I loved Diana's The Widow of Rose House so I knew when I read the blurb for Hotel of Secrets I needed it. Read on to see what I thought and why I loved it!
Enjoy!
ISBN-13: 9781250809452
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: 03-28-2023
Length: 416pp
Source: Publisher for Review
Buy It: Amazon/ B&N/ IndieBound
ADD TO: GOODREADS
Overview:
"[A] perfect jewel-box world set in 19th-century Vienna." - The New York Times"Uniquely charming! With her delightful characters, Biller builds an irresistible world inside a Viennese Victorian-era hotel that is equal parts screwball comedy, epic love story, and thrilling mystery. An utterly captivating novel about the power of fate." - Joanna Shupe, USA Today bestselling author of The Fifth Avenue Rebels series
Diana Biller's Hotel of Secrets is chock full of banter-filled shenanigans, must-have-you kisses, and romance certain to light a fire in the hearts of readers everywhere.
During ball season, anything can happen—even love.
It’s ball season in Vienna, and Maria Wallner only wants one thing: to restore her family’s hotel, the Hotel Wallner, to its former glory. She’s not going to let anything get in her way - not her parents’ three-decade-long affair; not seemingly-random attacks by masked assassins; and especially not the broad-shouldered American foreign agent who’s saved her life two times already. No matter how luscious his mouth is.
Eli Whittaker also only wants one thing: to find out who is selling American secret codes across Europe, arrest them, and go home to his sensible life in Washington, DC. He has one lead - a letter the culprit sent from a Viennese hotel. But when he arrives in Vienna, he is immediately swept up into a chaotic whirlwind of balls, spies, waltzes, and beautiful hotelkeepers who seem to constantly find themselves in danger. He disapproves of all of it! But his disapproval is tested as he slowly falls deeper into the chaos - and as his attraction to said hotelkeeper grows.
"With prose to match the sumptuous setting of 1870s Vienna, Hotel of Secrets is an exquisite and decadent read. Diana Biller breathes new life into historical romance with writing that is singularly lush, deeply romantic, and transportive. Readers will get swept away by the combination of nail-biting intrigue and whole-hearted passion." - Rosie Danan, bestselling author of The Roommate
Read an excerpt:
Chapter One
Vienna
New Year’s Eve, 1877
There were twenty-eightminutes left in 1877, and as if theyear had not seen trouble enough, Maria Wallner’s fatherled Maria Wallner’s mother onto the dance floor, clasped heramorously to his chest, and, with the first languid, delicatenotes of Strauss’s “Vienna Blood” waltz providing a suitablyromantic background, began to dance.
Maria Wallner, current manager of the Hotel Wallner,hostess of the party her parents had just taken center stage at,and newly returned emergency plumber of the fourth-floorbathroom, stood in the doorway of the hotel’s Small Ballroomand allowed herself precisely ten seconds of shock.
They made a stunning picture—orat least, Elisabeth Wallner,Maria’s mother, did. At some point in her youth, Elisabethhad been told she resembled Empress Sisi, the Emperor’sbeautiful bride, and she had never forgotten. Everything fromher hairstyle to her fitness regimen (strict gymnastics, everymorning) was modeled from Sisi, and now, with her dark hair streaming down her back, studded with crystal hairpins, andher midnight-bluevelvet gown frothing with silver lace, shelooked every bit an empress.
Maria’s father, Baron Heinrich von Eder, looked verymuch like the portly middle-agedaristocrat he was.
The couples around them were barely waltzing, fixatedon the delicious scandal unfolding. The audience at the edgesof the dance floor whispered and laughed, their eyes dartinggreedily between the couple and the stone-facedblond womanstanding like a dignified statue in the corner of the ballroom.
Because none of this would have been particularly scandalousif her parents had been married. Or indeed, if theyhad not just broken the single rule governing the thirty-yeardétente between the Wallner and von Eder households:namely, that Baron Heinrich von Eder would refrain fromnoticing Elisabeth Wallner until Baroness Adelaide von Eder,his wife and the mother of his four legitimate children, hadretired for the evening.
Her ten seconds over, Maria took a breath, brightened hersmile, and began her own waltz, weaving through the crowdto check on the buffet. Smiling and laughing, pretending thatnothing out of the ordinary was happening. (To be fair, ina way it wasn’t—Mariahad been a captive audience to thisparticular romantic drama her entire life. It was only the circumstancesthat were unusual.) She waved a server over toreplace a group’s empty champagne glasses; noticed a tornhem and discreetly alerted its wearer; and had almost made itto the buffet table when—
Maria! When are you going to find the man, like yourmother?”
There it was.
“If you know where he is, Mr. Schiller, please send him myaddress.” She laughed, her response easy and light.
(As it ought to be. She’d been saying the same damn thingfor decade and a half.)
The group of men around Mr. Schiller hooted in pleasure,and then mercifully turned back to the drama on the dancefloor.
It didn’t matter, she reminded herself, not entirely surewhat it was, but if it wasn’t about the Hotel Wallner’s TriumphantReturn to Society (yes, it was capitalized, yes, Maria didhave a list with that title), then it didn’t matter.
The caviar was low. She pulled one of the footmen asideand sent him running to the kitchen, catching a glimpse ofher parents just in time to see Heinrich tenderly brush a curlfrom her mother’s face. The crowd gave a pleased murmur.The story would be all over Vienna by supper the next day.
And that, Maria reminded herself, was what did matter.This was one of the scandals of the season, and the guests ofthe Hotel Wallner’s New Year’s Eve Ball had been the ones towitness it. Tomorrow, once they’d recovered from their traditionalNew Year’s Day hangovers, they would go to supperwith friends and say, “Oh, you should have been at the HotelWallner last night.” Just like the old days, when the HotelWallner had been one of the epicenters of Imperial Vienna, itsnights filled with scandal and intrigue and importance.
