Sound of the Trumpet [Mass Market Paperback]

Bill Moody (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 12, 1998

The sound and the fury...

On a dark night in Pennsylvania, a jazz legend met his death.  But now, in the heat and light of Las Vegas, the sound of Clifford Brown's soaring trumpet is coming back to life.  Because a man named Evan Horne, who knows all about jazz and pain, is unraveling a puzzle that reaches back forty years to Brown's last hours--and that has already gotten one person killed.

Horne was called to Las Vegas to authenticate some recordings purported to be the lost tapes of Clifford Brown.  But when a murder interrupts his listening session, Horne becomes the key player in a dangerous duet.  Carrying a worn old trumpet that may have belonged to Clifford Brown himself, Horne is pursuing the truth behind an audiotape that may be worth a fortune, may be a hoax, and may be just one haunting melody in a killer's murderous obsession.  .  .  .

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Bill Moody is a jazz drummer who knows his subject inside and out, and his Evan Horne mystery series is packed with jazz trivia. In this book (which, like his earlier Death of a Tenor Man, concerns the death of a real-life jazz great) lost tapes of long-dead trumpet player Clifford Brown turn up in Las Vegas, and a collector is murdered for them. Horne, a former jazz pianist, wants to find the truth about the tapes as well as the killer. His search leads him down various Jazz Alleys and Memory Lanes. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Moody (Death of a Tenor Man) has been justly praised for his ability to transform the excitement of jazz into words. Himself a jazz drummer and deejay, Moody writes beautifully about music, as when he describes a vibes player in a Las Vegas lounge: "He brushes over the chord changes like a runner circling the bases after hitting a triple, carefully touching each base but veering outside the base path." But the mystery in his third book about piano player and snooper Evan Horne is very thin, and Moody's decision to tell it in the present tense is quickly irritating and occasionally confusing. Horne?still recovering from a hand injury and trying to sort out various aspects of his personal life?goes to Las Vegas to help out a friend by verifying the authenticity of some tapes supposedly made by the legendary trumpet ace Clifford Brown just before his death in a 1956 auto crash. But things quickly go wrong. The man who owns the tapes is killed, Horne winds up with an old trumpet that might be Brown's, and a mysterious (and highly unlikely) collector named Cross is tabbed as the killer. Moody uses his musical knowledge to introduce a gallery of colorful figures to support the moderately interesting Horne and delivers a distinctively pleasurable, if not especially compelling, mystery.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Dell (January 12, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440221943
• ISBN-13: 978-0440221944
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,606,743 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific characters, excellent story, December 8, 2005

By 

Milton D. Ghivizzani (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sound of the Trumpet (Paperback)

Whether jazzoid or square, if you're a mystery reader, don't miss this one. A heretofore undiscovered Clifford Brown tape has shown up, and collectors are salivating. Is it real, or is it a clever counterfeit? If it's a counterfeit, who the hell is blowing the trumpet that sounds exactly like Clifford Brown? The questions are enough to cause a murder and suspicions all around. A fun read.
Milt Ghivizzani

3 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars very impressive, May 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Sound of the Trumpet (Mass Market Paperback)

this book by bill moody reaches a new standard by having a black culture presented in jazz and a murder mystery all in one. i wish there were more mysteries from a black culture