Swing

Rupert Holmes fuses gripping suspense and evocative music in an innovative novel of intrigue set in 1940, during the very heart of the Big Band era. Includes original music composed and arranged by Holmes; music which offers additional clues that can help unlock Swing'smost ominous secret. Jazz musician Ray Sherwood, touring with the Jack Donavan Orchestra in 1940, is haunted by a personal tragedy. But when Gail, a beautiful and talented Berkeley student, seeks his help in orchestrating an original composition slated to premiere at San Francisco's Golden Gate Exposition, Ray finds himself powerfully drawn to the beguiling coed. While waiting for her, he witnesses a horrifying sight: a young woman plunging to her death from the island's emblematic Tower of the Sun. Ray is immediately drawn into a complex and seductive mystery in which he must use all his physical daring and improvisational skills to unlock an ominous puzzle whose sinister implications stretch far beyond anything he could imagine. Skillfully evoking the Big Band era and the lost world of Treasure Island, Swing is a unique and dazzling treat by a master storyteller. Smart and impressively elaborate, a sophisticated foray into musical mystery plotting. Holmes can turn a phrase as handily as he can encrypt clues. The New York Times