And this moment did look like something plucked fromMaria’s childhood memories. The newly cleaned and repairedchandelier dazzled. The freshly sanded and polished floorslooked almost liquid, as if Elisabeth and Heinrich were dancingon a vast champagne sea, beneath a starry sky. (Maria wasparticularly proud of the starry skies. She’d repainted everysingle gold star herself, balancing on a rickety scaffold beneaththe fifteen-footceilings until her back felt like it wouldbreak.) Perhaps she was deluding herself—itwould takemore than a single party to bring the Hotel Wallner back from irrelevance and disrepair—butshe thought somethinglike the old magical, golden wonderment shimmered in the air.
She’d do anything to give the hotel that magic back. Sufferingsome embarrassment and discomfort over her parents’behavior was nothing.
“I tried to stop him,” said a soft, cultured voice over hershoulder, and Maria’s smile warmed as she turned to her halfbrother, Macario von Eder.
Mac was the picture of a dashing young aristocrat tonight,Maria thought, as she brushed a speck of lint from his immaculatelytailored evening suit. There was little resemblancebetween the siblings—bothtook after their mothers, Mariawith dark eyes and darker hair, and Mac golden-hairedandblue-eyed—buta great deal of fondness.
Maria shrugged. “They’re impossible to stop.”
He grimaced, his eyebrows drawn together in distress. “Mymother’s about to murder someone. Or have an apoplexy.”
Maria waved to the hotel’s resident clairvoyants, MadameLe Blanc and Frau Heilig, as they walked past, and glancedacross the room at Mac’s mother. To the ordinary observershe was entirely unbothered, but Maria had been looking atthis woman for the better part of thirty years (despite neveractually speaking to her), and she winced in sympathy.
“Can you convince her to leave?”
“Tried,” Mac said. “But Count von Kaufstein is here, andshe’s afraid—”Mac broke off, sighing and rubbing his forehead.The crowd around them had noticed them talking, andwere openly staring.
“Put your hand down,” Maria said, with a bright smile.“We’re being watched.”
He laughed as though she’d said something funny, immediatelysmoothing his expression.
“Count von Kaufstein won’t care about any of this,” Mariasaid. “I’ve known him since I was in the cradle.”
“The Count von Kaufstein you know and the Count vonKaufstein my mother knows are very different people,” Macsaid, through his own charming smile.
Maria opened her mouth to argue, but just then a serverspilled a tray of champagne at the other side of the room.
“I have to—”
“Go, go,” her brother gestured. “And Maria? It’s a beautifulball.”
She squeezed his hand and hurried across the room,checking her watch as she went. Twenty-threeminutes tomidnight. The waltz was coming to an end.
She could see old Count von Kaufstein about ten metersaway. It had been sweet of him to come. He was always sweetto them, the Wallners. It was widely believed that he and Maria’sgrandmother Josephine were half siblings, both by-blowsof the Emperor two emperors deceased. Maria knew it wastrue of her grandmother; it was probably true of him as well.
Unlike Maria’s great-grandmother,Count von Kaufstein’smother had been a highborn aristocrat, one who (also unlikeMaria’s great-grandmother)had never fallen out with the ImperialCourt. The Count could have simply enjoyed a life offamilial wealth and Imperial favor, but had chosen a careerinstead—steadilyclimbing the court ranks until he becamethe Imperial and Royal Chamberlain, the person responsiblefor the current Emperor’s household finances.
Viennese high society had been surprised when the Counthad announced his son’s engagement to Annalise von Eder,Adelaide’s oldest girl and Maria’s half sister—thevon Ederswere wealthy and high-ranking,but there was that air of scandalattached to Heinrich, and the Count was very important.Consensus seemed to be that it was a love match; a claim Machad vigorously denied in the Hotel Wallner kitchens twonights earlier, his mouth half full of cake.
“He’s twenty years older than her, and she’s never even spoken to him,” Mac had said, an expression of utter bafflementon his face. “She’s not that pretty.”
Reaching the scene of the dropped tray, Maria pushed thevon Kaufstein–von Eder engagement from her mind. She wasas unequipped to follow aristocratic marriage machinationsas Mac would be to turn over a guest room.
Fortunately, the tray had carried only two glasses, and theserver had dropped it at least a meter and a half away fromthe nearest guest. She helped him pile the glass on the tray,carefully keeping her gown away from the spilled champagne.Someday soon, she would have a full staff, who could renderthis sort of mishap invisible. Until then, she had footmendoubling as servers and three maids, all busy elsewhere. Sofor tonight, Maria was hostess, maid, manager, and occasionalplumber all in one. She didn’t mind.
When a Wallner woman loved something, she’d do anythingfor it.
The waltz ended. Her parents clung together briefly, severalseconds longer than was appropriate. The party guestsstared, thrilled.
“The stars aligned for you tonight,” Madame Le Blancsaid, coming up beside her. She was a tall Frenchwoman witha long white braid who had lived at the hotel for twenty years.Her specialty was astrology. “As I predicted.”
“As I predicted,” said Frau Heilig, a short, blond Czechwoman whose mystical tool of choice was the tarot card deck.
Maria smiled. She had, out of politeness, consulted withboth the hotel’s occultists, and they had agreed that NewYear’s Eve was the correct date for the Hotel Wallner’s TriumphantReturn to Society.
“Your advice was invaluable.” She didn’t share her mother’sobsession with the occult, but these women had lived at theHotel Wallner almost as long as she had. They were family.“Both of you. It’s marvelous, isn’t it? Just like it used to be.”
The women, sometimes allies, sometimes enemies, shareda glance.
“This room looks lovely,” Frau Heilig said diplomatically.
