Author: | Valentina Gurarie | ISBN: | 9781476349466 |
Publisher: | Valentina Gurarie | Publication: | March 14, 2012 |
Imprint: | Smashwords Edition | Language: | English |
Author: | Valentina Gurarie |
ISBN: | 9781476349466 |
Publisher: | Valentina Gurarie |
Publication: | March 14, 2012 |
Imprint: | Smashwords Edition |
Language: | English |
In the Vienna of waltzes, masquerades and Freud, the Prince has died. Awash in blood, pistol in hand, clinging to his equally dead seventeen year old lover, Crown Prince Rudolf, heir apparent to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is no more. Was the death of Prince Rudolf a suicide, as the secretive Imperial Palace claims or was it, as widely rumored, murder? And if so, who killed Rudolf Hapsburg?
Twelve years have passed but the mystery of Rudolf’s death remains unsolved. To Victor Moritz – a journalist and a friend of the late Prince – finding the answers to these questions is no longer as vital as it once was. Amidst personal tragedies and professional disappointments, Victor has long abandoned his quest to piece the puzzle together. However, as a specter of evil rises over the Empire and Vienna is stunned by the wave of violence, the circumstances of Crown Price’s tragic demise acquire new relevance.
Victor barely survives an assassination attempt on his life, which leaves him in a bloody heap on the street of his beloved city. Struggling to regain his health, courage and fortitude, he is compelled to start anew the investigation he ingloriously halted over a decade ago. With the help of his bohemian, corset-shunning, bicyclette-riding daughter Emily, Victor is determined to search for truth. The tangled paths of guilt lead in several directions at once; Victor and Emily pursue them all.
More often than not, it is easier to explain Death than to solve Life. What if the hand that pulled the trigger and the head that willed it to do so don’t belong to the same body, dead or alive?
In the Vienna of waltzes, masquerades and Freud, the Prince has died. Awash in blood, pistol in hand, clinging to his equally dead seventeen year old lover, Crown Prince Rudolf, heir apparent to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is no more. Was the death of Prince Rudolf a suicide, as the secretive Imperial Palace claims or was it, as widely rumored, murder? And if so, who killed Rudolf Hapsburg?
Twelve years have passed but the mystery of Rudolf’s death remains unsolved. To Victor Moritz – a journalist and a friend of the late Prince – finding the answers to these questions is no longer as vital as it once was. Amidst personal tragedies and professional disappointments, Victor has long abandoned his quest to piece the puzzle together. However, as a specter of evil rises over the Empire and Vienna is stunned by the wave of violence, the circumstances of Crown Price’s tragic demise acquire new relevance.
Victor barely survives an assassination attempt on his life, which leaves him in a bloody heap on the street of his beloved city. Struggling to regain his health, courage and fortitude, he is compelled to start anew the investigation he ingloriously halted over a decade ago. With the help of his bohemian, corset-shunning, bicyclette-riding daughter Emily, Victor is determined to search for truth. The tangled paths of guilt lead in several directions at once; Victor and Emily pursue them all.
More often than not, it is easier to explain Death than to solve Life. What if the hand that pulled the trigger and the head that willed it to do so don’t belong to the same body, dead or alive?