Earlier in the year I read a book by Rupert Holmes called Murder Your Employer. I blogged about it here:
That book was good enough that I wanted to read more by him. I knew him as a singer, but not as a novelist. I came across a book entitled Swing. As someone who loves a good mystery and big band music, I decided to check this out. I listened to the audio book.
The book had a Film Noir feel to it and it did have a few twists that threw me for a loop. Here is the Goodreads synopsis:
“Swing just might be the best historical thriller of the year. Certainly it is the most creative.”
–Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
In the swinging big band era, jazz saxophonist and arranger Ray Sherwood is haunted by personal tragedy. But when Gail Prentice, a beautiful and talented Berkeley student, seeks his help in orchestrating an original composition slated to debut at the newly created Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay, Ray is diverted from his worries and drawn to the beguiling coed. Within moments of their first meeting, however, Ray witnesses a horrifying sight: a woman plunging to her death from the island’s emblematic Tower of the Sun.
Ray soon finds himself trapped in a coil of spiraling secrets in which nothing is certain, including Gail’s intentions toward him and her connection to the dead woman. And as events speed toward the shocking climax, Ray must unlock an ominous puzzle with sinister implications that stretch far beyond anything he could imagine.
As a musician, there were some neat musical things in the book that I liked. Many musical terms, which Rupert defines for you, fit into the story as well. Do you have to be a musician to like this one? Not really, but I really connected to it a bit more.
One interesting thing about the audio book was that on occasion, Ray, the main character might talk about a piece of music he arranged as it begins to play in the background. Sometimes, he talks about singing a song on stage and the song plays before the story picks back up. There is a piano piece that Ray discovers and he describes it and then it plays for you. It was certainly a bit different and unexpected, but it enhanced the story a bit. If you don’t like swing music, you may not care for those bits.
The story had a few spots where it felt like it dragged a bit, but overall, I liked the book. I didn’t know it was set in the WWII era, but it makes sense with that big band music theme. It seems like I have a lot of WWII books on my list, and as of yet, they are not boring me.
As a side note, Rupert Holmes is working on a second story in the “Murder Your ____” series. Murder Your Mate is due out later this year.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 