Maria laughed, thinking of the Large Ballroom, with itsruined floor, and of the thirty-twocurrently unusable guestrooms. “Soon it will all look like this,” she said. “We’re almostback.”
“Hmph,” Madame Le Blanc said, looking over at Maria’sparents, now standing too close together, drinking champagne,still sensationally unaware of their audience. “Well, they neverleft.”
“No,” Maria said, following her gaze. “They never did.”
Another glance at her watch told her it was fourteen minutesbefore midnight. She had one more surprise in store forthe guests, and it was almost time to reveal it. She said goodbyeto the occultists, and with one last look at her parents—apparentlyreturning to the dance floor, the beginning ofStrauss’s “Tales from the Vienna Woods” accompanyingthem—hurriedfrom the ballroom.
The Small and Large Ballrooms were on the second floorof the Hotel Wallner, separated by a small lobby, with threefloors of guest rooms above, and the family apartments abovethat. The kitchen and restaurant were on the ground floor,along with the lobby and Maria’s office. A grand (and newlyrefurbished) staircase led from the lobby to the second floor.Maria took the tight servants’ stair down instead.
She walked briskly to the kitchen, where every footmanand handyman and waiter she’d been able to recruit stood inrented uniforms, holding cut-glassbowls, each bowl so largeit needed two men to carry it. Hannah Adler, the hotel’s chefand Maria’s best friend, hurried along the line pouring waterinto the bowls.
“The metalworkers are out back,” she said, and Mariaswung through the back door into the small alley beyond, where six metalworkers waited, each carrying a small campstove.
Every New Year’s, the Viennese dropped bits of moltenlead into cold water, and from the shapes formed divinedtheir destiny for the year ahead. Usually, this was done witha bit of lead melted in a spoon over a candle, but the HotelWallner had once done things on a grand scale.
It was about to do so again.
Maria talked to the metalworkers, checked the uniformsof her army of bowl-carriers,and gave the signal to head tothe second floor.
At five minutes to midnight, she returned to the ballroomand gave a nod to the orchestra leader. This would be the lastwaltz of 1877.
She took a breath, glancing down at the large sapphirering on her hand. A reminder of her great-grandmother,thewoman who had built it all. And then, with precisely oneminute left in the old year, the last wild, sweeping notes of“Tales from the Vienna Woods” faded away, and Maria steppedonto the orchestra’s platform.
“Good evening,” she said, smiling at the beautiful peoplebefore her. Yes, the hotel shone, but so did they, the magicof the hotel reflected in their eyes. Her parents, side by side,smiled up at her, as caught in the fantasy as those around them.“The Hotel Wallner invites you to join us in bidding farewellto an old year and welcoming a new one.” She turned to theorchestra leader. “Herr Weber, will you assist us?”
He bowed smoothly, and picked up his baton. With halfa minute to go, the drummers began to count down the secondswith crisp beats, the audience counting along.
“Five—four—three—two—one—HappyNew Year!”
The ballroom erupted in cheers and toasts, and 1878began.
A fresh year. A fresh start.
When the cheers began to die down, she stepped forward.“And now, the hotel has prepared a little surprise.” She smiledas the line of waiters began to enter. The cheers gave way togasps, and then, as they noticed the metalworkers set up attheir stoves around the ballroom, scattered applause. “Ladiesand gentlemen, your destinies await. May they be brilliantones.”
The bowl-bearershad taken their places around the metalworkers,several bowls surrounding each stove. Three floatingwaiters at every station assisted the guests with their leadpouring, and conveniently kept an eye out for any long skirtstraveling too close to the stoves. Maria had selected the safestmodel of camp stove, but fire of any kind was a risk.
She descended from the stage and picked up her waltzagain. She spun from group to group, laughing, admiring destinies,pretending to see crowns and flowers, and once eventhe profile of someone’s first love. The glow of the crowd builtin her chest, until she felt as though she too was shining. Theywere happy—thehotel had made them happy. Later, theywould wake up in the real world, with headaches to nurse andbills to pay and petty quarrels to fight, but right now they werein the magical fairyland of the Hotel Wallner, and they felt asthough they never needed to leave.
May they never leave again.
She needed to check the desserts—Hannahhad set themup during Maria’s speech but she should double-checkthem—
“Trying to escape your destiny, Maria?” Madame Le Blancasked from behind her, Frau Heilig at her side. For womenwho spent all their time arguing, they certainly spent a lot oftime together.
“No,” Maria said. “But—”
“Hmph,” Madame Le Blanc said, taking her arm in a firmgrip and leading her toward a lead-castingstation. Maria didn’t bother arguing. It would be faster to simply cast the lead, andthe guests would like it.
A group of patrons gathered around her as the metalworkerhelped her melt a small lump of lead.
“Maria, maybe this is the year you’ll meet him,” one said.
She laughed, wanting to roll her eyes. For a time in hertwenties, Vienna had been very interested in the man. Whoshe would choose to have her daughter with, as her motherand grandmother and great-grandmotherhad done beforeher. Never mind that the man had rarely been good news:Maria’s great-grandfatherhad very probably tried to haveher grandmother and great-grandmotherassassinated (thiswould forever be uncertain, as one didn’t accuse an emperorof murder), and her father, while not threatening homicide,did produce an astonishing number of headaches. The bestone by far was her grandfather, an unnamed aristocrat hergrandmother Josephine had enjoyed a brief fling with beforemeeting her longtime love, Emilie Brodmaier.
“I’ll wish for him,” she said, winking, and then cast herreal wish: May the hotel flourish. May it grow and be prosperous.And then, because the needling about the man actuallydid irritate her and she was feeling petty, she added: And maywe eclipse that damn Hotel Hoffmann.
