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An Edna Ferber Mystery #6
Cafe Europa
In 1914, as rumors of war float across Europe, Edna Ferber travels to Budapest with Winifred Moss, a famous London suffragette, to visit the homeland of her dead father and to see the sights. Author Edna is fascinated by ancient Emperor Franz Joseph and by the faltering Austro-Hungarian Empire, its pomp and circumstance so removed from the daily life of the people she meets. Sitting daily in the Café Europa at her hotel, she listens to unfettered Hearst reporter Harold Gibbon as he predicts the coming war and the end of feudalistic life in Europe while patrons chatter.
Then a shocking murder in a midnight garden changes everything.
Headstrong Cassandra Blaine is supposed to marry into the Austrian nobility in one of those arranged matches like Consuela Vanderbilt’s still popular with wealthy American parents eager for titles and impoverished European nobility who have them to offer. But Cassandra is murdered, and her former lover, the dashing Hungarian Endre Molnár, is the prime suspect. Taken with the young man and convinced of his innocence, Edna begins investigating with the help of Winifred and two avant-garde Hungarian artists. Meanwhile possible war with Serbia is the topic of the day as Archduke Franz Ferdinand prepares to head to Sarajevo. While the world braces for disaster, Edna uncovers the truth –and it scares her.
Then a shocking murder in a midnight garden changes everything.
Headstrong Cassandra Blaine is supposed to marry into the Austrian nobility in one of those arranged matches like Consuela Vanderbilt’s still popular with wealthy American parents eager for titles and impoverished European nobility who have them to offer. But Cassandra is murdered, and her former lover, the dashing Hungarian Endre Molnár, is the prime suspect. Taken with the young man and convinced of his innocence, Edna begins investigating with the help of Winifred and two avant-garde Hungarian artists. Meanwhile possible war with Serbia is the topic of the day as Archduke Franz Ferdinand prepares to head to Sarajevo. While the world braces for disaster, Edna uncovers the truth –and it scares her.
278 pages, Hardcover
First published May 5, 2015
About the author
Ed Ifkovic
41 books15 followersAKA Edward Ifkovic
Ed Ifkovic taught literature and creative writing at a community college in Connecticut for over three decades, and now, retired, devotes himself to writing fiction. His short stories and essays have appeared in such diverse periodicals as the Village Voice, America, Hartford Monthly, and the Journal of Popular Culture. He’s published fiction with small presses, including a novel based on the life of Victorian poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox. A longtime devotee of mystery novels, he fondly recalls his boyhood discovery of Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason series in a family bookcase, and his immediate obsession with the whodunit world. When he was fourteen, bored on a lazy summer afternoon, his mother handed him a copy of Edna Ferber’s Cimarron—for him, a riveting Western about the settling of Oklahoma and the discovery of oil—and he stayed up until three in the morning, until, bleary-eyed, he finished the novel.
Ed Ifkovic taught literature and creative writing at a community college in Connecticut for over three decades, and now, retired, devotes himself to writing fiction. His short stories and essays have appeared in such diverse periodicals as the Village Voice, America, Hartford Monthly, and the Journal of Popular Culture. He’s published fiction with small presses, including a novel based on the life of Victorian poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox. A longtime devotee of mystery novels, he fondly recalls his boyhood discovery of Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason series in a family bookcase, and his immediate obsession with the whodunit world. When he was fourteen, bored on a lazy summer afternoon, his mother handed him a copy of Edna Ferber’s Cimarron—for him, a riveting Western about the settling of Oklahoma and the discovery of oil—and he stayed up until three in the morning, until, bleary-eyed, he finished the novel.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 30, 2015
I came to this novel not knowing what to expect. But I was intrigued to learn that its main setting would be Budapest during the late spring/early summer of 1914. I was also curious to learn that Edna Ferber, who had been a famous journalist and writer, would figure prominently in the novel. So, I set myself to embarking upon an exotic journey in a world long gone, in which international travel was largely the preserve of the wealthy and well-to-do.
Edna arrives in Budapest with her friend Winifred Moss, a British suffragette, from Berlin, where she managed to escape from the smothering clutches of her mother. A mother who frets for her daughter's future, which she maintains should be with a husband and children. But Edna, who had over the previous decade, made a name for herself as a journalist and successful short story writer, knows her own mind and is unafraid to assert herself. Both her and Winifred become enthralled with the charm, wonder, and mystery of Budapest --- as well as fascinated by the old Emperor, Franz Josef, and the pomp and circumstance of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a nation living on borrowed time.
