Alexander von Reisden is a fictional character in a three book

historical mystery The historical mystery or historical whodunit is a subgenre of two literary genres, historical fiction and mystery fiction. These works are set in a time period considered historical from the author's perspective, and the central plot involves th ...

series by Sarah Smith. The novels, set in turn of the 20th century

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and pre-

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, are ''The Vanished Child'' (1992), ''The Knowledge of Water'' (1996), and ''A Citizen of the Country'' (2000).

Overview

Reisden is an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n baron and chemist with an unexplained gap in his childhood memories. His 1905 return to America solves both the question of the murder of William Knight and the eighteen-year-old disappearance of Knight's grandson Richard. Reisden discovers that he is, in fact, Richard Knight. His grandfather was physically abusive and Richard shot him. Unable to deal with what he had done, the child stowed away on a ship that was bound for Africa. There, he lived the life of a street child, sometimes sleeping under a bridge or working for a junk seller. At age 10, Reisden was discovered by Count Leo von Loewenstein, a wealthy Austrian

aristocrat The aristocracy (''from Greek'' ''ἀριστοκρατία'' ''aristokratía'', "rule of the best"; ''Latin: aristocratia'') is historically associated with a "hereditary" or a "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the ...

and

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

who was looking for children with just such an uncertain background whom he could raise to spy on upper crust radicals. Reisden was given a new identity as Baron Alexander von Reisden, the son of an Austrian couple who emigrated to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and then died. Having forgotten his earlier identity as Richard Knight, he was educated as an Austrian aristocrat and juvenile spy. Eventually, he rebelled against his guardian, married an actress and became a chemist. After his wife died in a car accident, Reisden had a nervous breakdown and attempted to kill himself. A few years later, he was mistaken for Richard Knight and went to Boston. After the events of ''The Vanished Child,'' Reisden decides to keep silent about his newly discovered identity and returns to Paris, where he eventually marries Perdita Halley, a visually impaired pianist who is close to Gilbert Knight, Reisden's recently re-discovered uncle. But Reisden's uncle and other associates of the Knight family continue to intrude upon Reisden's life in

. He is called upon to solve other mysteries while he attempts to integrate his memories of Richard Knight with his life as Reisden.

References

External links

* Characters in mystery novel series Fictional amateur detectives Fictional Austrian detectives Fictional Austrian people Literary characters introduced in 1992 Novel series {{novel-char-stub