on Dr Woolf's music website Musical Pointers
at http://www.musicalpointers.co.uk/articles/generaltopics/TallisViennaBlood.htm