Funeral Music
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- £6.99
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
When a world-renowned cellist stumbles across the still-warm body of a museum director in the natural pools, the entire town of Bath takes notice
Life has been difficult for cellist Sara Selkirk. Since her partner’s death, she has lost none of her technical virtuosity, but her playing has missed that essential element—passion. Because of this, she has stayed out of the limelight, giving only one performance for a private charity event at the beautiful and ancient Pump Room in Bath.
The director of the Roman Baths Museum is the contentious and offensive Matthew Sawyer, a man who makes enemies everywhere he goes. When Sara returns to the Pump Room the morning after her performance, she finds Sawyer’s body in the Sacred Spring that fills the baths. Grudgingly conducting the case is her music student, the attractive detective DCI Andrew Poole. Now Sara must figure out who among the former director’s many detractors would end his life.
Funeral Music proves to be an accomplished and atmospheric debut for author Morag Joss.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of this exquisite crime novel from British author Joss (Fruitful Bodies), renowned cellist Sara Selkirk who has barely performed in public since a breakdown following her lover's death gives a charity performance at Bath's historic Pump Room. The evening goes well, but when she returns to claim a forgotten belt the morning after, she discovers Matthew Sawyer, the contentious "Director of Museums and Civic Leisure Resources," lying dead in the ancient spring that waters the legendary Roman baths. Spurred by the details reluctantly divulged by her student, DCI Andrew Poole, Sara tries to puzzle out Sawyer's murder. She knows a number of the potential suspects, who include James, her charming accompanist; Olivia, the victim's assistant director; and a virile but somewhat mysterious young chef named Paul, who, like Andrew, is attracted by Sara's beauty. Many motives lead to little hard evidence until another body surfaces and Sara finds herself suddenly clear about not just the mystery but her own future. If rich, gorgeous Sara sometimes seems too perfect to be true, the book's supporting cast is nicely fleshed out with human idiosyncrasies and tangled cross-purposes. Even better are Joss's lyrical evocations of Bath, which becomes the book's most compelling character. FYI:The author has won the CWA Silver Dagger Award.
