The Vienna of Hotel Orient – Map Monday

Submitted: 20th April 2026

The Vienna of Hotel Orient

Where are we going?

There are some novels that come along that just have that spark. That spark that makes you wonder why you have never heard of a hotel like this. Why you have never heard of this hotel in Vienna. It’s iconic!

The Vienna of Hotel Orient - Map Monday

Ok, so the novel Alessandra has written might be fictional but it is inspired very much so on the secretive hotel itself.

Murder at the Hotel Orient Map

boarding pass new

The setting:

Well, where should you start? Let’s start at the very Hotel Orient itself….a very real hotel!

Murder at the Hotel Orient Map

The hotel is located at the heart of Vienna in a street where all the buildings are white. Ironically, the colour symbolises purity and innocence in many cultures but in this book…not so much. Quite the opposite in fact!

Hotel Orient, Vienna map

Murder at the Hotel Orient Map

“In modern Vienna, the infamous Hotel Orient glitters at the heart of the city, luring lovers inside for an evening of debauchery. Behind its velvet curtain, cameras are forbidden, aliases are required, and every guest has something to hide.”

Murder at the Hotel Orient Alessandra Ranelli

Murder at the Hotel Orient Map

Review

Having been to Vienna and met the author, this book really was on my radar for so long and boy did it deliver.

Think Golden Age and a modern dark mystery mixed into an enticing pill that you swallow – imagine the result! Dark corridors, smoky rooms and velvet curtains. Glamour might be its second name but so too is danger and forbidden pleasures. Anonymity is the guest of all guests. But when an actual guest is found murdered, well now….that puts the cat in the middle of the proverbial pigeons!

Sterling Lockwood is the mysterious concierge at the centre of all this. Concierge of the very real Hotel Orient. Now, since this is a real hotel THAT ups the ante somewhat. What is true or not, no one knows 😉 but…maybe the fine line can be tickled into submission with a pink feather boa. Sterling Lockwood is one mysterious lady……

The plotting throughout is a delight. Vienna is as much a character as the characters themselves. The plot is exquisite and delectably delicious. The hotel shines. I could see, smell and feel everything I saw in my mind as I read. There’s twists and turns, illicit meetings in corridors, rooms which suggest teasing clues and an enigmatic shine that promises a tantalising climax.

I needed to lie down after this. On a velvet chaise longue being fed grapes. Natch.