Researching for her book on 19th-century virtuoso pianist Clara Schumann and her eight children, Professor Megan Crespi encounters startling hatred or praise for them and for Clara's composer husband Robert. These strong reactions come in the form of grave vandalism, outrageous graffiti on Schumann museums across Germany, in Switzerland and Vienna, and even murder. Why? Megan's travel companion is her sister-in-law Susan, a pediatrician whose expertise becomes crucial for the thirteen-year-old Italian child prodigy Stella Scarpauomo, referred to by the press as "the twenty-first-century Clara Schumann." Disparate characters include three dedicated detectives, two Viennese widows who are founders of the local Clara Schumann Society, and two Schumann museum directors, one helpful, the other easily annoyed. Also involved are a wacky Schumann archivist, a patroness of the arts who refuses to use one of her two surnames, and a brilliant young pianist from Liberia whose promising career has veered from that of performing artist to assistant piano tuner. Will Crespi and the detectives put the dangerous jigsaw puzzle together before further disaster strikes? Includes Readers Guide.