"Sitting daily in the Cafe Europa, [Edna] listens to unfettered Hearst reporter Harold Gibbon as he predicts the coming war and the end of feudalistic life in Europe while patrons chatter." Then there is a murder of a young, wealthy American woman (Cassandra Blaine), who had often frequented the Cafe Europa, and was expected --- through parental coercion --- to marry a cash poor old count. A count who was more interested in the enhancement of his financial status the marriage would bring him than in his future bride. As for poor Cassandra, her heart was with Endre Molnar, a handsome and dashing Hungarian who had been her lover and was now a prime suspect in her murder. Edna, however, who had gotten to know Cassandra briefly in the few days before her death, thinks otherwise, and "begins investigating with the help of Winifred and two avant-garde Hungarian artists."
Ifkovic writes with considerable skill, displaying a deep knowledge and feel for the sensibilities of his characters and the atmosphere of Budapest and Hapsburg society. I admit to being utterly enthralled by the cast of characters in "Cafe Europa" and the way the drama played itself out. No spoilers here. This is a mystery novel that will keep the reader on his/her toes and --- perhaps like me --- completely fooled as to the identity of Cassandra's murderer. (By the way, Edna Ferber was a real person. Her father was Hungarian and had emigrated to the U.S., where Edna was born in 1885. Three of her novels --- "Cimarron", "Showboat", and "Giant" --- were later adapted for the Broadway stage and the silver screen.)
Edna arrives in Budapest with her friend Winifred Moss, a British suffragette, from Berlin, where she managed to escape from the smothering clutches of her mother. A mother who frets for her daughter's future, which she maintains should be with a husband and children. But Edna, who had over the previous decade, made a name for herself as a journalist and successful short story writer, knows her own mind and is unafraid to assert herself. Both her and Winifred become enthralled with the charm, wonder, and mystery of Budapest --- as well as fascinated by the old Emperor, Franz Josef, and the pomp and circumstance of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a nation living on borrowed time.
"Sitting daily in the Cafe Europa, [Edna] listens to unfettered Hearst reporter Harold Gibbon as he predicts the coming war and the end of feudalistic life in Europe while patrons chatter." Then there is a murder of a young, wealthy American woman (Cassandra Blaine), who had often frequented the Cafe Europa, and was expected --- through parental coercion --- to marry a cash poor old count. A count who was more interested in the enhancement of his financial status the marriage would bring him than in his future bride. As for poor Cassandra, her heart was with Endre Molnar, a handsome and dashing Hungarian who had been her lover and was now a prime suspect in her murder. Edna, however, who had gotten to know Cassandra briefly in the few days before her death, thinks otherwise, and "begins investigating with the help of Winifred and two avant-garde Hungarian artists."
Ifkovic writes with considerable skill, displaying a deep knowledge and feel for the sensibilities of his characters and the atmosphere of Budapest and Hapsburg society. I admit to being utterly enthralled by the cast of characters in "Cafe Europa" and the way the drama played itself out. No spoilers here. This is a mystery novel that will keep the reader on his/her toes and --- perhaps like me --- completely fooled as to the identity of Cassandra's murderer. (By the way, Edna Ferber was a real person. Her father was Hungarian and had emigrated to the U.S., where Edna was born in 1885. Three of her novels --- "Cimarron", "Showboat", and "Giant" --- were later adapted for the Broadway stage and the silver screen.)
May 11, 2015
Received as an ARC, the concept of author Edna Ferber as detective intrigued me. Getting into it was a challenge. Perhaps I should have read some of the previous titles in the series to assist me in coming up to speed, but I don't think it would have helped. Once I was well into it, I was sucked into the intrigue and characters of the tale and Budapest, which was one of the most brilliant characters in the book.
September 7, 2015
This book is about people who frequent the titled cafe in Budapest as a meeting place during the period before World War 1. When a young American woman who was to have an arranged marriage to a man from a titled European family is murdered it starts a series of events leading to a second murder and the mystery ensues. Edna Ferber, the American authoress, is visiting and becomes a pert in the ultimate solution. This is part of a series that features Ms. Ferber as an amateur sleuth of sorts. Nice setting and interesting characters are the main strengths here.
