Swing: A Mystery by Rupert Holmes

Swing: A Mystery Reviews

• 
  Red

  It was okay. Rupert Holmes has such a great feel for the Depression era. I don't know that the mystery was all that great. The characterizations were very strong. You read many books and they could take place in any time. Holmes makes you feel the thin shoe leather, hear the crackling radios and breathe the air of that bygone period. A fun twist with this novel, is that much of the story revolves around music and particular tunes. The book comes with a CD of the music, and if you are reading a copy that doesn't, you can download the music from his website.
• 
  Suz Davidson

  Very good "old school" mystery, with enough intrigue and historical reference to make the world seem more real than your average whodunnit.
• 
  Melissa (Way Behind Again!)

  Ray Sherwood, a talented jazz musician traveling the nation with Jack Donovan and His Orchestra, stays on the road in an attempt to outrun the heartache from his past. Arriving in San Francisco in September 1940, the orchestra's engagement coincides with the Golden Gate International Exposition, held on the man-made Treasure Island located below the famous Golden Gate Bridge. The World's Fair supplies more than just spectacular exhibits. It is also the backdrop for intrigue and murder.
  
  Ray receives a note at his hotel asking him to meet a woman named Gail at an Exhibition café to discuss a business proposition. Sufficiently intrigued, Ray arrives a bit early and is accosted by a French woman seeking a husband. After his meeting with Gail, Ray witnesses the same French woman plunge to her death from the Tower of the Sun. At first, it's ruled a suicide, but as Ray gets more deeply involved with Gail and her friends and family, he uncovers unsettling things that turn out to be more dangerous than he can imagine.
  
  This novel takes a fantastic peek into the world of a jazz musician in the 1940s. Ray is an endearing character with plenty of flaws, yet vulnerable and smart. The way he puzzles out the mystery is inspiring. The descriptions and pictures of the San Francisco World's Fair piqued my interest and caused me to want to read more about the true event that serves as a backdrop for this fictional tale. The supporting characters are richly drawn and add harmony to the main melody of the storyline.
  
  A CD of the music is included to enhance the reader's enjoyment of the story. The CD contains 'extra musical clues' but does not give any of the mystery away if enjoyed apart from the book. A friend of mine listened to the CD before reading the book and found some of it strange, so I recommend experiencing it while reading. It's not crucial to listen in order to understand the book, but it greatly strengthens the impact of the climax and unveiling of the mystery.
  
  Rupert Holmes is an award-winning author and composer. His talent shines here, both in the music and the highly original plot. The action is fast-paced and the musical discussion is complex enough to please even the most educated reader, yet sufficiently detailed enough for those with no musical background. Swing is a wonderful book to lose yourself in for a few hours or days, one that will stay with you for a long time.
• 
  NK

  A great twisting tale of mystery, murder and espionage. I found this in a thrift book store and it looked interesting. I recognized the author's name. Happy find. It is a great story - set in pre-WWII San Francisco, California - describing in great detail the music vibe and mood during this Era. I like Swing music and get most of the references, although I cannot vouch for the composition and score references because I cannot read music and do not play an instrument, but you don't have to - all is explained in great detail. Didn't want to put it down. I highly recommend this as a Good Read and suggest reading through the Acknowledgement section (which I would normally skip) for more insight.
• 
  Ruth

  I almost didn't bother to read this, having picked it up at the library, as the trite cover lacked any appeal whatsoever. What possessed the UK publishers to use this rather than the original evocative cover I do not know!
  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10...
  The title change (from Swing: a mystery) also seems superfluous.
  
  Having picked it up a little suspiciously, I found it was a somewhat noir tale of a jazz musician, set in 1940, narrated lightly enough but with some dark bass notes. I am ashamed to say I knew next to nothing about San Francisco's Treasure Island & the World Fair (Golden Gate Exposition) which form the backdrop, so was fascinated by the setting and had to find out more, having had my appetite whetted by the tale and the period photos included in the book. The evocation of the setting was perhaps more successful than the resolution of the mystery itself, but that is a niggle; I thoroughly enjoyed the read.
  
  I also enjoyed the accompanying music available for streaming and free download; a gimmick, maybe so, but a successful one for me in setting the mood and, should one have the energy, perhaps uncovering some clues...
• 
  Joe Logan

  A jazz mystery. How bizzare is that? Quite, but it works. This book is like the movie 'Lone Star' in that I can't tell you why it is so good without ruining it for anyone who hasn't read it. Pick it up, check it out. It's worth your time. Besides, it's set in San Francisco during the 1940 World's Fair, and the history woven into it is interesting. Who knew that the Army Corps of Engineers had created an island for the World's Fair? I didn't until I read 'Swing.'
• 
  Daniel

  This review originally published in
  Looking For a Good Book. Rated 3.5 of 5
  
  I was walking through one of my local libraries recently, just looking to see what caught my eye when this book popped out at me. Rupert Holmes...a name with which I am familiar, and 'Swing' ... one of my favorite styles of music. This looked tailor-made for me.
  
