The Second Rider

First in historical crime series by "the new star of Austrian crime fiction." (Kronen Zeitung) Most of the remaining population of Vienna in the ruins of World War I is surviving by its wits, living hand to mouth in a city rife with crime, prostitution, and grotesquely wounded beggars. Post-war Vienna is a deeply scarred city where the glories of the Hapsburg Empire are but a fading memory, where the black market is the only market and shortages of vital goods create countless opportunities for unscrupulous operators.  Into this cauldron of vice comes Inspector August Emmerich, a veteran whose ambitions lead him to break the rules when necessary and whose abiding wish is to join the Viennese major crimes unit. When a corpse is found in the woods outside the city and immediately labelled a suicide, Emmerich, convinced it was nothing of the sort, sees a chance to prove his mettle. But his investigations will reveal a more insidious and homicidal urge lurking in the city than even he anticipates.

Alex Beer was born in Bregenz, Austria and studied archeology. She now lives in Vienna. The Second Rider is her first novel.