September 16, 2018
The good: The story is set in pre-WWI Budapest, and it's rich in details that ground it in that particular time and place. The beginning-to-fade glory of the Café Europa in the real-life Arpad Hotel—frequented by American travelers—the still-famous New York Café and Café Gerbeaud, the gypsy music, the cakes and coffee with whipped cream, the dynamic politics... they're all brought to life with vivid descriptions that took me right there. The descriptions of food, especially, are very evocative: "Vladimir Marko, hovering, put a platter of rye bread on our table, each slice bearing a chunk of opaque lard speckled with paprika and salt..." or "Dark, bone-tingling coffee with frothy whipped cream, a concoction I'd become fond of and knew I'd demand in every American restaurant till the end of my days."
But the story. Ah, the story. I was expecting a sort of cozy murder mystery, and there's definitely a murder that gets solved—but it felt like sometimes the characters forgot they were in a murder mystery and were just *in* Budapest, doing stuff. I wish the mystery plot had been better and more present most of the time. The main characters are based on real-life people—the writer Edna Ferber and London suffragette Winifred Moss—and, sadly, are flat on the page. The most interesting characters either got killed off or devolved into caricatures, but at least they're interesting.
Read this if you want a sense of the splendor of Budapest café society—much of that charm and the cakes still exists in Budapest right now... just skim over the parts about muuurrrddeeeerrrr.
But the story. Ah, the story. I was expecting a sort of cozy murder mystery, and there's definitely a murder that gets solved—but it felt like sometimes the characters forgot they were in a murder mystery and were just *in* Budapest, doing stuff. I wish the mystery plot had been better and more present most of the time. The main characters are based on real-life people—the writer Edna Ferber and London suffragette Winifred Moss—and, sadly, are flat on the page. The most interesting characters either got killed off or devolved into caricatures, but at least they're interesting.
Read this if you want a sense of the splendor of Budapest café society—much of that charm and the cakes still exists in Budapest right now... just skim over the parts about muuurrrddeeeerrrr.
August 14, 2020
Ifkovic's latest Edna Ferber tome involves Edna's escape from her Mother while on a Grand Tour of Europe and the weeks she spent in Budapest with Suffragette Winnifred Moss. Of course Edna finds herself embroiled in not one but two murders Just as Europe is about to enter War. Frankly the first murder involves such an annoying character that there was little suspense in finding the culprit which did take away from the story somewhat. However it is always good to drop in on Edna and see what magic Ifkovic has created out of simple facets of her life. Not the strongest entry in the series but I still enjoyed it.
September 22, 2019
This is not a murder mystery. It's all chit chat with a few characters that come and go. I would have been happy reading the first and last 20 pages; I would not have missed anything. It's a horrible book if you are looking for a murder mystery. I forced myself to finish it so I could write a review. Needless to say I won't be reading any more of this series nor from this author.
February 23, 2021
I wonder if they still teach World History in High School. This book might promote interest. Set in Budapest where things are changing, artist are experimenting, social mores are in conflict. And there are political rumblings leading up to WWI. The American author Edna Ferber leads the diverse cast of characters as a tourist familiarizing with her father’s homeland. Worth the read.
February 15, 2016
Often the problem with historical fiction is that the history overtakes the tale. In the case of the latest in the Edna Ferber mystery series, Author Ed Ifkovic knows how to find just the right balance between items of historical interest and a rip-rousing tale. In this case, it's the eve of World War I in Budapest when the short story writer and her companion Winifred Moss, a British suffragette, arrive.
English-speaking tourists have gravitated to a slightly down-on-its-heels Hotel Arpad and its accompanying Cafe Europa. The cafe and the city are a hotbed of spies, illegal financial dealings, and unsavory acts by end-of-empire rebels, who seek to overthrow the Austro-Hungarian ruling force. Title rich, but penny poor, local nobles make contracts to marry rich Americans. Life is changing all around, and the arts and artists of Budapest reflect that.
Into this melee come Ferber and Moss and while taking in the sights and delights of the city, a young American heiress, engaged to marry a local royal, is mysteriously murdered in the hotel's gardens late one night. A Hearst yellow journalist, Harold Gibbon, is hot on the trail of death and politics and befriends Ferber, Moss, and everyone else at the Cafe Europa. However, Gibbon is playing with fire as he pursues these stories, despite warnings from many sources (Ferber included).
