Life, death and cellos

3 stars

An ok adult contemporary fiction.

This was a cute book about musicians in a small community orchestra. The conductor is a philanderer who is not afraid to use seduction to further his career. When he gets food poisoning after a date with one of the cello players and misses the concert, a guest conductor is brought in. The guest conductor drops dead in the middle of the performance, landing on one of the orchestra’s most generous benefactors, injuring her. The benefactor withdrawals her financial backing from the orchestra, leaving it broke and desperate.

Cellist Erin suggests a plan to recover the lost finances, but the plan has a lot of moving parts and is risky. Part of the plan hinges on a less than talented cello player who inherits a Stradivari cello and the diva benefactor whose vocal skills are questionable.

The story is kind of all over the place. The book delves into the life of musicians in a small orchestra. It has a variety of characters, but we don’t learn much about them other than superficial generalities and stereotypes. The story also includes a small story arc about the Stradivari cello being stolen and recovered. This storyline was odd and out of place and I’m not sure why it was included, unless it was to set something up for the next book in the series.

Overall the book was a light, fun read. It is well-written, but isn’t a book that I will think twice about now that it’s read.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.