Vienna: A Novel
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
It started as nothing more than a one-night stand . . .
Justine is an A-list fashion model on a photo shoot in Europe. Adored by half the world, she can have whomever she wants, but she's never met anyone like the strange English girl whose bed she wakes up in one morning.
Vienna is an autistic savant, adrift in a world of overwhelming patterns and connections only she can see. Socially awkward and inexperienced, she's never been with anyone before, let alone a glamorous supermodel enmeshed in a web of secrets and intrigue.
When Justine's current beau is murdered in the bathroom of her hotel room, she suddenly finds herself thrown into the middle of a deadly conspiracy focusing on a set of antique wooden mannikins-the same ones that are the centerpieces of the photo shoot.
What secret do the mannikins hide, and why is it worth killing over?
Drawn together by an attraction neither of them can explain, Justine and Vienna are pursued across Europe by paparazzi, tabloid headlines . . . and the mystery of Vienna's own shadowy past, which holds the key to everything.
Inspired by a classic Sherlock Holmes story, William S. Kirby's Vienna reimagines Holmes and Watson for the 21st century.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The pairing of unusual amateur detectives is the best part of Kirby's first novel, an offbeat mystery. In Brussels, Belgium, Justine Am, an American med student turned supermodel, has a one-night stand, on a bet, with a woman she knows only as Vienna, who turns out to be a socially awkward savant. Justine has no intention of prolonging the acquaintance, but circumstances dictate otherwise after Justine's latest boyfriend, Grant Eriksson, is found shot to death in her hotel suite, and the police call in Vienna for questioning. When news of Vienna's fling with the celebrity supermodel reaches the press, Vienna loses her job, and Justine takes her in out of guilt. Impressed by Vienna's deductive abilities, Justine teams with her to solve Grant's murder. En route to a solution, the duo must learn why some statues that Justine posed in front of moved overnight, and they must also crack an obscure code. Some readers may find the eccentricity of the leads insufficient to carry the plot.
