The acclaimed historian “creatively use[s] the real-life murder of Count Joseph Visconti . . . to examine 18th-century European life and politics” (Library Journal).

In Liaisons Dangereuses, Mary Lindemann examines the mysterious circumstances surrounding the murder of a counterfeit Milanese count, Joseph Visconti, at the hands of a Prussian nobleman, the Baron von Kesslitz. Lindmann vividly reconstructs the drama from the perspectives of the count, the baron, the Spanish consul in Hamburg Antoine Ventura de Sanpelayo, and a courtesan named Anna Maria Romellini.

Lindemann explores the historical currents that swept these individuals together and the effects of their fateful encounter on Hamburg’s public, its government, and its diplomatic standing across Europe. Each person involved in the crime is profiled in detail, showing how their individual lives fit into the larger picture of eighteenth-century society.

What actually took place on that fateful night in October 1775? All Hamburg buzzed with rumors, but no definitive conclusion was reached. Nevertheless, the case that developed around the killing of Visconti provides fascinating insights into the diplomatic, cultural, legal, social, and political dynamics of late eighteenth century Europe.