Historical fiction about the death of Mozart, investigated by his estranged sister Nannerl and involving other characters from history, such as Baron Gottfried van Swieten.  I listened to the audiobook, which could have included selections from the pieces of Mozart's music referenced in the novel. ( )

I liked this book very much, but I didn't love it. The premise was fascinating. What truly happened to Mozart? His sister is determined to find out what happened to her estranged brother. His sister seemed like a very flat character who at times seemed very dumb. The action is happening around her, then she sits back and goes, oh, that's what it was." This really annoyed me for some reason. There was a lot of action in the story to keep it moving and the ending resolution was interesting, if a little predictable." ( )

Very slow moving tale of Mozart's sister traveling to Vienna to discover how he had died. Well researched descriptions of his life and friends, but the sister was hard to identify with as the key figure in solving the mystery. Stuck with it, but never really warmed up to the style of writing. ( )

Was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart poisoned? If so by whom and for what reason? I had never really thought about this until I decided to listen to this book. It is obvious that Matt Rees has done a lot of research and his story seems plausible.

Lennerl Mozart was almost as gifted as her brother but she had to remain in Salzburg to look after her father while her brother went off to make his mark as one of the most gifted musicians of the 18th century (and beyond). The two had been close as children but they had not been in touch since their father's death when the terms of his will left everything to Lennerl. Married to a minor aristocrat Lennerl was stuck in the mountains. Her only consolation was playing her brother's compositions. Then she received a letter from Wolfgang's wife, Constanze, who told her that her brother was dead and that he believed he had been poisoned. Lennerl immediately went to Vienna to investigate her brother's death. As she probed deeper into his life and death she rediscovered her love for him. His involvement with the Masonic lodges and secret agents for Prussia also came to light. Perhaps he was murdered so that he would not reveal some secret?

One of the things I learned from this book is that Mozart was very involved with the Masons. In fact, his opera The Magic Flute incorporated many Masonic symbols and beliefs. This is the second book I have read recently that involved Masons; the other was Foucault's Pendulum. If I run across a third I will suspect a trend. ( )

If you are a Mozart fan, I think you would enjoy this book. I highly recommend looking at the list of music referenced in the novel (and which chapters) and use that list to follow along if you can. I will definitely do that at some point in the future. (It will help if you have a thing for Freemasons and mild conspiracies, too.) ( )