Broken Harmony
This is the first in a line of historical mysteries to be published by Crème de la Crime. The scene is Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the 1730s, where the musician Charles Patterson is locked in a feud with his rival, the Swiss Henri le Sac. There are not many novels that combine history, mystery, and quantum mechanics, so one must award points for originality. Patterson’s Newcastle is not quite in our world: the spirits of the dead converse all the time with the living and share their lives. This point of this supernatural element does not appear until the end of the novel, so this reader was puzzled and distracted by it nearly all the way through. The crimes worsen from theft to murder, while Patterson is intrigued by the aristocratic Lady Anne and her cousin Mrs. Jerdoun, and by the strange visions that he experiences at their house. The author is a musicologist, so music plays an important role in the story, but I felt it would have been kind to have offered a few more clues to give the reader a sporting chance of solving the mystery before Patterson does. This novel is different, absorbing, and with an unhackneyed setting and background.
