Dark Music
by Janis Susan May
Published by Vintage Romance Publishing, LLC
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Reviewed by Elysabeth Eldering
Can romance be found at Romance Writers Conference? Or is murder the order for the day?
Elizabeth McAllister shows up to a remote Canadian hotel where the Romance Writers' Conference is being held. She didn't really want to be part of the conference but her publisher talked her into by signing her up as one of the guest speakers. Then the unthinkable happens: a freak blizzard in late April. Luckily for the writers not many conference attendees have signed in since the first day or so is reserved for each group to have meetings as luncheons and to discuss business tactics.
Most of the conference speakers and guest writers have already checked in. The first night an author is murdered. Liz is the one to discover the body. Paranoia sets in and everyone is trying to get in on whodunit. Liz wants nothing more than to go back to New Orleans to the safety and warmth of the south. The next afternoon another author is discovered murdered--also pretty big for the same publishing company that Liz is a part of, a small press that is trying to compete with the large conglomerates.
The murders occur after Bernie (the publisher) announces that they will be doing nothing but romance publishing. The first murder was the author who sold more romance books for them than all others put together. The second one just happened to be the easiest to get to. Liz starts deducing that the authors are being killed in the order of largest to smallest in sales, because Liz had only sold two books, though both had been on the bestseller list for several weeks.
Liz meets up with her ex-husband, a renowned pianist who is going under a pseudonym because he feels he has lost the touch to play ever again due to a tragedy that occurred several years earlier. Liz tries hard to fight the old feelings all the while trying to stay as safe as she can.
With the help of her ex-husband, everything falls into place and crimes are solved, almost too late for Liz but her suspicions lead her to the murderer.
My suspicions were on one person for a while and then I switched my opinion only once and then back to the person I thought had done it. This was a bit slow in starting to get to the first murder but all in all, it was an enjoyable read.
Armchair Interviews says: Twists and turns in this good story.