This one was a hard one to write. It puts a definite end to my Viennese Mysteries series. The original series stopped after book six. I had originally planned it for another three to four installments. But other projects came up, other publishers. Finally, during Covid, I sat down to finally write this one, a capstone set three decades later. But you can do the math. I still procrastinated with publication. I loved writing that series and am saying goodbye reluctantly. I’m not going to lie: tears were shed during the writing and editing of this novel. It will be coming out in February–I will announce the date here. But I thought former fans and curious readers might want to take a look at the cover art. Following is a brief synopsis.
A historical what-if and searing romance set in the waning days of the interwar period
Lilacs out of the Dead Land, a coda to the critically acclaimed VIENNESE MYSTERIES series, is a stirring historical thriller set in Austria shortly after the German annexation, or Anschluss, of March 1938.
Art historian Frieda von Werthen, with ties to the resistance, and her childhood friend, Franz Hruda, now a disaffected inspector in the Vienna criminal police, Kripo, become unlikely conspirators and lovers in a life-or-death mission.
Their goal: to deliver Case Green, a secret Nazi plan for the coming German invasion of Czechoslovakia, to the French and British. In doing so, they hope to put a stop to the Western policy of appeasement and call Hitler’s bluff before the world stumbles once again into war.
This mission is closely tracked by an ambitious officer of the SS security services and his troubled fixer, Falke, both of whom will do anything to recover this secret plan.
Lilacs out of the Dead Land is at once an exciting game of cat and mouse, a love story, an ode to a lost world, and an inspiring tale of human devotion and sacrifice.
Scene of the Crime