Spring Break: A Daniel Jacobus Mystery

In Elias’s intriguing sixth Daniel Jacobus mystery (after 2016’s Playing with Fire), the blind violinist’s former student Yumi Shinagawa is now adjunct professor of violin at the Kinderhoek Conservatory of Music in New York’s bucolic Cornwall County. Yumi invites Jacobus to the conservatory to conduct a master class during the institution’s annual Going for Baroque festival. Unfortunately, the irascible Jacobus gets into disputes with his students, and Yumi rebukes him when she hears him use sexist language (“Suck it up, buttercup”). The death of renowned composer and faculty member Aaron Schlossberg, apparently due to complications from his diabetes, leads to more trouble for Jacobus, who becomes involved in what develops into a murder investigation. Readers will enjoy spending time in the company of the curmudgeonly Jacobus, and many will welcome the absence of fisticuffs, car chases, and Glocks. Jacobus’s blindness adds an interesting angle, with suspects and witnesses classified and identified by the cadence and timbre of their voices. Agent: Josh Getzler, Hannigan Salky Getzler Agency. (Aug.)