"Spring Break"

A graduate of Yale, Gerald Elias has been a Boston Symphony violinist, Associate Concertmaster of the Utah Symphony since 1988, Adjunct Professor of Music at the University of Utah, first violinist of the Abramyan String Quartet, and Music Director of the Vivaldi Candlelight concert series.

His novels include Devil's Trill, Danse Macabre, Death and the Maiden, Playing With Fire, and the newly released Spring Break.

Elias applied the Page 69 Test to Spring Break and reported the following:

From Page 69:

‘What were they talking about?’ Jacobus asked Yumi.

‘The Feldsteins?’

‘No, the Cooney cluster.’

‘Mainly about how much Aaron Schlossberg would be missed. What a great man he was. How much he did for the conservatory. You know, things that would be appropriate for the occasion.’

‘You mean the customary bullshit,’ Jacobus said.

‘Yes, that’s accurate,’ Yumi replied.

‘I assume that’s after they noticed you. Did you hear what were they talking about before that?’

‘No. The sound is too live in that room. It’s all a wash. All I can say is that they seemed ...concerned about something.

‘The food poisoning incident,’ Lilburn said. ‘This Dr Pine is a doctor, after all. Maybe they’re worried about medical expenses, or legal action. Or, perish the thought, maybe even about people’s health!’

Jacobus heard Lilburn slap at a mosquito.

‘Possible. But that’s over and done with,’ Jacobus said. ‘The more recent incident is Aaron Schlossberg found dead slumped over a piano keyboard.’

It began to drizzle.

‘I think we’d better go.'

This Page 69 excerpt underscores multiple currents of conflict in Spring Break. The scene is a gathering to comfort the wife of Aaron Schlossberg, famed composer of the Kinderhoek Conservatory of Music who has just died. Jacobus recognizes the artificial grieving of other faculty members who had no love lost for Schlossberg and who are customarily at each others' throats. There is also the coterie of conservatory bigwigs, whose main concern is money and who view Schlossberg's death more as an impediment to their plans than as a loss to the music world. Finally, there is also the sense of unease of the unresolved manner of Schlossberg's death. Was it diabetes, food poisoning, or something else?

My Book, The Movie: Spring Break.

Writers Read: Gerald Elias.

--Marshal Zeringue