  Ray Sherwood is a jazz saxophonist. He also happens to be an accomplished arranger. Currently, Ray is in the San Francisco area with the Jack Donovan Orchestra for the Golden Gate Exposition and there is no shortage of attractive co-eds to add to the excitement of the World's Fair. One such beguiling co-ed, Gail Prentice, seeks Ray's help. A composition she wrote has been selected as a composition winner and will be performed at the exposition. Now Gail needs someone to arrange her piece for a full band.
  
  It's a lot of work, and Ray looks to lose money on his time investment, but music (and women) are his life and he's impressed enough with Gail's composition that he looks forward to the challenge. It will also take his mind off another young woman he encountered about that same time - a woman who leaped to her death from Treasure Island's Tower of the Sun.
  
  What I was hoping for ... and got ... was a mystery in which music played a key role. I can't say too much about it without giving a lot of the mystery away, but trust that music is key.
  
  While the mystery itself starts off pretty spectacularly, much of the book is a slow process of character introduction and establishing location and talents. The meat of the mystery doesn't really develop until three-quarters of the way through and most who've read a fair number of mysteries can probably anticipate where this story is going. Still, it is, in fact, Holmes' character development and knowledge of music that keeps the story interesting. The chapters are quite short, making this a very easy read.
  
  Anyone who can get a copy of the book that includes the CD will be rewarded with some fine music.
  
  This was just what I was looking for while trolling the local library and I enjoyed the read.
  
  Looking for a good book? Swing, by Rupert Holmes, is a delightful read and the perfect sort of mystery to read on a beach in the summer or while settling down in front of a fire in the colder months.
  
• 
  Carolyn

  Swing: A Mystery, caught my eye on the shelf at the library once the library allowed patrons back in the door. Set in 1940 San Francisco, the story starts off a little slow but picks up steam and has a satisfying last half. Early on, when I read, "She was the kind of blonde only a chemist could love, with a uniform whose lumpiness was probably not entirely the uniforms fault", I knew I'd enjoy the writing. The main character, Ray Sherwood is a good guy. Makes the story more fun when you really like the characters. A good story and if you are musically educated, all the better. I was not familiar with Treasure Island so I did google earth and there it is, an unnatural looking man made island. I was very young when I lived near San Francisco in the late 40's and early 50s. I never noticed Treasure Island probably due to the fact that as a fearful four-year old whenever my mother would drive over the Golden Gate Bridge I was quaking in fear on the floor in the back seat not wanting to look. There is a CD in the back of the book with songs referenced in the story.
• 
  Barbara

  As soon as I saw that this book was about the Golden Gate exposition on Treasure Island -- I picked it up. People who grow up in San Francisco have a great tendency towards nostalgia! I was born after this event but one of my memories was of my father with two of my sisters walking through the fair--fedora and double breasted suit and baggy trousers!!! And that's how I pictured this book's main character!
  Ray Bradbury, a member of a swing band, is playing at the nearby Claremont Hotel in Oakland. He's a tenor sax guy and also a very talented composer and arranger. He meets Gail (of course--boy meets girl!) and is also a witness to a rather grizzly death.
  Events evolve and twisting plot is rather brilliant! Never thought I'd find an "Oakland Noir" book! I recommend to all who like a good convoluted mystery!
• 
  Bradford

  Swing is a decent little mystery with a musical twist. It's hook is that Broadway composer Holmes not only wrote the book but also a musical score that fits into the story. The songs were mostly good without being memorable while the book is absorbing and has enough twists to qualify as a good mystery even though he telegraphs a few of them. I would read another one if he ventures down this path again.
• 
  Jessie

  Really fun historical mystery. Cheesy. Coherent writing about music and jazz, which was nice. Good twist, but darkened by WWII politics that always distracts me. Also the narrative tone has enough wink to be a bit cringey, but overall a fun read
• 
  Gill

  This is an unusual book, written in an ironic, period style. Rupert Holmes brings the era and the milieu to life even for me, a British non-musical reader. A good mystery.
• 
  Bookmarks Magazine

  Holmes's Broadway musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood, for which he wrote the book, lyrics, and score, won five Tony Awards. Strangely, no fuss was made that he was also the, um, genius behind the pop hit "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)." Since then, he's tried his hand at fiction__and won two Edgars. He dedicates Swing to his young daughter, who died in 1986. Despite its lightweight veneer (supplemented with a CD of Big Band-style music, written and orchestrated by Holmes), the novel touches on themes of guilt, loss, and wartime tragedies. Critics found great beauty in the novel's nostalgic evocation of 1940s Bay Area culture. The mystery itself is clever, if a little flat; clues that emerged through songs eluded some critics. Still, readers who appreciate a good period mystery "won't regret taking Holmes's latest novel for a Swing" (Rocky Mountain News).

