Synopses & Reviews
In this, Batya Gur's long-awaited fourth mystery, the intelligent and charming Israeli policeman Michael Ohayon once again becomes involved in a murder investigation set in a richly evocative Israeli milieu. This time we find ourselves following the strains of the Israeli classical music world.
As the novel begins Ohayon is about to push Play on his CD player to listen to a beloved recording of Brahms's First Symphony. Feeling lonely but assured in his decision to spend the evening alone, he hears what sounds like a baby crying. And indeed, in a stairwell just outside his door in a small cardboard box is a real live baby, wailing furiously. This event leads to his meeting a neighbor, Nita van Gelden, who is a single mother, a cellist, and part of an extended family of internationally known musicians. Nita's brother Theo is a famous conductor, her brother Gabriel a violinist, their father the owner of a prestigious music store. When a member of this illustrious family is murdered, Ohayon becomes involved with the investigation.
From the first strains of Brahms to the newly discovered sheet music for an unknown requiem, Murder Duet unfolds at an allegro pace. Lovers of crime novels, as well as music aficionados, will thrill to every dulcet note.
Synopsis
Israeli policeman Michael Ohayon investigates the murders of the brothers and father of a woman he has been seeing, in the fourth novel in Gur's series of popular, intellectually challenging mysteries.
Synopsis
With tension as taut as strings on a cello, the fourth Michael Ohayon mystery from "Israel's Agatha Christie," in which the police officer must solve the murder of two musicians, is "pure reading pleasure" (New York Times).
After his cellist friend's father and brother--who are also well-known musicians--are brutally murdered, Chief Superintendent Michael Ohayon, a classical music afficionado, sets out to solve the crime. From the opening pages, where the detective plays a compact disc of Brahm's First Symphony, to the newly discovered music for an unknown Vivaldi requiem that provides a rock-solid motive for the crime, lovers of crime novels, as well as music, will thrill to every dulcet note.
About the Author
Batya Gur (1947-2005) lived in Jerusalem, where she was a literary critic for Haaretz, Israel's most prestigious paper. She earned her master's in Hebrew literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and she also taught literature for nearly twenty years.