As Ferber learns more about the city and its quirky inhabitants, she grows more interested in what is truly underlying the, by now, two murders of Cafe Europa patrons. The revelation of the murderer's motivation nicely wraps up the tale, while readers remain engaged throughout. The book's characters are as idiosyncratic as they are charming, and truly bring real joy to the story. In this book, Author Ed Ifkovic takes his readers on an enjoyable journey through history, while never failing to entertain along the way.
Review first appeared on ReviewingtheEvidence.com.
English-speaking tourists have gravitated to a slightly down-on-its-heels Hotel Arpad and its accompanying Cafe Europa. The cafe and the city are a hotbed of spies, illegal financial dealings, and unsavory acts by end-of-empire rebels, who seek to overthrow the Austro-Hungarian ruling force. Title rich, but penny poor, local nobles make contracts to marry rich Americans. Life is changing all around, and the arts and artists of Budapest reflect that.
Into this melee come Ferber and Moss and while taking in the sights and delights of the city, a young American heiress, engaged to marry a local royal, is mysteriously murdered in the hotel's gardens late one night. A Hearst yellow journalist, Harold Gibbon, is hot on the trail of death and politics and befriends Ferber, Moss, and everyone else at the Cafe Europa. However, Gibbon is playing with fire as he pursues these stories, despite warnings from many sources (Ferber included).
As Ferber learns more about the city and its quirky inhabitants, she grows more interested in what is truly underlying the, by now, two murders of Cafe Europa patrons. The revelation of the murderer's motivation nicely wraps up the tale, while readers remain engaged throughout. The book's characters are as idiosyncratic as they are charming, and truly bring real joy to the story. In this book, Author Ed Ifkovic takes his readers on an enjoyable journey through history, while never failing to entertain along the way.
Review first appeared on ReviewingtheEvidence.com.
May 7, 2016
"Cafe Europa", by author Ed Ifkovic, is the latest novel in his "Edna Ferber Mystery" series. I think there are five earlier ones, but this is the first one I've read. Now, I've jumped into mystery series before not having read the previous books and felt like I am missing "something", like the characters' back stories, but I actually found "Cafe Europa" pretty easy to get into. Of course, it helps to know who Edna Ferber was...
I picked up this book because it is set in Budapest in that fateful summer of 1914. Hungary was the "junior partner" - as they thought of themselves - in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Budapest was a hotbed of spies - both homegrown and foreign. International business people were in the city, looking for investment opportunities, including the brokering of a marriage between a wealthy young American woman and a titled-but-broke Austrian nobleman. And there was one reporter, a "yellow journalist" from the Hearst syndicate, looking to write about the death-throes of the Empire. There was trouble on the southern lands of the empire and the Balkans were just waiting to explode.
Edna Ferber was visiting the city with a British suffragette friend and became involved in the murder of another guest at their hotel. Ferber, in attempting to solve the crime - as well as a second that occurs soon after - is immersed in life the city. Ifkovic combines real characters with fictional ones, but it helps to have access to Wikipedia to figure out who is who. He puts a "List of Characters" in the front of the book.
Good historical fiction both teaches and entertains, and it is certainly the case with Ed Ifkovic's "Cafe Europa". The book begins a bit slowly, but that time is spent establishing the characters and place. I think the reader should have an interest in WW1 Europe, but the mystery should keep almost everyone interested.
I picked up this book because it is set in Budapest in that fateful summer of 1914. Hungary was the "junior partner" - as they thought of themselves - in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Budapest was a hotbed of spies - both homegrown and foreign. International business people were in the city, looking for investment opportunities, including the brokering of a marriage between a wealthy young American woman and a titled-but-broke Austrian nobleman. And there was one reporter, a "yellow journalist" from the Hearst syndicate, looking to write about the death-throes of the Empire. There was trouble on the southern lands of the empire and the Balkans were just waiting to explode.
Edna Ferber was visiting the city with a British suffragette friend and became involved in the murder of another guest at their hotel. Ferber, in attempting to solve the crime - as well as a second that occurs soon after - is immersed in life the city. Ifkovic combines real characters with fictional ones, but it helps to have access to Wikipedia to figure out who is who. He puts a "List of Characters" in the front of the book.
Good historical fiction both teaches and entertains, and it is certainly the case with Ed Ifkovic's "Cafe Europa". The book begins a bit slowly, but that time is spent establishing the characters and place. I think the reader should have an interest in WW1 Europe, but the mystery should keep almost everyone interested.
