Reviewed by Elaine Simpson-Long
Several years ago I was sent a copy of Black Roses by this author, the first in her Clara Vine series. Clara is an Anglo-German actress and lives in pre-war Berlin. Over several books, all of which are intriguing and interesting, we see how she navigates her life amidst a febrile and dangerous atmosphere. I highly recommend them.
Midnight in Vienna, if the ending is indicative, promises to be the first of another series set in this time period and is as captivating as the Vine novels.
Someone had crashed their car inside the Admiralty Arch – the folly of trying to manoeuvre a large Austin 7 through such a narrow space alongside a bicycle. Voices were raised indignantly, a man was shouting and the traffic was backing up…….not far away from this commotion Hubert Newman made his way erratically along Pall Mall…
This is the opening of Midnight in Vienna and within a few pages Hubert Newman is dead.
It is 1938 and Stella Fry has returned to London from Vienna where she has been living and working. She has had a love affair which has come to an end when she discovers her lover is joining the Socialist Party…
“What does it matter what I believe? It doesn’t change who we are.”
“I think it matters what you believe.”
She is how home, out of work and sharing a flat with Evelyn Lamont, an actress friend.
Although actual fame eluded her she had met Edith Evans and Margaret Lockwood and could imitate both with perfect mimicry. She had taught herself to hold a cigarette like Bette Davis and she studied Vogue like the bible.
Stella had spent her time in Vienna as a private tutor before the Austrian family she worked for, and whose children she loved, had decided to leave and seek safety in New York. She could speak three languages, had a Royal typewriter, no job and a broken heart and she knew that generous though Evelyn was she needed to find work.
She then sees an advertisement in the Times ‘ author seeks typist’. The author is Hubert Newman a famous writer of detective stories. They lunch at the Athenaeum and he finds her knack of “spot the mistakes” perfect for the job. This particular manuscript is a departure from the norm.
The fact is that this book is not a detective novel at all. It is a literary investigation. It is called Masquerade. I decided to apply my skills as s sleuth to investigate all the alternative candidates for the ‘real’ Shakespeare.
He offers her the job and promises to send her the manuscript immediately. The next morning Stella is shocked to hear of his death and then twenty-four hours later the manuscript arrives with the dedication:
To Stella, spotter of mistakes.
We are now introduced to Harry Fox, formerly of Special Branch, brilliant at surveillance, suspended for some undisclosed mistake and now a Watcher. It is quite amusing to read that his job is to follow possible subversives such as Auden and Orwell and spends most of his days following his targets. He has his own reasons for being interested in Hubert Newman. He approaches Stella Fry to share his belief that the writer’s death was no accident.
I have said that I found Midnight in Vienna captivating, but I also have to admit that when I first started reading this book I was not sure that it would prove to be as enjoyable as the Vine books. I found it to be a slow burner but it drew me in until I was intrigued enough to carry on and finish it at one sitting.
I love Thynne’s style. I constantly repeat myself when I say how much I appreciate clean writing, straightforward narrative with no frills or furbelows – a style of writing which is a pleasure to read and which flows continuously. This title, along with others I have read by this author, exhibits all of the above and by the end I found myself totally involved with the characters. It seems, by the slightly open-ended finale, that this is the start of a series and I am already looking forward to the next one.
But oh please, if I am not being too greedy, may we have another Clara Vine?
Elaine blogs at Random Jottings.
Jane Thynne, Midnight in Vienna (Quercus, 2024). 978-1529430660, 432pp., hardback.
BUY at Blackwell’s via our affiliate link (free UK P&P)