She poured the lead into the water, and watched as itformed a swirling, tangled circle. A waiter fished it out, placingit on one of the cloth-coveredtrays she had arranged forthe occasion. She bent over it. “Hmm. Could it be a . . . a volcano?”
Covering the Hotel Hoffmann in lava.
Madame Le Blanc joined her. “Don’t be ridiculous,” shesaid, staring at the coin-sizedlump. Her eyes flicked to Maria’s,and then, disconcertingly, twinkled.
“Mon Dieu,” she said, loud enough for everyone in a ten-footradius to hear. “He’s tall. Clara, come look.”
Oh no.
Frau Heilig joined them before Maria could stop her, bendingher blond head over the lead, and then clasping her handdramatically to her bosom. “Maria! It’s finally happened!”
“No it hasn’t,” Maria hissed, through her smile. “They’rejoking,” she said to the rapt crowd.
“I do not joke about the will of the heavens,” Madame LeBlanc declared in an offended tone.
Maria glared at her.
“He’s handsome. Ooh yes,” Frau Heilig said, giggling.“Dark-haired,definitely dark-haired.You agree, Matilde?”
With another glance down, Madame Le Blanc noddedgraciously. “Yes. You have read it well.”
Oh wonderful. They were collaborating.
“Madame Le Blanc!” a man called. “Is it him? Is it theman?”
“It certainly could be,” Madame Le Blanc replied. “Nothingis decided. Merely an opportunity.”
“A very handsome opportunity,” Frau Heilig said.
There was a flutter in the crowd as—ohno—Maria’smotherElisabeth joined them.
“Maria,” she said, in a dramatic tone. Elisabeth spoke exclusivelyin dramatic tones. “Is it true? Is he finally coming?”
“No—”
“Oh!” Elisabeth clasped her hands together and lookedheavenward, immediately becoming the star of the moment.“It’s all I’ve prayed for! That you would find the happiness Ihave found with Heinrich! Your father!”
The crowd gasped.
Scandal of the season, Maria reminded herself. Good forthe hotel.
It was a well-knownsecret that Maria was Baron Heinrichvon Eder’s daughter, but it had never been confirmed publicly.
Until now.
She looked over to catch Mac’s stricken gaze, as his motherlooked on expressionlessly.
It was going to be a difficult night in the von Eder household.
And this was why there would never be the man, no matterhow many men in general Maria took to her bed. She hadseen exactly what happened when there was one.
She would stick with the hotel. Here, if she worked hard,she could create . . . beauty. A magical, healing refuge. In thememories of the Viennese upper class, the hotel was a gossamer,ever-changingfairyland, but to her, it was solid. Thehome that always held her. The net that caught her when shewas falling.
That was the spell of the Hotel Wallner. A spell she nowneeded to help it cast.
So she pinned a bright, beautiful smile to her face, thetwin of her mother’s. “How fortunate,” she said, laughing.“I’ll be looking for him. Day and . . . night.” Another laugh,echoed in the crowd. “Oh! Countess von Fier, have youdropped your lead yet?”
Deftly, she turned the crowd away, toward other bowlsand other scandals. Her mother, thankfully, had drifted awayby the time she returned. Probably back to Heinrich.
They were being so flagrant tonight. Why? After thirty-oddyears?
Taking a breath, she looked around the Small Ballroom.The tension drained out of her. No. Nothing could take thisfrom her.
“You wiggled out of that one,” Madame Le Blanc said.
Maria narrowed her eyes at the woman. “And you are atraitor.” She glared at Frau Heilig too. “Both of you.”
They snickered, unrepentant. “I only report what I see,”Madame Le Blanc said, with wide eyes.
“Not funny,” Maria said.
“Very funny,” Madame Le Blanc replied.
“Ooh, Matilde, Hannah’s put out her almond cakes,”Frau Heilig said, eyeing the dessert table with interest.
“She has?” Madame Le Blanc turned abruptly. “We’d betterhurry. They’ll go quickly.” The women turned to leave.
Thank God for Hannah’s almond cakes.
“Oh, Maria,” Madame Le Blanc said, over her shoulder asshe left. “If I were you, I wouldn’t sleep with any dark-hairedmen.”
The women burst into cascades of laughter and sailed offto the dessert table, leaving Maria glaring behind them.
Vienna
New Year’s Eve, 1877
There were twenty-eightminutes left in 1877, and as if theyear had not seen trouble enough, Maria Wallner’s fatherled Maria Wallner’s mother onto the dance floor, clasped heramorously to his chest, and, with the first languid, delicatenotes of Strauss’s “Vienna Blood” waltz providing a suitablyromantic background, began to dance.
Maria Wallner, current manager of the Hotel Wallner,hostess of the party her parents had just taken center stage at,and newly returned emergency plumber of the fourth-floorbathroom, stood in the doorway of the hotel’s Small Ballroomand allowed herself precisely ten seconds of shock.
They made a stunning picture—orat least, Elisabeth Wallner,Maria’s mother, did. At some point in her youth, Elisabethhad been told she resembled Empress Sisi, the Emperor’sbeautiful bride, and she had never forgotten. Everything fromher hairstyle to her fitness regimen (strict gymnastics, everymorning) was modeled from Sisi, and now, with her dark hair streaming down her back, studded with crystal hairpins, andher midnight-bluevelvet gown frothing with silver lace, shelooked every bit an empress.
Maria’s father, Baron Heinrich von Eder, looked verymuch like the portly middle-agedaristocrat he was.
The couples around them were barely waltzing, fixatedon the delicious scandal unfolding. The audience at the edgesof the dance floor whispered and laughed, their eyes dartinggreedily between the couple and the stone-facedblond womanstanding like a dignified statue in the corner of the ballroom.
