Devil's Trill by Gerald Elias

From concert violinist Gerald Elias (who has played with the Utah Symphony) comes this debut set in the classical music world about the theft of a priceless violin.

Daniel Jacobus is a blind, reclusive, crotchety violin teacher living in self-imposed exile in rural New England. He spends his time chain-smoking, listening to old LPs, and occasionally taking on new students, whom he berates in the hope that they will flee.

Jacobus is drawn back into the world he left behind when he decides to attend The Grimsley Competition at Carnegie Hall. The young winner of this competition is granted the honor of playing the Piccolino Stradivarius, a uniquely dazzling three-quarter-size violin that has brought misfortune to all who possessed it over the centuries. But the violin is stolen before the winner of the competition has a chance to play it, and Jacobus is the primary suspect.

With the help of his friend and former musical partner, Nathaniel Williams, his new student,Yumi Shinagawa, and several quirky sidekicks, Jacobus sets out to prove his innocence and find the stolen Piccolino Strad. Will he be successful? The quest takes him through the halls of wealth and culture, across continents to Japan, and leads him to a…murder.

306 pages. (August 2009)

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Book Page at BookBrowse.

Reading Guide from BookMovement.

 

To find a discussion guide for this book in the NoveList Plus database, go to the Library's website, click on Novelist under "We Recommend" → "Book Services". Click on "Book Discussion Guides" in the right sidebar on NoveList's home page. Then, either enter the title in the Search box or search for the title alphabetically. (You will need your Salt Lake County Library card number to access this resource outside a county library.)

 

Devil's Trill at goodreads

 

Review from Kirkus Reviews

Review at Mysterious Reviewsb

Review at Simply Music

Interview with Gerald Elias at The Dark Phantom Review

"Devil's Trill Sonata" (Part 1); Tartini, Gerald Elias:

 

"Devil's Trill" Sonata (Part 2); Tartini, Gerald Elias:

 

Title Read-alikes: The Devil of Echo Lake by Douglas Wynne; The Lost Concerto by Helaine Mario; Farewell Performance by Tessa Barclay; The Rainaldi Quartet by Paul Adam; The Long Way Home by Louise Penny; The Prague Sonata by Bradford Morrow; Skeleton Hill by Peter Lovesey; Rock & Roll Never Forgets by Deborah Grabien; Vengeance by Stuart Kaminsky; The Women in Black by Madeleine St. John; and A Brightness Long Ago by Guy Gavriel Kay.