Vienna Waltz
Malcom and Suzanne Rannoch Historical Mysteries BOOK 2
by Teresa Grant
GENRE: #HistoricalMystery #HistoricalFiction📍 Setting: Vienna (Austria) | ⏳ Era: November 1814 (The Congress of Vienna)
My rating: ★★★★☆ (3.8 rounded up to 4)
Cinderella? No, this is a dangerous ballroom of political mirrors. 💃🎻🕶️
The start of this book was a bit boring to me, and it took some endurance to push through the initial chapters. However, as the music of Vienna grew darker, after a while I truly got into the intricate story and I really liked it. It turned out to be a surprising historical puzzle.
THE REASONS I WAS BORED IN THE BEGINNING:
1) The prologue was definitely too long and dense. It was filled with unnecessary details that didn't serve the core mystery.
Coming off a fantastic previous reading in the series, wading through a boring prologue made me ill-disposed towards the book. After finishing the very first chapter, I honestly thought this novel wasn't for me and I even contemplated abandoning the series entirely.
2) The first two chapters failed to capture my interest because of the victim. The murder of Princess Tatiana—a despicable, manipulative woman—felt uninspiring at first. I simply didn't care whether her murder was solved or not. While every character in the book seemed inexplicably attracted to her, the truth is that from the very beginning, she displays a selfish personality entirely devoted to power. She was a ruthless blackmailer, showing no mercy even toward those who genuinely loved her.
3) The relationship dynamic felt incredibly cold. The two protagonists are married, but apart from the fact that they have a young son and get along well in bed, they seem like perfect strangers. There is a constant, heavy air of embarrassment and unspoken secrets between them. They felt detached, and I couldn't find a strong reason to root for them.
Despite these initial flaws, I was still under the spell of the first book (which I absolutely loved), so I decided to trust the author and continue. After all, the premise on the back cover promised a grand historical stage:
| 📜 THE PLOT IN A NUTSHELL
November 1814, the glittering Congress of Vienna. The elite of Europe—sovereigns, ambassadors, princes, and even the Tsar himself—have gathered to negotiate and carve up the fate of the Continent after Napoleon Bonaparte's exile to the island of Elba.
But the diplomacy is shattered one night when Princess Tatiana, the most beautiful and scandalous woman in Vienna, is found murdered during an ill-timed rendezvous with three of her most powerful conquests.
Suzanne Rannoch has been trying hard to ignore the persistent rumors that her new husband, Malcolm, was one of Tatiana's lovers. When both Suzanne and Malcolm are summoned to the scene and it turns out he was the one who discovered the bloody body, they have no choice but to launch their own investigation into the high-stakes world of international espionage...
| 🤗 MY THOUGHTS
WHY I CHANGED MY MIND AND APPRECIATED THE BOOK:
As the investigation deepens, the reader uncovers that there are many hidden, layered motives behind this murder—dangerous secrets that husband and wife are desperately keeping from each other.
1) Investigating together, facing constant dangers, and literally saving each other's lives forces the two main characters to slowly drop their guards. Malcolm and Suzanne begin to open up, and we discover that actually they are deeply in love with each other. They simply dare not admit it openly due to the trauma of their pasts and their deep-seated fears.
As the secrets are revealed little by little, the characters finally exude a beautiful warmth that makes the reader's heart melt. This vulnerability gives rise to a newfound trust in the partner and the fragile hope of being truly loved back.
2) The historical realism is outstanding. The characters revolving around Malcolm and Suzanne are numerous, and many of them really existed in history, playing decisive roles in 19th-century European society.
At the beginning of the book, the author provides a full list of characters, marking the real historical figures with an asterisk. This feature was incredibly useful and entertaining for me! As I met these figures in the text, I thoroughly enjoyed looking up their real-life summaries on Wikipedia. It gave me a broader, richer view of the Congress of Vienna and those impressive, larger-than-life historical personalities.
Here's a sneak peek at the real people you'll meet in this gripping mystery:
- Prince Talleyrand, the brilliant and clever French foreign minister who represented Louis XVIII at the Congress of Vienna from September 1814 to June 1815.
- Dorothée de Courlande (Princess Dorothea of Courland, later Duchess of Dino), accompanied her great-uncle by marriage, Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, to the Congress of Vienna in 1814–1815, acting as his political confidante and the brilliant hostess of the French delegation at the Kaunitz Palace.
