of Music at the University of Utah, first violinist of the Abramyan String Quartet, and Music Director of the Vivaldi Candlelight concert series.He applied the “Page 69 Test” to Devil's Trill, his debut novel, and reported the following:
"Why would any of them want to steal the violin?" This is the question Daniel Jacobus, the blind, cantankerous, put-out-to-pasture violinist poses on page 69 to Nathaniel Williams, his side-kick, corpulent, African American once-upon-a-time cellist but now art theft insurance investigator. This single question is the crux of the plot of Devil's Trill, and trying to find the answer not only jeopardizes their lifelong friendship, but gets Jacobus into life-threatening hot water. The damned violin, a unique 3/4 size Stradivarius, has bestowed a curse upon everyone who has ever owned it, starting with Matteo Cherubino, aka "Il Piccolino," the legendary, perhaps mythical 17th century midget violin virtuoso. After the violin is stolen from Carnegie Hall from under the noses of security guards and its Grimsley Violin Competition owners, Jacobus unwittingly becomes both primary suspect and reluctant sleuth. And when the theft is followed in short order by murder, the hot water reaches the boiling point. So much for the staid world of classical music!Read an excerpt from Devil's Trill, and learn more about the book and author at Gerald Elias' website.
Hear Elias perform Tartini's Devil's Trill Sonata.
Check out the complete list of books in the Page 69 Test Series.
--Marshal Zeringue
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