This is an engaging historical procedural, in which Joseph II's court librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte, an expat from Venice, navigates the complex world of 1788 Vienna--someone is murdering society figures: a retired general, a society priest, a louche nobleman--and while the Austrian Empire is at war with the Ottoman Empire and struggling with the Emperor's social and legal reforms, any spark could be disastrous. Lebow uses a real historical figure, with cameos from Casanova, Mozart and Salieri, to explore a rich setting across class lines from the Belvedere Palace to the city's opera houses.

This is the second book in Laura Lebow's historical mystery series based in Mozart's Vienna, and I can only hope there are more books to come from this author.

The book is a well written murder mystery without being too gory, which I appreciated as blood and guts books are an immediate turn-off for me. I also loved the setting of 18th century Vienna and the background of opera, in particular Don Giovanni. My only real complaint is that there were a few too many characters which bogged things down a bit at times. Otherwise, I enjoyed this book greatly.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.