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Murder Duet [Hardcover]

Batya Gur (Author)
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)


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Book Description

Michael Ohayon Mysteries October 20, 1999
In this, Batya Gur's long-awaited fourth mystery, the intelligent and charming Israeli policeman Michael Ohayon once again becomes involved in a murder investigation set in a richly evocative Israeli milieu. This time we find ourselves following the strains of the Israeli classical music world.

As the novel begins Ohayon is about to push Play on his CD player to listen to a beloved recording of Brahms's First Symphony. Feeling lonely but assured in his decision to spend the evening alone, he hears what sounds like a baby crying. And indeed, in a stairwell just outside his door in a small cardboard box is a real live baby, wailing furiously. This event leads to his meeting a neighbor, Nita van Gelden, who is a single mother, a cellist, and part of an extended family of internationally known musicians. Nita's brother Theo is a famous conductor, her brother Gabriel a violinist, their father the owner of a prestigious music store. When a member of this illustrious family is murdered, Ohayon becomes involved with the investigation.

From the first strains of Brahms to the newly discovered sheet music for an unknown requiem, Murder Duet unfolds at an allegro pace. Lovers of crime novels, as well as music aficionados, will thrill to every dulcet note.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The lives of classical musicians are the focus of the latest entry in Gur's admirable series featuring Israeli Chief Superintendent Michael Ohayon (Murder on a Kibbutz, etc.). A divorc? with one adult child, Michael is returning to work after a two-year study leave, and his life is empty and lonely. So when an abandoned baby girl appears on his doorstep, he turns to his upstairs neighbor, a single mother and cellist named Nita van Gelden, for help. Nita belongs to a close-knit family of prominent musicians and music lovers. Her brother Theo is an internationally known conductor; another brother, Gabriel, is a violinist; and her father, Felix, is the owner of a famed music shop. When Nita's father is murdered, Michael faces a dilemma: he wants to lead the investigation, but he's afraid his growing affection for Nita will interfere with his inquiry, which involves the possible discovery of a previously unknown Vivaldi requiem. Gur's small group of suspects live in an insular world devoted to classical music, and she excels at exploring their psychological motivations in her long, complex tale. Relief from the preoccupation with composers is found in Gur's touching portrait of Michael and Nita's obsession with the babies they care for. Though Gur constructs her plot carefully, the novel is most memorable for its abundant digressions on music history and the musical life.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gur's previous Michael Ohayon novels have taken the introspective Jerusalem policeman inside three distinctly insular worlds: those of the psychiatrist, the literary critic, and the kibbutznik. The pattern holds in this long-awaited fourth installment in the superb series. This time Ohayon enters the world of classical music, but he does so without the piercing objectivity he was able to bring to his other cases. The murder victims are the father and brother of a woman, cellist Nita van Gelden, with whom Ohayon shares an intimate, though platonic, friendship, and the timing of the crimes threatens to upset Ohayon's plan to adopt an abandoned baby he has discovered in his apartment building. As Ohayon probes the van Gelden family, all of whose members are celebrated musicians, his relationship with Nita teeters, and his chances of being allowed to keep the baby dwindle. As always, Gur writes with great psychological insight and remarkable sensitivity, this time forcing her hero to confront the polarities of his personality: his overwhelming drive to ferret out cause and effect in the external world, on the one hand, and his obsessive need for personal privacy, on the other. Here, in order to solve the case, he must violate the privacy of someone he loves, and in so doing, allow his own world to be invaded. With a "heavy boot intruding on his private vulnerabilities," Ohayon plunges ahead, unraveling how the discovery of an unknown Vivaldi requiem unleashed a lethal mix of jealousy, greed, and familial rivalry. Numerous crime novelists have used classical music as a theme, but Gur has managed more effectively than any other to integrate musical matters into the fabric of the story. From the foreboding opening notes of Brahms' First Symphony, which Ohayon plays in the novel's first scene, through Nita's brother's discussion of the classical style, the "music-saturated air" informs the novel's substance as powerfully as it does its atmosphere. A virtuoso performance. Bill Ott

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 448 pages
  • Publisher: Harper; First Edition edition (October 20, 1999)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0060172681
  • ISBN-13: 978-0060172688
  • Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6 x 1.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,782,057 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

 

Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
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4 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.6 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Probably Gur's best Inspector Ohayon detective book, February 22, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Murder Duet (Hardcover)
As usual with Batya Gur's inspector Ohayon's books, the murder mystery and its solution are connected to a specific world - this time professional classical musicians, and the argument between "authentic" and "modern" playing practices. Highly entertaining and intelligent, full of empathy to the characters and their occupation, and for sure - Ms. Gur is in love with her hero. Beautiful and highly recommended.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars well worth the wait, October 26, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Murder Duet (Hardcover)
In Jerusalem, police officer Michael Ohayon looks forward to playing Brahm's First Symphony to relieve him of his solitary existence. However, before he can bury himself inside the music, he hears a howling infant just outside his apartment. Michael goes outside to look and finds an abandoned baby. He also meets single mother Nita van Gelden, a cellist and part of a renowned family of musicians. The pair shares a love for classical music and a struggle to care for newborns.

Following their first encounter, a thief kills Nita's famous father. The robber stole some cash, jewelry and a famous painting. Nita's brother becomes the next victim. Nita, already having emotional problems raising her child by herself, psychologically falls apart. Michael investigates the murders even as he tries to keep the infant that should be turned over to the authorities. He also helps Nita cope with her losses and the trauma of trying to raise a child alone.

It has been several years since Israeli police officer Michael Ohayon made an appearance (see MURDER ON A KIBBUTZ, LITERARY MURDER, and SATURDAY MORNING MURDER). Fans that enjoy a compassionate police detective will welcome his return in MURDER DUET. The story line is entertaining with an insider's look at Jerusalem and classical music. Michael retains his caring nature, but this time goes overboard as his instant need to keep the baby seems like a Grand Canyonesque stretch for a loner like him. His need to assist Nita is more in line with his persona. Still, the who-done-it is fun and Jerusalem sings as only Batya Gur can make the city perform. Not quite a virtuoso performance, but clearly an entertaining entry in a wonderful series.

Harriet Klausner

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful book for music lovers and suspense fans, August 9, 2000
This review is from: Murder Duet (Hardcover)
This book was given to me by a friend with whom I share an ongoing discussion about classical music. We also both love suspense. This book is extremely interesting and satisfying in both regards. The story grabs you immediately, in part because of the sympathetic protagonist Michael Ohayon of the Jerusalem police, who is trying to listen to Brahm's first symphony. Gur's description of his emotions as he listens to the music is so fascinating, I had to revisit this piece of music immediately after I finally achieved to put the book down. The story continues its unusual path and we get introduced to a bunch of very interesting off-the wall characters. Although I was able to figure out who did it, the conclusion was most intriguing because the motive remains a mystery to the very end
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