Bøger af Brigitte Goldstein

A veteran actress's brutal murder at a Broadway theater in 1941 sets off a police investigation that reaches back to pre-WWI Vienna and 1920s Berlin in Brigitte Goldstein's densely plotted noir mystery novel, Death of a Diva. In 1941 New York, the murder on Broadway of Stella Berger, famed star of screen and stage of Weimar Germany and outspoken critic of the Nazi regime which had forced her into exile, sends shock waves through the American public. The police act quickly, and the prime suspect, an emigrant street musician, is tried and put on death row. But Misia Safran, a young Jewish refugee from Germany and part-time employee at the theater who becomes inadvertently involved in the investigation, is haunted by the possibility of his innocence and a suspicion that there's more to the case than meets the eye. Determined to uncover the truth, Misia delves into Stella's background. She patches together the life of the revered actress from testimony by those who had been closest to her throughout her rise to stardom. From accounts of her humble origins in a Viennese ghetto to her rise to the pinnacle in the acting world of 1920's Berlin, to her battle with Nazi propagandist Josef Goebbels, emerges the portrait of a woman of great strength of character and resolve, albeit one that conceals a vulnerable side which ultimately may have been the cause of her undoing. As Misia cuts through a bewildering thicket of lies, hidden agendas, and deceptions, she is met with intimations of a deep secret in Stella's past, evidence of which may be stored in the vault of a Swiss bank. If made public, this secret could provide the clue to the mystery, but could also destroy the star's carefully guarded public persona.

The year is 1588. Religious strife between Catholics and Huguenots has ravaged the Kingdom of France for decades. Spring maneuvers take Count Philippe de Treffort, captain in the Catholic League, to remote village where he become enthralled with Sandrine, daughter of the local innkeeper. From the moment he lays eyes on this beautiful, headstrong child, he feels irresistibly drawn to this beautiful young woman so different from the peasants among whom she lives. In a moment alone, she confesses to a similar attraction and dreams he is the liberator who will take her away from her miserable existence. His promise to do, however, remains unfulfilled as the fortunes of war engulfs their lives and fate conspires to keep them apart. Princess of the Blood centers on the epic struggle of a young woman to overcome the obstacles laid in her way by superstition, religious fanaticism, and the vicissitudes of war in order to find her identity and personal freedom to be united with the man she loves.

Court of Miracles is a human comedy of manners set in seventeenth-century France at the time of the Sun King Louis XIV. Two aristocrats, Antoine, Marquis de Valinquette and Guibert, Count de Mallac, fallen on hard times and in disgrace with the crown through the sins of their fathers, vie for the love of the most scintillating salonnière on the Parisian social circuit. Renowned for her wit and charm, Galatée, known as the Marquise, presides over the most sought-after salon in the fashionable Marais district of Paris. As the rivalry of the two men reaches its climax, it bursts open the mystery behind the woman and leads to the shadow world of the Court of Miracles.

Winner of several literary awards!-- Elite Choice Gold Winner-- Book Excellence Awards Winner-- Kops-Fetherling International Book Awards Gold-- Beverly Hills Book Awards Winner-- National Indie Excellence Awards.Alerted by a letter from Berlin that her grandmother may be alive in a Jewish hospice there, Misia Safran, a former refugee living in New York, is determined to follow the lead and return to her native Germany. However, it is 1946 and the defeated Reich, under Allied control, is off-limits to civilian travel in or out. With the help of a people-smuggling ring, Misia manages to breach the fortress and enter with forged German identity papers under an assumed name. As her journey takes her ever deeper into the devastated enemy territory, she encounters an array of colorful, frequently shady characters ranging from victorious Americans, unrepentant Nazis, ordinary civilians, Jewish survivors, and washed-up Wagnerian opera stars; all of whom have an intriguing personal story to tell and private agenda to pursue.When Misia runs afoul of the US military authorities, she meets her nemesis in the person of Major Emil Zweig. Since she lacks the crucial "Persilschein"-a denazification certificate-he sends her to a prison for female Nazi criminals. At this nadir of her ill-starred attempt to reach Berlin, a savior appears in the person of an enigmatic Jewish survivor who calls himself Frantiçek Kafka. Impelled by the romantic attraction sprouting between them, Misia embarks with him on a whirlwind search for a pair of Nazis. In the course of a rollercoaster ride of many unforeseen emotional ups and downs, she becomes a major player of a drama in which nothing and no one is what appearances suggest or pretend reality to be.