'A fascinating snapshot of Vienna between the wars, pacey and entertaining' Guardian

A man climbs into Ferdinand Sponer's cab and asks to be taken to the Hotel Bristol. Before he reaches his destination he has been murdered: shot through the throat. Though Sponer has committed no crime, he is drawn into the late Jack Mortimer's life. As the police circle closer, Sponer finds himself caught up in a tangled web of intrigue.

I Was Jack Mortimer is a breathless, darkly captivating tale of misappropriated identity from one of the leading Austrian writers of the twentieth century.

"The cast of this brilliant thriller ... are pure Raymond Chandler ... but the Viennese setting gives it an extra, stylish twist. It's excEllently written and fearsomely gripping." - Kate Saunders, The Times

"Very few novels published in recent years match its daunting panache... The fast-moving, cleverly convoluted plot is brilliantly served by the sustained irony of Ignat Avsey's witty translation... a terrific book, one to read and then urge everyone else to follow suit... a truly clever, rather wonderful book that both plays with and defies genre." - Eileen Battersby, Irish Times

"A fascinating snapshot of Vienna between the wars, pacey and entertaining." - Laura Wilson, Guardian

"The action shifts and shimmers in a Vienna that comes to life." - Eileen Battersby, Irish Times

Alexander Lernet-Holenia was born in Vienna in 1897. He served in the Austro-Hungarian army in the First World War and became a protégé of Rainer Maria Rilke. During his life he wrote poetry, novels, plays and was a successful screenwriter. His uneasy relationship with the National Socialist Party resulted in his removal from prominence in 1944, but after the end of the Second World War, he again became a vital figure in Austrian cultural life. He died in 1976.