Broken Harmony

October 15, 2007
While some authors could pull off delaying their mystery’s first murder two-thirds of the way into the story, English musicologist Southey isn’t up to that challenge in her first novel, an offbeat whodunit set in 18th-century Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Southey’s not fully sympathetic hero, Charles Patterson, who’s a versatile musician, struggles to make ends meet, while his rival, Henri Le Sac, enjoys professional prominence. Patterson’s faith in his sanity totters when he thinks he sees spirits, and the strain on his system is compounded when local authorities accuse him of stealing a rare book and a violin—and murdering the apprentice he inherited from Le Sac. Patterson turns amateur sleuth to clear his name. While an unexpected supernatural element distracts from the action more than it supports it, Southey’s sure-handed use of period detail leaves hope she’ll do better in her next historical.