Because none of this would have been particularly scandalousif her parents had been married. Or indeed, if theyhad not just broken the single rule governing the thirty-yeardétente between the Wallner and von Eder households:namely, that Baron Heinrich von Eder would refrain fromnoticing Elisabeth Wallner until Baroness Adelaide von Eder,his wife and the mother of his four legitimate children, hadretired for the evening.
Her ten seconds over, Maria took a breath, brightened hersmile, and began her own waltz, weaving through the crowdto check on the buffet. Smiling and laughing, pretending thatnothing out of the ordinary was happening. (To be fair, ina way it wasn’t—Mariahad been a captive audience to thisparticular romantic drama her entire life. It was only the circumstancesthat were unusual.) She waved a server over toreplace a group’s empty champagne glasses; noticed a tornhem and discreetly alerted its wearer; and had almost made itto the buffet table when—
Maria! When are you going to find the man, like yourmother?”
There it was.
“If you know where he is, Mr. Schiller, please send him myaddress.” She laughed, her response easy and light.
(As it ought to be. She’d been saying the same damn thingfor decade and a half.)
The group of men around Mr. Schiller hooted in pleasure,and then mercifully turned back to the drama on the dancefloor.
It didn’t matter, she reminded herself, not entirely surewhat it was, but if it wasn’t about the Hotel Wallner’s TriumphantReturn to Society (yes, it was capitalized, yes, Maria didhave a list with that title), then it didn’t matter.
The caviar was low. She pulled one of the footmen asideand sent him running to the kitchen, catching a glimpse ofher parents just in time to see Heinrich tenderly brush a curlfrom her mother’s face. The crowd gave a pleased murmur.The story would be all over Vienna by supper the next day.
And that, Maria reminded herself, was what did matter.This was one of the scandals of the season, and the guests ofthe Hotel Wallner’s New Year’s Eve Ball had been the ones towitness it. Tomorrow, once they’d recovered from their traditionalNew Year’s Day hangovers, they would go to supperwith friends and say, “Oh, you should have been at the HotelWallner last night.” Just like the old days, when the HotelWallner had been one of the epicenters of Imperial Vienna, itsnights filled with scandal and intrigue and importance.
And this moment did look like something plucked fromMaria’s childhood memories. The newly cleaned and repairedchandelier dazzled. The freshly sanded and polished floorslooked almost liquid, as if Elisabeth and Heinrich were dancingon a vast champagne sea, beneath a starry sky. (Maria wasparticularly proud of the starry skies. She’d repainted everysingle gold star herself, balancing on a rickety scaffold beneaththe fifteen-footceilings until her back felt like it wouldbreak.) Perhaps she was deluding herself—itwould takemore than a single party to bring the Hotel Wallner back from irrelevance and disrepair—butshe thought somethinglike the old magical, golden wonderment shimmered in the air.
She’d do anything to give the hotel that magic back. Sufferingsome embarrassment and discomfort over her parents’behavior was nothing.
“I tried to stop him,” said a soft, cultured voice over hershoulder, and Maria’s smile warmed as she turned to her halfbrother, Macario von Eder.
Mac was the picture of a dashing young aristocrat tonight,Maria thought, as she brushed a speck of lint from his immaculatelytailored evening suit. There was little resemblancebetween the siblings—bothtook after their mothers, Mariawith dark eyes and darker hair, and Mac golden-hairedandblue-eyed—buta great deal of fondness.
Maria shrugged. “They’re impossible to stop.”
He grimaced, his eyebrows drawn together in distress. “Mymother’s about to murder someone. Or have an apoplexy.”
Maria waved to the hotel’s resident clairvoyants, MadameLe Blanc and Frau Heilig, as they walked past, and glancedacross the room at Mac’s mother. To the ordinary observershe was entirely unbothered, but Maria had been looking atthis woman for the better part of thirty years (despite neveractually speaking to her), and she winced in sympathy.
“Can you convince her to leave?”
“Tried,” Mac said. “But Count von Kaufstein is here, andshe’s afraid—”Mac broke off, sighing and rubbing his forehead.The crowd around them had noticed them talking, andwere openly staring.
“Put your hand down,” Maria said, with a bright smile.“We’re being watched.”
He laughed as though she’d said something funny, immediatelysmoothing his expression.
“Count von Kaufstein won’t care about any of this,” Mariasaid. “I’ve known him since I was in the cradle.”
“The Count von Kaufstein you know and the Count vonKaufstein my mother knows are very different people,” Macsaid, through his own charming smile.
Maria opened her mouth to argue, but just then a serverspilled a tray of champagne at the other side of the room.
“I have to—”
“Go, go,” her brother gestured. “And Maria? It’s a beautifulball.”
She squeezed his hand and hurried across the room,checking her watch as she went. Twenty-threeminutes tomidnight. The waltz was coming to an end.
She could see old Count von Kaufstein about ten metersaway. It had been sweet of him to come. He was always sweetto them, the Wallners. It was widely believed that he and Maria’sgrandmother Josephine were half siblings, both by-blowsof the Emperor two emperors deceased. Maria knew it wastrue of her grandmother; it was probably true of him as well.
Unlike Maria’s great-grandmother,Count von Kaufstein’smother had been a highborn aristocrat, one who (also unlikeMaria’s great-grandmother)had never fallen out with the ImperialCourt. The Count could have simply enjoyed a life offamilial wealth and Imperial favor, but had chosen a careerinstead—steadilyclimbing the court ranks until he becamethe Imperial and Royal Chamberlain, the person responsiblefor the current Emperor’s household finances.
Viennese high society had been surprised when the Counthad announced his son’s engagement to Annalise von Eder,Adelaide’s oldest girl and Maria’s half sister—thevon Ederswere wealthy and high-ranking,but there was that air of scandalattached to Heinrich, and the Count was very important.Consensus seemed to be that it was a love match; a claim Machad vigorously denied in the Hotel Wallner kitchens twonights earlier, his mouth half full of cake.
