Funeral Music (Sara Selkirk Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Morag Joss (Author)

Book Description

Series: Sara Selkirk Mysteries | Publication Date: March 29, 2005

To the ancient Romans, the healing waters of Bath belonged to the goddess Minerva. Today they belong to the gods of commerce, as tourists teem, shops prosper, and the incense of gourmet food rises to the English skies. Among the throng is Sara Selkirk, a world-class cellist who came undone in a Paris performance. For Sara, taking a break from performing has given her a chance to look at what’s missing from her life– and even at a case of murder.…

The killing occurred in the famous Roman Baths, and the victim was the museum’s director. Knowing several people close to the investigation–from a potential suspect to a detective who cajoled her into giving him cello lessons–Sara discovers a talent for making sense of things. But like a Bach fugue, the pattern she grasps is more complex than it seems. And as she moves down a trail strewn with secrets and damaged lives, a chilling story begins to emerge: of greed, envy–and a killer performance that may not be quite finished yet.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. At the start of this exquisite crime novel from British author Joss (Fruitful Bodies), renowned cellist Sara Selkirk—who has barely performed in public since a breakdown following her lover's death—gives a charity performance at Bath's historic Pump Room. The evening goes well, but when she returns to claim a forgotten belt the morning after, she discovers Matthew Sawyer, the contentious "Director of Museums and Civic Leisure Resources," lying dead in the ancient spring that waters the legendary Roman baths. Spurred by the details reluctantly divulged by her student, DCI Andrew Poole, Sara tries to puzzle out Sawyer's murder. She knows a number of the potential suspects, who include James, her charming accompanist; Olivia, the victim's assistant director; and a virile but somewhat mysterious young chef named Paul, who, like Andrew, is attracted by Sara's beauty. Many motives lead to little hard evidence until another body surfaces and Sara finds herself suddenly clear about not just the mystery but her own future. If rich, gorgeous Sara sometimes seems too perfect to be true, the book's supporting cast is nicely fleshed out with human idiosyncrasies and tangled cross-purposes. Even better are Joss's lyrical evocations of Bath, which becomes the book's most compelling character. Agent, Jean Naggar. (Apr.)
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Review

“Morag Joss’s distinguished debut demonstrates an interesting setting, characters, both sympathetic and villainous, who are drawn with wit and perception, good writing and a plot which combines tension with credibility.”–P. D. James

“As well plotted as Ruth Rendell and with all the psychological complexity you find in the great P. D. James…Beautifully written, it manages to be witty and touching at the same time.”–Bath Chronicle

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Dell (March 29, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044024241X
• ISBN-13: 978-0440242413
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #831,202 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Visit Morag's website at www.moragjoss.com

Morag Joss grew up on the west coast of Scotland. She read English at St Andrews University and then studied singing at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London.
In 1996 she won an award in a national competition with her first short story. Starting to write was, she says, "discovering a lifelong ambition I didn't know I had."
The first of her three Sara Selkirk novels, FUNERAL MUSIC, was nominated for a Dilys Award by the American Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. She's also the author the 2003 Silver Dagger winner HALF BROKEN THINGS, which was adapted for UK national television and starred Penelope Wilton (available on DVD), and of THE NIGHT FOLLOWING, which won an Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination for Best Novel 2009.
Morag Joss was a Heinrich Böll writer in residence on Achill Island, Ireland, in 2008, where she wrote part of her seventh novel, AMONG THE MISSING, due for USA publication in autumn 2010.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a superbly plotted and extremely intriguing read, April 10, 2005

By 

tregatt (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Funeral Music (Sara Selkirk Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I do enjoy coming across a new British mystery series, and by the looks of things I'm going to derive a lot of fun from reading the next two installments in the Sara Selkirk mystery series scheduled to be released later this year. Well plotted, intriguing and full of beautiful and lush descriptions of modern day Bath, "Funeral Music" was a treat to read from beginning to end.

Suffering from an emotional breakdown that has prevented her from performing for quite a while, world renowned cellist has retreated to her cottage in Bath where she marks time exercising and giving cello lessons to Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Poole. And while her friends have been worried, none of them have met with any success in persuading Sara to perform publicly again. However her good friend, James has had enough, and manages to bully her into performing with him at the Pump Room. Giving in with bad grace, little did Sara expect that this one act would catapult into the middle of a murder investigation when she discovers the body of the Director of Museums and Civic Leisure Resources dead in one of the baths. Because Andrew is in charge of the investigations, Sara finds herself privy to all sorts of information, and when people she likes and care about come under police scrutiny, Sara finds herself reluctantly playing detective. And although she feels strangely invigorated, Sara will have to pay great care that her investigations don't land her on the killer's hit list...

What made "Funeral Music" so much fun to read was not so much the mystery at hand (if you're an avid mystery buff, you can more or less figure out what's going on about half way through the book) as the characters involved. Morag Joss has peopled her novel with characters that are engaging, flawed and sympathetic. Wanting to know what would happen to most of the characters had me glued to the pages till the very end. Another plus factor, "Funeral Music" was that this was an extremely well written book - the language, and the manner in which the book was framed was brilliantly done. And let no one tell you differently, a well written book is almost a rarity these days. So am I looking forward to the next Sara Selkirk mystery novel? Goodness, yes. If nothing else it will be fascinating to see how the author handles the relationship that's brewing between Sara and DCI Andrew Poole.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing mystery, May 29, 2006

By 

Busy Mom (Ohio) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Funeral Music (Sara Selkirk Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I found this book at a garage sale, along with her "Fearful Symmetry" ~~ and I picked it up for a few hours of escapism reading. It is a pleasant book and I love English mysteries. This one seems to do the trick on both counts.

This mystery features Sara Selkirk, a renowned cellist on hiatus since her lover's death in Paris the year before. She has lost her desire and passion for music ~~ but she agreed to play for a friend at the local museum one night. The next day, she discovers the musuem's director's body ~~ and almost against her will, she was drawn into solving the murder mystery case.

This is not your typical suspense novel ~~ it is more relaxed than Elizabeth George's novels and it does move at a slower pace. It is a fun read and I enjoyed it ~~ I plan to read her other books eventually. It's just a good novel with a mystery plot. If you're looking for a good escapism novel ~~ this one would be it.

5-29-06

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Death in Bath, August 27, 2005

By 

Roger Brunyate "reader/writer/musician" (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Funeral Music (Sara Selkirk Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

The classic detective story differs from the police procedural in that the characters tend to be part of a small interconnected group, and the artificiality of this device in Morag Joss' hands is obvious. There is also a trendy upper-middle-class aura which is rather off-putting. But her descriptions of Bath and its surroundings are spot on, and her leading character, a professional cellist, is well conceived. Indeed, some of the passages having to do with music and the blocks which so often prevent us from reaching it seem written out of first-hand experience and are quite moving. It is a pity that the nascent romance in the story has to be nipped in the bud at the end - but these days you have to write with at least one eye open for a possible sequel!