Broken Harmony

In Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the 1730s, life is not easy for an impoverished musician.
For Charles Patterson, violinist, harpsichord player, composer and would-be church organist, it's about to get a whole lot harder.
First he is accused of stealing a valuable book. Then a cherished violin belonging to his flamboyant professional rival Henri le Sac disappears, rapidly followed by le Sac himself. And when the young apprentice he inherited from his rival is gruesomely murdered, Patterson starts to feel out of his depth.
Strange goings-on at the elegant home of capricious Lady Anne leave him in fear for his health and sanity, and the lady's cousin, Esther Jerdoun, seems to be trying to warn him about something.

While some authors could pull off delaying their mystery's first murder two-thirds of the way into the story, English musicologist Southey isn't up to that challenge in her first novel, an offbeat whodunit set in 18th-century Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Southey's not fully sympathetic hero, Charles Patterson, who's a versatile musician, struggles to make ends meet, while his rival, Henri Le Sac, enjoys professional prominence. Patterson's faith in his sanity totters when he thinks he sees spirits, and the strain on his system is compounded when local authorities accuse him of stealing a rare book and a violin—and murdering the apprentice he inherited from Le Sac. Patterson turns amateur sleuth to clear his name. While an unexpected supernatural element distracts from the action more than it supports it, Southey's sure-handed use of period detail leaves hope she'll do better in her next historical. (Dec.)
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