Mephisto Waltz

Summary: Vienna, 1904. The body of a man, still sitting in a chair, is discovered in an abandoned piano factory on the outskirts of the city. He has been shot dead but his face has been horribly disfigured with acid, making identification impossible. Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt calls on his good friend Doctor Max Liebermann, psychiatrist and disciple of Sigmund Freud, to assist in an investigation that draws them both into the shadowy and sexually unconventional world of fringe political activism. It is a world populated by Bohemians, Utopian idealists, and anarchists, many of whom endorse acts of terror to achieve their revolutionary aims. When bomb-making equipment is found in a suburban basement, the sinister Imperial Intelligence Bureau (who have been secretly monitoring Rheinhardt's investigation) make themselves known. A legendary anarchist known only by code name, Mephistopheles, is abroad in Vienna. An appalling act of terror has been planned and time is running out.

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