Death and the Maiden by Gerald Elias

Death and the Maiden by Gerald Elias

Dogged by internal dissension and by a potentially devastating lawsuit from its fired second violinist, the famed New Magini String Quartet is on the brink of professional and personal collapse. The quartet pins its hopes on a multi-media Carnegie Hall performance of Franz Schubert's masterpiece, "Death and the Maiden," to resurrect its faltering fortunes. But as the fateful downbeat approaches, a la Agatha Christie, one by one the quartet's musicians mysteriously vanish, including second violinist, Yumi Shinagawa, former student of renowned blind pedagogue and amateur sleuth, Daniel Jacobus. It is left up to the begrudging Jacobus, with his old friend, Nathaniel Williams, and a new member of the detective team, Trotsky the bulldog, to unravel the deadly puzzle. As usual, it ends up more than Jacobus bargained for.

Gerald Elias is a world-class pianist as well as a critically regarded novelist. His multi-award-winning Daniel Jacobus mystery series is set in the shadowy world of classical music. His debut novel, Devil's Trill, was chosen for Barnes & Noble Discover: Outstanding New Authors. War & Peace, Elias' prize-winning essay. And music was the focus of his TEDxSaltLakeCity2019 talk, which was based on an excerpt from his biography, Symphonies & Scorpions.

His short stories and essays have published in a variety of notable publications, including Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and The Strad. Elias has performed on five continents and has been the music director of Salt Lake City's famed Vivaldi by Candlelight chamber orchestra series since 2004. He was a former violinist with the Boston Symphony and associate concertmaster with the Utah Symphony. He splits his time between Salt Lake City and West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, juggling a busy concert schedule with his desire to broaden his literary horizons.