Mozart's Last Aria

September 5, 2011
In this engaging, well-paced book from crime novelist and journalist Rees (The Collaborator of Bethlehem), Mozart’s estranged sister, Madame Maria Anna Berchtold von Sonnenburg (called Nannerl by her family), travels to Vienna to investigate the mysterious circumstances of her brother’s sudden death. According to Nannerl’s sister-in-law Constanze, Mozart had premonitions of murder before he died. In Vienna, Nannerl finds a web of deception, scandal, and fear revolving around the colorful, dangerous Freemasons, implicating Mozart in shadowy activities and pointing to his death by poison. Meanwhile, Nannerl’s own musical career—once overshadowed by her prodigy brother’s—is revived as she pays tribute to his compositions. Despite her reservations, she finds herself drawn to a powerful baron, himself caught up in all the intrigue. Combining Dan Brown or Elizabeth Kostova–style historical conspiracy theory with cozy detective novel, Rees’s latest offers a genuinely felt reverence for the power of Mozart’s music and its lasting impact in the world.

Starred review from October 15, 2011
Rees' latest marks a distinct departure from the Omar Yussef detective series as it combines mystery and historical intrigue with a timeless love story. Thousands of words have been written about the late-18th-century musical genius, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a child prodigy who, with his sister, toured much of Europe. Maria Anna, known to her family as Nannerl, was five years older than her brother, who died in Vienna in the winter of 1791. He rose to acclaim in the Austrian capital, leaving Nannerl behind. She married and the two were estranged three years before his death. The story opens with Nannerl on her own deathbed. She gives her nephew, also called Wolfgang, an old diary to read. In it she has recorded the story of her search for the reason behind her brother's death. The younger Nannerl, accompanied only by her maid, travels to Vienna after receiving the news. She feels sad, knowing that she cut herself off from the one person who loved her most, and goes to see his widow, Constanze, who describes her husband's last few days. Nannerl starts to believe her brother was poisoned and, against the frozen background of Vienna in the days of King Leopold, whose own sister, French Queen Marie Antoinette, lives under arrest, she sets out to unravel the mystery of her brother's murder. While searching for answers, Nannerl finds more than simply a conspiracy; she also uncovers a side to her beloved brother that she had never before known. Rees nails the details of Mozart's Vienna with precision, seasoning his story with musical details that will delight fans of classical music. The author renders Nannerl very sympathetic and teases in a touch of romance that is both bittersweet and unexpected. At the heart of the tale lies Mozart's real-life membership in the Masons, a tiresome and familiar plot device that mars an otherwise lovely story. A beautiful book illuminated by the author's own musical background that moves slowly and deliberately to a fine conclusion.

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October 1, 2011

Rees's first stand-alone novel after the award-winning Omar Yussef mystery series (The Collaborator of Bethlehem) delves into 18th-century Austria and the intrigue surrounding Mozart and his contemporaries. Mozart's estranged sister, Madame Maria Anna Berchtold von Sonnenburg, a distinguished musician in her own right and known to her family as Nannerl, travels to Vienna to uncover the true circumstances of her brother's death. Mozart's friends and supporters claim he was poisoned, and Nannerl discovers multiple possible motives for his murder, including debts, reported liaisons, entanglements with secret societies, and even treason. Similar in appearance and adept at performance, Nannerl impersonates her brother to unmask the murderer. VERDICT Replete with biographical detail and musical references, this novel animates Mozart's life and times with a varied cast of patrons, lovers, and villains. This absorbing Viennese soap opera is a solid choice for readers who like fiction about historical figures caught up in suspenseful intrigues such as Matthew Pearl's The Dante Club or Gyles Brandreth's Oscar Wilde mysteries.--Cathy Lantz, Morton Coll. Lib., Cicero, IL

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2011
This historical crime novel set in the late eighteenth century brings together three crucial elements: Amadeus Mozart's death, his involvement in the secret society of Viennese Masons, and his sister Nannerl's quest to uncover a web of secrets surrounding his demise. After Nannerl receives a letter from her sister-in-law saying Mozart has died of a fever, she journeys from her home outside of Salzburg to pay her respects in Vienna only to discover that Mozart may have been poisoned, and many shady characters, from high society and low, are implicated in the mystery. Rees, author of the Omar Yussef mystery series, set in contemporary Palestine, intrepidly re-creates the world in which Mozart lived, a world filled with periwigs, corsets, and concert halls. His creative interpretations of the musician's operas, including The Magic Flute, bring new vigor to Mozart's music and life while maintaining a believable grasp on history. An excellent choice for mystery fans and historical-fiction readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)