The Monteverdi Manuscript

by Joseph Allen

Overview

The action revolves around the death of a famous musician, who hits the pavement outside Carnegie Hall from the window of his apartment seven stories up. He has recorded keyboard versions of a lost opera by Claudio Monteverdi, the man who "invented" opera. Set in New York, London and Venice, action includes a kidnapping, drug use, prostitution, LGBT characters, one character who comes back from the dead, and three classic New York detective characters led by Hugo Miller.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781539051688
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	09/23/2016
Series:	Hugo Miller Mystery , #1
Pages:	278
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.58(d)

About the Author

Born in Houston, I spent most of my life in southern California, growing up in Palos Verdes and going to UCLA for languages. I wrote several nonfiction books when I was younger, and gave it up when my children were born and I couldn't support them as a writer. The last of those was SANDCASTLES: The Uses of Enchantment, which was a Doubleday Dolphin book in 1981. Married for 43 years, 2 grown children, 2 granddaughters. I started a small investor relations company in 1981 and am still working there. I did a reverse migration in 1998 and moved from California to New York.

I like writing. Like my characters I love to cook, theater and classical music. I have a mind like the bottom of a birdcage, where everything falls in no particular order. I was on a couple of quiz shows when I was younger because facts have always found a place in my brain where I can retrieve them. Even so, I didn't win a lot of money.

I don't eat red meat and am a bit of a gym rat. I'm afraid of black ice on roads and sometimes I have a hard time looking down from heights. I like flying and I like going to new places. I "collect" cathedrals, and have been to more than 2/3 of the cathedrals in England. Of course you can't count the cathedrals in France of Italy, but I've been to a lot there too. Something about them soars. Christmas carols make me cry.

I like paintings and family heirlooms. Also vodka and aggressive red wine.

Editorial Reviews

2016-11-01
A mystery novel from Allen (Rocky Point Road, 2016, etc.), set in late-1990s New York City, about the death of a famous harpsichordist. Hugo Miller is a middle-aged New Yorker who works in public relations, and who's successful enough to have an apartment right in Times Square. Fred Glamorgan, a music professor at UCLA and an old friend of Hugo's, comes into town to visit and the two go out for a night at the Metropolitan Opera. Before the show, they visit one of Fred's friends, the well-known harpsichordist Hubert Fulmer, who offers Hugo a hit of hashish. From there, things get hazy: the hash is spiked, leading to Hugo getting kicked out of the opera for appearing drop-dead drunk, and, more ominously, causing Hubert to jump out of his apartment's window to his death. Or was he pushed? That's the mystery that Hugo attempts to solve, driven by the fact that he, too, could've easily met the same end. Assisting him in this endeavor are his friend Ruth Jensen and his roommate Carlos, an ex-cop. Mike di Saronno, the detective assigned to the case, is also on hand to give official assistance to the three amateur sleuths. As they start to piece together the events of Hubert's fatal night, the possible murder seems linked to a lost manuscript of an opera by the 17th-century Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi, which may or may not exist, and which Hubert may or may not have had in his possession. More worryingly, Hugo starts noticing that people are following him around the city, suggesting that more sinister forces may be involved in the search. Things get even stranger—and more dangerous—as Hugo investigates further. Allen certainly appears to have a love for Manhattan and its environs, as he adoringly writes of the many buildings and restaurants that his characters visit. Sometimes, though, he gets bogged down in details—recounting exactly what Hugo eats at every stop, for instance, or the many benefits of first-class air travel. Hugo narrates the story in a light, easygoing way, but without much urgency, which deflates the intrigue of the plot; as a result, the stakes never seem to be that high. Hugo's fluid sexuality—he's a divorced father who also has an eye for men—is the most engaging part of his character, and the story shows some heart when this element becomes more central to the plot. However, it's not quite enough to save this meandering mystery. A whodunit that starts off with an intriguing premise but makes its way to an unsatisfying conclusion.

Kirkus Reviews