November 4, 2015
This was my first Edna Ferber mystery and I was enchanted from the get-go. I am a sucker for foreign culture and the era of The Grand Tour in Europe holds particular appeal for me. The author's description of the food and architecture and art and music, and his attention to period detail, combine to create a sense of time and place that becomes a character in itself, and integral to the story.
This is a chilling socio-political portrait of a country poised at the brink of war, and the reader can feel the unease building throughout the tale. The murder of the young American heiress almost takes a backseat to the motivations of the players and the emotional evolution of specific characters. Aside from the issue of an unmarried woman traveling unescorted (Miss Ferber, who leaves her disapproving mother behind in Germany in order to visit her father's homeland along with the suffragette Winifred Moss), we encounter other issues that Western women today need never even consider--arranged marriages, the struggle for voting rights, and the harsh treatment and imprisonment of the women who fought for those rights--Miss Moss included. Curiously, it is Winifred who often scolds Edna for her "brash" American behavior, when she herself has been imprisoned for championing women's rights. Ah, the British sense of propriety and manners! We are reminded that our freedoms had a price, and were not achieved overnight.
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical mysteries, political intrigue, and fully drawn characters. You will come to know these people intimately, and feel their angst and sorrow and joy as they adapt (or fail to adapt) to a radically shifting reality, and the imminent death of a more elegant, albeit unjust, class-driven way of life.
This is a chilling socio-political portrait of a country poised at the brink of war, and the reader can feel the unease building throughout the tale. The murder of the young American heiress almost takes a backseat to the motivations of the players and the emotional evolution of specific characters. Aside from the issue of an unmarried woman traveling unescorted (Miss Ferber, who leaves her disapproving mother behind in Germany in order to visit her father's homeland along with the suffragette Winifred Moss), we encounter other issues that Western women today need never even consider--arranged marriages, the struggle for voting rights, and the harsh treatment and imprisonment of the women who fought for those rights--Miss Moss included. Curiously, it is Winifred who often scolds Edna for her "brash" American behavior, when she herself has been imprisoned for championing women's rights. Ah, the British sense of propriety and manners! We are reminded that our freedoms had a price, and were not achieved overnight.
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical mysteries, political intrigue, and fully drawn characters. You will come to know these people intimately, and feel their angst and sorrow and joy as they adapt (or fail to adapt) to a radically shifting reality, and the imminent death of a more elegant, albeit unjust, class-driven way of life.
July 20, 2015
Reporter/author Edna Ferber travels to Budapest, Hungary with suffragist Winifred Moss. They stay at the hotl that houses the Cafe Europa. There is excitement of a wedding even though the woman, Cassandra is in love with someone else. Cassandra receives a not that has her going to the hotel's garden where she is stabbed to death. Who murdered her? Why?
This novel is a mystery that takes place in 1914. The mystery blends homicide with homage to Budapest on the eve of World War I. It is well written and interesting.
Disclaimer: I received an arc of this book free from the publisher. I was not obliged to write a favorable review, or even any review at all. The opinions expressed are strictly my own.
This novel is a mystery that takes place in 1914. The mystery blends homicide with homage to Budapest on the eve of World War I. It is well written and interesting.
Disclaimer: I received an arc of this book free from the publisher. I was not obliged to write a favorable review, or even any review at all. The opinions expressed are strictly my own.
August 31, 2015
A very well done look at life in upper crust Budapest just before WW1 from mostly American female visitors points of view. Not a deep mystery. The book is very civilized and non violent although murders do take place. The local cafe ambiance is wonderful. It was a disappearing world but one that surely needed to go. The old world decadence of the Austrian "Empire" was well portrayed. The deep animosities between the peoples (Hungarians, Austrians, Serbs, etc) in this part of Europe and the inevitability of the collapse was a central point to the book. I'm glad to have read this book now since I will be traveling in this part of Europe next week and hope to see some of the sites although I know I will not meet anybody close to the characters in this book.
March 24, 2016
An interesting book, that I chose off the "new book" shelf, at the library. The book started off a little slowly, but picked up significantly toward the end. Turns out, that this is the fifth book, in Mr. Ifkovic's series, and I haven't decided yet, whether I'll go and read the others. Investigating the earlier works, it seems that all are from different time periods in Ms Ferber's life. I love both mysteries, and historical fiction, so I'm sure I'll eventually get around to the rest of the series.
July 17, 2015
Good mystery and enjoyed both the history and life in Budapest in 1914.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews