The Music Lovers: A Harry Stoner Mystery

The world of rare recordings and huge electrostatic stereo speakers is an unusual setting for the 10th appearance of Cincinnati PI Harry Stoner, seen before in the Shamus-winning Extenuating Circumstances. Though Stoner usually works his city's mean streets, this case has its beginnings in a cozier milieu. Mild, middle-aged Leon Tubin is missing some prized and valuable LPs. He's convinced that his fellow stereophile club member and all-around bigot Sherwood Leoffler is responsible and hires Stoner to prove it. After Stoner fends off Leon's unlikely companion Sheila, a former rock singer who has slept with a sizable portion of Ohio's male population, including most of the stereophiles, Leon is beaten while failing to protect her from a kidnapper. Stoner finds a cache of cash in their freezer, frozen assets that make the stolen records look like child's play and recast the likelihood of Sherwood's guilt. Rooting his story in crimes of the past, Valin calls on hard-hitting plotting and plenty of audio lore to yield a powerful conclusion that satisfyingly caps the story's gentler start. (Apr.)