Murder at Spoleto [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Leigh L. Thompson (Author), Maurice Thompson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2003

Murder At Spoleto

Memorial Day brings with it Charleston’s Spoleto festival of theater and music. Maestro Jean-Louis Guérard is hired to raise funds for the 30th gala to premier two new works showcasing Charles Towne’s antebellum Nobility. When donations lag, Guérard turns to "Digits" Personnoni, a loan shark named for his habit of snipping off the fingers of delinquent borrowers.

On opening night, the municipal auditorium is packed as a macabre opera unfolds its tale of debauchery and miscegenation. The audience, whose ancestors the opera besmirches, is shocked and furious. In a horrific climax, the diva trips and falls into the pit, impaling herself on an antique bassoon. When a second premier results in a second actor dead, this time on a cross, and a third sees the prima ballerina collapsing in convulsions, football hero criminologist Bubba and Medical Examiner Mary Elizabeth team up to discover whodunit.

Their sleuthing, when not sidetracked by romance, sparks a suspicion of poison in all three tragedies, and when shipping records reveal the arrival of large shipments of cyanide, terrorism takes center stage. Can the Spoleto festival survive with murder in the starring role? A denouement offering up a plethora of mayhem reveals the answer.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Maurice and Leigh, multigenerational Charlestonians, live in a colonial home and enjoy the local people, cuisine, arts, and Gullah culture. This is their first novel, written about their hometown and its major Spring arts festival.

About the Author

Maurice is a high school teacher, assistant to the Editor of the Women’s Page of the local newspaper, lecturer, historian, and preservationist who has prepared audiovisual materials for science and produced multi-thousand person meetings worldwide. She met and married Leigh while they were at the College of Charleston. When he worked one year so she could complete her baccalaureate she agreed to reciprocate, not knowing that he intended to be a student until retirement. After earning his PhD (Pharmacology), MD (Johns Hopkins), and Internal Medicine Residency (Johns Hopkins and NIH) she put him to work.

Leigh built three of the first Intensive Care Units, ran analytical laboratories, became Professor of Medicine, edited ten textbooks and authored 285 scientific papers while lecturing worldwide. He pioneered live medical telecasts to physicians and hospitals and was a prize-winning medical news reporter for NBC-TV and then joined Eli Lilly and Company and retired as Chief Scientific Officer. He is a member of many boards and consults globally to health care, pharmaceutical, and biotech corporations.

Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: Elderberry Press (OR); illustrated edition edition (January 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930859546
• ISBN-13: 978-1930859548
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,488,803 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FIRST NOVEL IS A HIT, February 23, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Murder at Spoleto (Paperback)

The world famous Spoleto music festival is the setting for this nail biter of a novel. Part farce, part suspence, this first novel by a husband wife team of medical experts is graced both by a driving plot and the obvious medical expertise of the authors. One thing this novel never does is take itself too seriously, and there is its strength. Bravo!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Charlestonians write humorous thriller about bioterrorism., March 29, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Murder at Spoleto (Paperback)

Charleston characters, customs, cuisine, and history run through every paragraph of this thriller that will not only keep you on the edge of your seat but make you disturb your neighbors with laughter. You had better have one of those golden screws in your navel holding it on lest you laugh your a... off. Each character is so life-like you want to talk to them. Each death is so unique can you figure out if it is foul play, or in the case of the third death fowl play. When cyanide shows up as a bioterrorist threat to wipe out the lowcountry things move along at a rapid clip to an amazing climax, wrapped around local spirituals and 300-year old history. Buy it today but read it in a sound proof booth.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun, murders, and romance in the Holy City--SUPER., March 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Murder at Spoleto (Paperback)

Only Charlestonians could have captured the unique culture and characters of the Holy City so perfectly. Every page is filled with wry humor and local color. The authors are to be congratulated for their ability to use the most precise forensic sciences like CSI, the most devastating characterizations like Biography, with believeable protagonists like Law and Order all wrapped in the style of Tom Clancey combined with Saturday Night Live. As poisoning and murder begin to take center stage there is news of a shipment of a half-million lethal doses of cyanide that threatens a bioterrorist event in this usually pleasant community. Leading Charleston families will recognize not only their names but their behaviors in this gripping story that wraps todays and tomorrows events around 300 years of history with an ending you won't guess. Read it in one setting, but be sure you won't disturb your neighbors with your laughing out loud at every page if not every paragraph. Where is the sequel?