  This is an excerpt from a review published in
  Bookmarks magazine.
• 
  JayeL

  This was recommended to me by another librarian. The book
  takes place at the Claremont Hotel and in and around the
  Cal campus, Oakland and San Francisco. It is the story of
  a young musician who wins a prize in the 1939 Exhibition
  on Treasure Island and who needs some help in the
  arrangement of her music. Ray, the arranger, falls for the
  young composer, but his life becomes more complicated
  when a dead girl lands at his feet in the Court of the Moon
  on Treasure Island. Things get complicated from there
  as mystery and subplots mount and Ray tries to unravel
  everything. I liked the book and thought that the parts that incorporated descriptions of the Bay Area as it was were really great. It made me want to read a bit more of Bay Area history at the time. I think the author rushed through the end.
  
  
• 
  Donna Barnes

  I thought this book would never end, so I guess I am making a comment of the length of the story and its high point. Another complaint is the section with all the technical discussion of music and musical compositions. I found that section boring ---- otherwise, the characters were interesting --- I enjoyed the love story ---- i loved the historical aspects of it (took place in the 1940s. I listened to this over about 3 months, so maybe that's why it seemed so long --- I hardly ever take that much time to read a book. It's billed as a mystery, but no one could have guessed even part of the ending, in my opinion, so it's not the kind of mystery that you can guess along. Overall, though, I liked the story, centering on the musician that offers to orchestrate this young woman's music and gets dragged into huge WWII espionage activity. Good action, nice love story, good solid story.
• 
  Tracey

  mystery / historical fiction (San Francisco/UC Berkeley/Oakland, 1940). The plot turns were just too strange to be believable (even though they make more sense when further details are revealed at the end), and I don't know why the wise-cracking musician wouldn't have said something to his policeman friend as soon as he suspected something about Marie's reappearances after her supposed suicide, because hello?--that means that she has probably murdered Ada. He clearly wasn't stupid, and was lining up these clues so neatly he could've at least fretted a bit more about what Gail might have been covering up with her telephone lies.
  
  The accompanying musical CD supposedly contains "further clues" and does add a bit of dimension, but you can save your ears; it didn't significantly help the story. I liked Holmes' other mystery, Where the Truth Lies, a lot better.
• 
  Jessica

  Let me start by saying that I am a professional musician, and I did really appreciate all the music details included here. I think they might be lost on many readers, but I for one was excited to see a carillon being played. I also enjoyed the great period detail. The mystery, unfortunately, wasn't so great, but I can usually forgive that in a book with so many great details. So why was I left bored by this book? I simply was not touched by the characters, even though they were fairly well drawn. I would recommend this book (the cd is an especially nice touch.) It wasn't for me, but I would be interested in reading other books by the author.
• 
  Florian

  When I was visiting UC Berkeley last fall, this book was arranged on a table at the library with books playing out (at least partly) on campus. With a title such as this one, I as a passionate swing dancer couldn't pass it by and got it as soon as I got back. The story is about a traveling Jazz musician being approached by a Cal student for creating the orchestral version of a swing song. Apart from creating a picture of the bay area and especially the Golden Gate International Exposition of 1940, it also goes a little bit into the topic of swing music and interweaves it all into a mystery story. I enjoyed reading at and listening to the accompanying music by the author.
• 
  Laura Cushing

  One of the best mysteries I've read, in that it gets you to care deeply for the protagonist and the girl he finds himself involved with. That the author is an acomplished musican himself is clear from how he weaves music into the story, and makes it an intrigal part of the mystery. Set in the big band era, in California during the world exibition they had in San Francisco - the setting is richly described and feels very authentic.
  
  I got this book used at a booksale- I'm going to visit the author's website to see if I can download the music that goes with it. And I'm definitely going to check out his other book.
• 
  Max

  3.5 stars. I really liked the era and locale of this book (I did go to Berkeley after all), but the undercurrent of the book relates to the death of the main character's young daughter. It was a difficult theme to be reminded of (my daughter is 20 months), but the story was well written and had great twists and turns. It was a fast read and I couldn't put it down. I think I would have loved the book (or liked it more) if I knew more about musical theory (what key different instruments' music is written in, etc.), which is integral to the story. The story was fast paced and had some great twists.
• 
  John

  A hugely enjoyable historical mystery set in 1940 in and around the San Francisco Golden Gate Exhibition. Swing musician and orchestrator Ray Sherwood gets dragged into a Nazi/Japanese plot when he agrees with beautiful young composer to arrange her prizewinning experimental composition "Swing Around the Sun". For the most part this is gloriously flip, just as you'd expect it to be, but there are some (far) darker motifs lurking in amongst the rest. Much recommended.
  
  My copy came with a short CD containing six swing tracks and the swingily arranged "Swing Around the Sun" itself, all composed by Holmes.
  
  
• 
  David Higgins

  Great period and music-based mystery
  
  Book started out a little slow, but it ended being a page-turner that kept me wanting more. A great 1940's mystery with a good use of music for a WWII thriller/story. Definitely worth reading.