Dogged by internal dissension and by a potentially devastating lawsuit from its fired second violinist, the famed New Magini String Quartet is on the brink of professional and personal collapse. The quartet pins its hopes on a multi-media Carnegie Hall performance of Franz Schubert’s masterpiece, ‘Death and the Maiden, ‘ to resurrect its faltering fortunes. But as the fateful downbeat approaches, a la Agatha Christie, one by one the quartet’s musicians mysteriously vanish, including second violinist, Yumi Shinagawa, former student of renowned blind pedagogue and amateur sleuth, Daniel Jacobus. It is left up to the begrudging Jacobus, with his old friend, Nathaniel Williams, and a new member of the detective team, Trotsky the bulldog, to unravel the deadly puzzle. As usual, it ends up more than Jacobus bargained for.
عن المؤلف
Gerald Elias leads a double life as a world-class musician and critically acclaimed author. Devil’s Trill, the debut novel of his award-winning Daniel Jacobus mystery series that takes place in the dark corners of the classical music world, was a Barnes & Noble Discover: Great New Writers selection. In 2020 he penned The Beethoven Sequence, a chilling psycho-political thriller. Elias’s prize-winning essay, ‘War & Peace. And Music, ‘ excerpted from his memoir, Symphonies & Scorpions, was the subject of his TEDx Salt Lake City2019 presentation. His short stories and essays have appeared in prestigious journals ranging from Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine to The Strad. A former violinist with the Boston Symphony and associate concertmaster of the Utah Symphony, Elias has performed on five continents and has been the conductor of Salt Lake City’s popular Vivaldi by Candlelight chamber orchestra series since 2004. He maintains a vibrant concert career while continuing to expand his literary horizons.