Crime novel by contemporary Austrian bestselling author Andreas Pittler 1918: Murder at the End of the War is the second in the Vienna Crimes series.
Major David Bronstein investigates two cases in a highly evocative portrayal of the atmosphere of a crumbling empire: the murder of a young woman and the mysterious disappearance of Lieutenant General Wilhelm Spitzer von Grabensprung, who coincidentally was his commander on the battlefields of the First World War. As Bronstein travels through the twisting dead ends of both cases, he fears for the life of his father, who has fallen ill with the Spanish flu, but also experiences a passionate - and this time reciprocated - love for the beautiful revolutionary Yelka.
He also feels nostalgic longing for the collapse of a centuries-old empire and fears for the new world that is being built on its ruins. The book depicts the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the formation of the successor states in a different way than is usual in this country, offering Czech readers an interesting and unbiased view from the other side.