“He’s twenty years older than her, and she’s never even spoken to him,” Mac had said, an expression of utter bafflementon his face. “She’s not that pretty.”
Reaching the scene of the dropped tray, Maria pushed thevon Kaufstein–von Eder engagement from her mind. She wasas unequipped to follow aristocratic marriage machinationsas Mac would be to turn over a guest room.
Fortunately, the tray had carried only two glasses, and theserver had dropped it at least a meter and a half away fromthe nearest guest. She helped him pile the glass on the tray,carefully keeping her gown away from the spilled champagne.Someday soon, she would have a full staff, who could renderthis sort of mishap invisible. Until then, she had footmendoubling as servers and three maids, all busy elsewhere. Sofor tonight, Maria was hostess, maid, manager, and occasionalplumber all in one. She didn’t mind.
When a Wallner woman loved something, she’d do anythingfor it.
The waltz ended. Her parents clung together briefly, severalseconds longer than was appropriate. The party guestsstared, thrilled.
“The stars aligned for you tonight,” Madame Le Blancsaid, coming up beside her. She was a tall Frenchwoman witha long white braid who had lived at the hotel for twenty years.Her specialty was astrology. “As I predicted.”
“As I predicted,” said Frau Heilig, a short, blond Czechwoman whose mystical tool of choice was the tarot card deck.
Maria smiled. She had, out of politeness, consulted withboth the hotel’s occultists, and they had agreed that NewYear’s Eve was the correct date for the Hotel Wallner’s TriumphantReturn to Society.
“Your advice was invaluable.” She didn’t share her mother’sobsession with the occult, but these women had lived at theHotel Wallner almost as long as she had. They were family.“Both of you. It’s marvelous, isn’t it? Just like it used to be.”
The women, sometimes allies, sometimes enemies, shareda glance.
“This room looks lovely,” Frau Heilig said diplomatically.
Maria laughed, thinking of the Large Ballroom, with itsruined floor, and of the thirty-twocurrently unusable guestrooms. “Soon it will all look like this,” she said. “We’re almostback.”
“Hmph,” Madame Le Blanc said, looking over at Maria’sparents, now standing too close together, drinking champagne,still sensationally unaware of their audience. “Well, they neverleft.”
“No,” Maria said, following her gaze. “They never did.”
Another glance at her watch told her it was fourteen minutesbefore midnight. She had one more surprise in store forthe guests, and it was almost time to reveal it. She said goodbyeto the occultists, and with one last look at her parents—apparentlyreturning to the dance floor, the beginning ofStrauss’s “Tales from the Vienna Woods” accompanyingthem—hurriedfrom the ballroom.
The Small and Large Ballrooms were on the second floorof the Hotel Wallner, separated by a small lobby, with threefloors of guest rooms above, and the family apartments abovethat. The kitchen and restaurant were on the ground floor,along with the lobby and Maria’s office. A grand (and newlyrefurbished) staircase led from the lobby to the second floor.Maria took the tight servants’ stair down instead.
She walked briskly to the kitchen, where every footmanand handyman and waiter she’d been able to recruit stood inrented uniforms, holding cut-glassbowls, each bowl so largeit needed two men to carry it. Hannah Adler, the hotel’s chefand Maria’s best friend, hurried along the line pouring waterinto the bowls.
“The metalworkers are out back,” she said, and Mariaswung through the back door into the small alley beyond, where six metalworkers waited, each carrying a small campstove.
Every New Year’s, the Viennese dropped bits of moltenlead into cold water, and from the shapes formed divinedtheir destiny for the year ahead. Usually, this was done witha bit of lead melted in a spoon over a candle, but the HotelWallner had once done things on a grand scale.
It was about to do so again.
Maria talked to the metalworkers, checked the uniformsof her army of bowl-carriers,and gave the signal to head tothe second floor.
At five minutes to midnight, she returned to the ballroomand gave a nod to the orchestra leader. This would be the lastwaltz of 1877.
She took a breath, glancing down at the large sapphirering on her hand. A reminder of her great-grandmother,thewoman who had built it all. And then, with precisely oneminute left in the old year, the last wild, sweeping notes of“Tales from the Vienna Woods” faded away, and Maria steppedonto the orchestra’s platform.
“Good evening,” she said, smiling at the beautiful peoplebefore her. Yes, the hotel shone, but so did they, the magicof the hotel reflected in their eyes. Her parents, side by side,smiled up at her, as caught in the fantasy as those around them.“The Hotel Wallner invites you to join us in bidding farewellto an old year and welcoming a new one.” She turned to theorchestra leader. “Herr Weber, will you assist us?”
He bowed smoothly, and picked up his baton. With halfa minute to go, the drummers began to count down the secondswith crisp beats, the audience counting along.
“Five—four—three—two—one—HappyNew Year!”
The ballroom erupted in cheers and toasts, and 1878began.
A fresh year. A fresh start.
When the cheers began to die down, she stepped forward.“And now, the hotel has prepared a little surprise.” She smiledas the line of waiters began to enter. The cheers gave way togasps, and then, as they noticed the metalworkers set up attheir stoves around the ballroom, scattered applause. “Ladiesand gentlemen, your destinies await. May they be brilliantones.”
The bowl-bearershad taken their places around the metalworkers,several bowls surrounding each stove. Three floatingwaiters at every station assisted the guests with their leadpouring, and conveniently kept an eye out for any long skirtstraveling too close to the stoves. Maria had selected the safestmodel of camp stove, but fire of any kind was a risk.