Her charm and intelligence captivated major figures of the era, helping Talleyrand navigate the social webs of the Austrian court and influence the rival delegations of the Quadruple Alliance. - Prince Klemens von Metternich, the Austrian foreign minister, chaired and hosted the Congress of Vienna. Metternich hosted lavish parties and balls to keep visiting monarchs entertained and distracted while statesmen handled the real political negotiations behind closed doors.
He worked with British Foreign Minister Viscount Castlereagh to block excessive territorial expansion by Russia and Prussia. - Viscount Castlereagh served as the British Foreign Secretary at the Congress of Vienna in 1814, where he shaped a stable European balance of power after the defeat of Napoleon.
- Tsar Alexander I of Russia was one of the most powerful and central figures at the Congress of Vienna in 1814, arriving as the victorious conqueror of Napoleon to help reshape the map and political future of Europe. Alexander directed his own country's delegation, using personal charm, religious idealism, and political stubbornness to push his agenda.
- Wilhelmine, Duchess of Sagan (Dorothée's sister), was a leading social and political figure at the Congress of Vienna (1814–1815), where she ran a famous salon at the Palais Palm that hosted Europe's most powerful monarchs and diplomats.
Like her rival Princess Katharina Bagration (also among the characters in the book), the Duchess used her social standing and salons as a hub for political maneuvering, acting as a central node in the social-political web of the Congress.
In addition to these, we find their wives, brothers, sisters, and other delegates, ministers, princes, and sovereigns.
Each character, through their dialogue (even if the latter stems from the author's imagination), perfectly reflects the role they actually played at the congress.
It's not difficult for the reader to imagine intrigues and subterfuges, both political and romantic, in that brazenly lavish and frivolous atmosphere, where appetites revolved around power and lust.
- Speaking of appetite: the book also praises the cuisine of a great real-life chef, Marie-Antoine Carême, who used his position as chef to Talleyrand during the Congress of Vienna in 1814–1815 to charm foreign diplomats and help restore France's political influence through gastrodiplomacy.
Carême, who originally studied architecture, created massive, intricate edible sculptures out of pastry, sugar, and marzipan. These centerpieces represented classical temples, ruins, and fortresses, captivating the foreign monarchs and leaving them in awe of French genius.
3) Talking about all characters ( both fictional and real ) part of the allure of the mystery lies in the fact that everyone is lying. Although for most of the book I didn't care about the libertine princess's killer, I became utterly fascinated by the secondary mysteries. Throughout the story, EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER has dark secrets to hide. In the end, the resolution of the murder mystery was not obvious at all!
In the final chapters, I was completely convinced I had guessed the culprit, but the reality was much more intricate and grand. The author was truly ingenious, and the ending genuinely surprised me!
4) The Congress of Vienna (1814–1815) was a monumental turning point where hard-nosed geopolitics collided with the height of Romantic-era excess. While statesmen redrew the map of Europe after the fall of Napoleon, they did so against a backdrop of non-stop balls, theatrical fireworks, and scandalous love affairs. This dual nature earned it the famous nickname: "The Congress dances, but it does not march" ( i.e. the leaders at the Congress of Vienna used to spend most of their time partying instead of making political progress).
I firmly believe that this kind of atmosphere has been brilliantly portrayed by the author. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
HISTORICAL NOTES AT THE END OF THE BOOK:
This always increases my appreciation for an author and their novels. Unfortunately, such notes are not a given, as not all authors choose to write them.
At the end of the story, don't forget to read the author's historical notes. They will clarify exactly where she took liberties with date changes and provide a wonderful guide to the true events, should you want to delve deeper into history by searching for specific books (which are also listed) and exploring online.
FINAL VERDICT
Initially, I was going to rate this book a mediocre 3 stars, thinking I would close the chapter on this series. But the complex web of lies, the historical depth, and the emotional growth of Suzanne and Malcolm won me over.
I've grown genuinely fond of them and I really wish to spend more time in their company by reading book #3 in the series (though perhaps not right away). Therefore, I've rated the novel a solid 3.8 stars, happily rounding up to 4 stars.
Wandering through the glittering, deceptive halls of the 1814 Congress of Vienna via Wikipedia while reading was pure magic. Teresa Grant managed to weave fiction and history so tightly that, by the final page, I felt like a spy myself, exhausted by the lies but deeply under the spell of the era.
I hope reading my review has helped you decide whether or not to read this book next. Thank you all for stopping by.
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