A Little Death Music: A Novel of Suspense

The hero of this first mystery is John Field, a concert pianist with a penchant for detecting. Filling in for a colleague, Field flies to Florida for a grand music festival where an eminent and little-loved critic is killed midsymphony. The festival's patrons are all wealthy retirees who have, as Field discovers in their checkered histories, as much reason to wish the critic dead as do any of the visiting musicians. Complicated by suggestions of Central American political misdealings, a visually incomprehensible architectural setting, a real-estate scam, a years-old kidnapping and a tone that falls heavily flat while attempting light humor, the theme of the murderer's identity and intention is lost, as in the overburdened score. Nevertheless, the musical allusions are of interest, and Higgins writes with enough verve and life to offer hope for another effort. (March)