She descended from the stage and picked up her waltzagain. She spun from group to group, laughing, admiring destinies,pretending to see crowns and flowers, and once eventhe profile of someone’s first love. The glow of the crowd builtin her chest, until she felt as though she too was shining. Theywere happy—thehotel had made them happy. Later, theywould wake up in the real world, with headaches to nurse andbills to pay and petty quarrels to fight, but right now they werein the magical fairyland of the Hotel Wallner, and they felt asthough they never needed to leave.
May they never leave again.
She needed to check the desserts—Hannahhad set themup during Maria’s speech but she should double-checkthem—
“Trying to escape your destiny, Maria?” Madame Le Blancasked from behind her, Frau Heilig at her side. For womenwho spent all their time arguing, they certainly spent a lot oftime together.
“No,” Maria said. “But—”
“Hmph,” Madame Le Blanc said, taking her arm in a firmgrip and leading her toward a lead-castingstation. Maria didn’t bother arguing. It would be faster to simply cast the lead, andthe guests would like it.
A group of patrons gathered around her as the metalworkerhelped her melt a small lump of lead.
“Maria, maybe this is the year you’ll meet him,” one said.
She laughed, wanting to roll her eyes. For a time in hertwenties, Vienna had been very interested in the man. Whoshe would choose to have her daughter with, as her motherand grandmother and great-grandmotherhad done beforeher. Never mind that the man had rarely been good news:Maria’s great-grandfatherhad very probably tried to haveher grandmother and great-grandmotherassassinated (thiswould forever be uncertain, as one didn’t accuse an emperorof murder), and her father, while not threatening homicide,did produce an astonishing number of headaches. The bestone by far was her grandfather, an unnamed aristocrat hergrandmother Josephine had enjoyed a brief fling with beforemeeting her longtime love, Emilie Brodmaier.
“I’ll wish for him,” she said, winking, and then cast herreal wish: May the hotel flourish. May it grow and be prosperous.And then, because the needling about the man actuallydid irritate her and she was feeling petty, she added: And maywe eclipse that damn Hotel Hoffmann.
She poured the lead into the water, and watched as itformed a swirling, tangled circle. A waiter fished it out, placingit on one of the cloth-coveredtrays she had arranged forthe occasion. She bent over it. “Hmm. Could it be a . . . a volcano?”
Covering the Hotel Hoffmann in lava.
Madame Le Blanc joined her. “Don’t be ridiculous,” shesaid, staring at the coin-sizedlump. Her eyes flicked to Maria’s,and then, disconcertingly, twinkled.
“Mon Dieu,” she said, loud enough for everyone in a ten-footradius to hear. “He’s tall. Clara, come look.”
Oh no.
Frau Heilig joined them before Maria could stop her, bendingher blond head over the lead, and then clasping her handdramatically to her bosom. “Maria! It’s finally happened!”
“No it hasn’t,” Maria hissed, through her smile. “They’rejoking,” she said to the rapt crowd.
“I do not joke about the will of the heavens,” Madame LeBlanc declared in an offended tone.
Maria glared at her.
“He’s handsome. Ooh yes,” Frau Heilig said, giggling.“Dark-haired,definitely dark-haired.You agree, Matilde?”
With another glance down, Madame Le Blanc noddedgraciously. “Yes. You have read it well.”
Oh wonderful. They were collaborating.
“Madame Le Blanc!” a man called. “Is it him? Is it theman?”
“It certainly could be,” Madame Le Blanc replied. “Nothingis decided. Merely an opportunity.”
“A very handsome opportunity,” Frau Heilig said.
There was a flutter in the crowd as—ohno—Maria’smotherElisabeth joined them.
“Maria,” she said, in a dramatic tone. Elisabeth spoke exclusivelyin dramatic tones. “Is it true? Is he finally coming?”
“No—”
“Oh!” Elisabeth clasped her hands together and lookedheavenward, immediately becoming the star of the moment.“It’s all I’ve prayed for! That you would find the happiness Ihave found with Heinrich! Your father!”
The crowd gasped.
Scandal of the season, Maria reminded herself. Good forthe hotel.
It was a well-knownsecret that Maria was Baron Heinrichvon Eder’s daughter, but it had never been confirmed publicly.
Until now.
She looked over to catch Mac’s stricken gaze, as his motherlooked on expressionlessly.
It was going to be a difficult night in the von Eder household.
And this was why there would never be the man, no matterhow many men in general Maria took to her bed. She hadseen exactly what happened when there was one.
She would stick with the hotel. Here, if she worked hard,she could create . . . beauty. A magical, healing refuge. In thememories of the Viennese upper class, the hotel was a gossamer,ever-changingfairyland, but to her, it was solid. Thehome that always held her. The net that caught her when shewas falling.
That was the spell of the Hotel Wallner. A spell she nowneeded to help it cast.
So she pinned a bright, beautiful smile to her face, thetwin of her mother’s. “How fortunate,” she said, laughing.“I’ll be looking for him. Day and . . . night.” Another laugh,echoed in the crowd. “Oh! Countess von Fier, have youdropped your lead yet?”
Deftly, she turned the crowd away, toward other bowlsand other scandals. Her mother, thankfully, had drifted awayby the time she returned. Probably back to Heinrich.
They were being so flagrant tonight. Why? After thirty-oddyears?
Taking a breath, she looked around the Small Ballroom.The tension drained out of her. No. Nothing could take thisfrom her.
“You wiggled out of that one,” Madame Le Blanc said.
Maria narrowed her eyes at the woman. “And you are atraitor.” She glared at Frau Heilig too. “Both of you.”
They snickered, unrepentant. “I only report what I see,”Madame Le Blanc said, with wide eyes.
“Not funny,” Maria said.
“Very funny,” Madame Le Blanc replied.
“Ooh, Matilde, Hannah’s put out her almond cakes,”Frau Heilig said, eyeing the dessert table with interest.
