The Adagio: A Mystery [Paperback]

Alan Austin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 2007

Jack Duncan likes women—even married ones. An amateur actor in 1960s Omaha, Nebraska, he’s started a steamy affair with his married costar, Louise Thompson. But when her husband discovers them in flagrante dilecto, Robert Thompson takes a peculiar revenge on Duncan, giving him his prized recording of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings.

While listening to the record, Duncan is disconcerted by a scream he hears embedded in the climactic chord. And when he discovers the bodies of Louise and Robert, he knows instantly that their murders and the eerie recording must somehow be connected.

Duncan is suspected of killing the couple and becomes both the pursued and pursuer as he flees to New York City, beginning a hellish four-year mission to discover the source of the scream. He hides among derelicts near Shea Stadium, prowls Carnegie Hall where the Adagio was recorded, and learns of a strange, reclusive man who once lived in Carnegie’s tower. Hunted by the law and his own past, Duncan has one chance to prove his innocence—if only he can stop the scream from echoing in his brain.

Lush with the language and attitude of the 1960s and 1970s, The Adagio is a gritty, hardboiled detective novel that will haunt you long after the last page is turned.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

For thirty years, Alan K. Austin has reported for PBS, Frontline, Nova, and CBS affiliates in Topeka, Kansas, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. His documentaries have won ten national Emmys, Peabodies, Dupont-Columbia, and Sigma Delta Chi awards. Austin recently tracked down his junior-high-school flame, and they currently live in Rogers, Arkansas.

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (August 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595434762
• ISBN-13: 978-0595434763
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,085,925 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read!, February 17, 2008

By 

Avid Reader and Writer (TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Adagio: A Mystery (Paperback)

Alan K. Austin has created a masterpiece. "The Adagio" is a well-written piece that takes the reader for a ride of a lifetime. A simple tale of a record containing a single misplaced note, a scream, weaves into an astonishing story of a man determined to prove his innocence.

Jack Duncan begins a casual affair with no clue of the drama that would result from it. With murder victims falling all around him, he must prove his innocence to the authorities and to his self.

This is a story that you will remember long after reading. It starts out with a bang. You may find yourself drifting off slightly in the middle, but hang in there because the ending brings everything together in a nice tidy bow, leaving you satisfied. This is an entertaining piece and I look forward to seeing more work from this talented writer.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Murder music, February 8, 2008

By 

Frank J. Konopka (Shamokin, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Adagio: A Mystery (Paperback)

This is an extremely well-written and taut mystery, detective story and thriller all rolled up in one package. It begins with the protagonist having an affair with a married woman and being discovered by her husband. Very soon the body count begins rising, and everything appears to be related to a mysterious scream heard (or not heard) at the end of a classical recording. The action moves from Nebraska to Iowa to New York City, and back and forth. There is a trial, an escape, and many pages about living the homeles and moneyless life on the streets and back spaces of New York and its surrounding area. The author keeps a few balls in the air at all times, but he doesn't drop any of them at all. This is a real page-turner, and I look forward to more books by this talented writer!

5.0 out of 5 stars An unusual murder mystery with a rapid conclusion, August 28, 2010

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Adagio: A Mystery (Paperback)

A brutal serial killer is actively killing to cover his tracks over a murder committed some time ago. Jack Duncan is a young actor playing a role in a play in Omaha, Nebraska and he engages in a sexual affair with his married co-star, Louise Thompson. The husband finds out about it and to his surprise the husband invites him to dinner at their residence. Quite naturally it is a somewhat of a stiff affair, the husband has Duncan listen to a vinyl recording of "Adagio" that was recorded live in Carnegie Hall with Leonard Bernstein directing the orchestra. Duncan hears the terrified scream of a woman on the recording and when he starts to snoop around Louise and her husband both turn up dead, Louise on Duncan's bed. Duncan is of course the prime suspect although at first he is dismissed as a suspect when a witness claims that he observed another person leaving Jack's residence.
A politically ambitious prosecutor tries Duncan and he realizes that the only way he is going to prove his innocence is to go to New York City and hunt down the killer. (Un)fortunately, the killer is hunting down and killing all people with any knowledge of his actions or in a position to help Jack. The additional killings allow Jack to pick up the trail and begin an adventure that leads Jack from the glitz of Carnegie Hall to the hideouts of society's outcasts. The ending is abrupt, after a great deal of slower movement, the conclusion takes place rapidly and the killer is exposed. There are excerpts from the killer's journal inserted at the end of chapters that give you hints as to who and what the serial killer really is.
This is an unusual murder mystery, what it lacks in terror it makes up for in uniqueness and unusualness. There is no point where you are so excited that you are tempted to turn the pages faster than you can read them and there are few actual clues as to who the serial killer is. It is also the case that there are times when you suspect that Duncan is in fact a mental case that has compartmentalized his murderous actions. With so many potential paths to follow, my interest was maintained through every page.