Beatrice von Falklenburg, known as Trixie, is trapped in society life and growing apart from her husband until she takes on the role of detective and finds solace in her investigations. She has an ability to mix at ease not only with kings and princes, but also with ordinary men and women and finds the formality of her relations with servants and public officials altered.
Her role in an investigation detailed in The Countess of Prague, has brought Beatrix von Falklenburg to the attention of the Hapsburg Emperor Franz Josef I, who has her summoned to his palace in Vienna to investigate the murder/suicide of Baroness Marie Vetsera and Crown Prince Rudolf. But before Trixie is handed her assignment, a terrible murder occurs on a snowy Prague funicular railway. Inspector Schneider pulls her away from a night at the opera...