“She has?” Madame Le Blanc turned abruptly. “We’d betterhurry. They’ll go quickly.” The women turned to leave.
Thank God for Hannah’s almond cakes.
“Oh, Maria,” Madame Le Blanc said, over her shoulder asshe left. “If I were you, I wouldn’t sleep with any dark-hairedmen.”
The women burst into cascades of laughter and sailed offto the dessert table, leaving Maria glaring behind them.
My Review:
Hotel of Secrets
Diana Biller
Biller’s latest historical rom com/mystery/thriller, Hotel
of Secrets, set in a fictitious and infamous Vienna hotel in the late 19th
Century, is hilarious one moment and deadly serious the next and staring Maria
Wallner, an incredibly forward-thinking woman. Her complex plot and excellent
storytelling will draw the audience in and her fluent narrative, beautiful
backdrops, audacious humor and over-the-top eclectic cast will hold them
captive from page one until the end. Her
female stars are as usual strong, ahead of their time and fearless and readers
will absolutely fall in love with every one of the Wallner women, some right
away and some eventually and especially with Maria who is funny, loving and has
a heart of gold but who does not want any one man, even if he’s “the
man”, in her life even if he’s unlike anyone she’s ever known. Then
there’s Eli, now he’s a conundrum but as the pages turn readers will learn his
story and love him too. Fans of historical fiction, the novels of Karen White,
Lauren Willig or Beatriz Williams will not be able to put this down.
Four generations of Wallner women have owned and managed The
Hotel Wallner, an alleged gift to current manager/owner Maria Wallner’s
Great-grandmother Theresa from her lover the Emperor. The hotel, once
the Grande Dame of Vienna now has fallen into disrepair because of Elizabeth
Wallner’s (Maria’s mother) incompetence, but now it’s up to Maria to save it
and she has vowed to bring the hotel back to its former glory if it’s the last
thing she does. And that just might be the case since lately it seems she’s
always in some sort of peril and always being saved by a too handsome American
undercover agent whose cover has been blown since everyone knows he’s been sent
to Vienna to investigate the selling of secret government codes.
Eli Whittaker is a man on a mission; find out who’s selling
American secrets, expose them and then get back home to his simple life and
away from the chaos that is the Vienna Ball Season. Things here are too
crowded, too busy, too bright and much too tempting for him, especially the
beautiful and feisty hotel manager who always seems to be in the middle of some
sort of danger.
Praise:
"[Hotel of Secrets] casts a deeply engaging spell, pulling readers into an effortless and fun yet serious read, rich in banter, chemistry, friendship and danger." - Library Journal
"Glittering and golden, Diana Biller's Hotel of Secrets serves up decadence, intrigue, and a deeply emotional love story. Biller excels at immersive and atmospheric storytelling, and compelling voices with heart and just the right touch of humour. At once tender and exciting, Hotel of Secrets demonstrates why Diana Biller continues to be one of historical romance's very best." - Ruby Barrett, author of Hot Copy
"Gorgeously written and deeply romantic, Hotel of Secrets has a dream pairing: a buttoned-up virgin hero and a delightful, capable heroine falling for each other amid political intrigue and family drama... while I couldn’t wait for Eli and Maria’s slow burn to ignite, I didn’t want it to end. It’s another wonderful romance from Diana Biller." - Emma Barry, author of Earth Bound and Chick Magnet
"[A] perfect jewel-box world set in 19th-century Vienna. I wanted intrigue from this book, and I got it — but there was also more charm and sly humor than I was expecting. Maria is the kind of character who, when she learns her guests are having trysts in the linen closet, dreams up cunning ways to make the linen closets more tryst friendly. Eli, our American agent, is the perfect uptight foil for her sumptuous creativity and one of the year’s best grumps; it was a pleasure to watch him unravel." - The New York Times
"Wit and charm illuminate this marvellous novel. Hotel of Secrets is dazzling. It will carry you through its pages as if in a glorious, heart-stirring dance, making you laugh, and spin, and come away feeling exhilarated. A delightful must-read for lovers of historical romance." - India Holton, bestselling author of The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels
"Diana Biller’s lavishly imagined Hotel of Secrets sparkles with champagne bubbles and winter moonlight. This unforgettable, intoxicatingly romantic tale of tangled family history and political intrigue will leave readers spellbound and breathless and ready to begin again. Written with originality, wit, and style, every page is pure magic." - Joanna Lowell, author of The Runaway Duchess and The Duke Undone
"A beautifully researched and emotionally complex experience, Hotel of Secrets is an opulent slice of Viennese tradition as rich as a torte and as layered as a complicated line of Strauss. With intrigue and danger that nips on the heels of its luscious waltz, Biller’s lush and atmospheric escape is dolloped with romance and the deep, complicated and sigh-worthy characters that always shoot her to the top of my auto-buy list." - Rachel McMillan, author of The Mozart Code
"Uniquely charming! With her delightful characters, Biller builds an irresistible world inside a Viennese Victorian-era hotel that is equal parts screwball comedy, epic love story, and thrilling mystery. An utterly captivating novel about the power of fate." - Joanna Shupe, USA Today bestselling author of The Fifth Avenue Rebels series
About the author:
Diana Biller is the author of The Widow of Rose House and The Brightest Star in Paris. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys snuggling her animals, taking “research” trips abroad, and attending ballet class. She lives with her husband in Los Angeles.
It sounds good for those who enjoy historical fiction.
ReplyDeleteyes it was super Mary
DeleteThis sounds so good. Glad to see how much you loved it, Debbie.
ReplyDeleteHappy Easter!
it was good Sophia Rose. Have you read her I think you would adore her novels?
DeleteI do love my historical fiction
ReplyDelete