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Night Music
Includes CD of the piano music of Mozart, with orchestra, and solo, performed by the author. Stranded in Milan by a train strike, a down-on-his-luck music scholar finds a mysterious document. Could it be the diary Mozart kept when he was an adolescent, traveling through Europe with his father? If authentic, the diary could catapult Matthew Pierce into wealth and fame. His search for the truth leads him into a dazzling world of Europe's wealthiest and most gifted musicians and aristocrats. But the brilliance of his surroundings is clouded by intrigue, threats, and murder. Matthew becomes both searcher and prey, and the peril mounts. Traveling across Europe with an entourage of divas and gentry, Matthew unravels the fiendish plots that threaten him and his friends, while giving us the Mozart diary, a new and delightful insight into the world of one of the greatest musicians ever to have lived. Harrison Slater, internationally known Mozart scholar and performer, makes a terrific debut into the world of literary mysteries.
576 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
December 13, 2008
A down-at-the heel musicologist comes across documents that appear to be fragments of a "lost diary" that Mozart had kept, and this launches him on a year-long adventure that nearly kills him. While parts of the plot stretched the limits of credibility, and dialogue seemed at times to be strained, I found myself drawn into this sometimes macabre and suspenseful mystery. I include it in "thinking person's mysteries" rather then "mysteries" because this is not a book to take to the beach or pass time at an airport. Slater is an acknowledged Mozart scholar and accomplished concert pianist, and these are reflected on every page. As Umberto Eco introduced the world to High Middle Ages in his now-classic Name of the Rose, so Slater recreated a significant aspect of the cultural world of 18th century Europe. Throughout the book, the author does sustain a dark and ominous air of tension that was strongly reminiscent of the dark landscapes of the artist Arbit Blatas. The final scene, in which a wild assembly of "characters" are gathered and the denouement is played out is worthy of the finest Agatha Christie! Slater is working on another novel, one about Chopin. I, for one, look forward to reading it.
March 17, 2009
I agree with one reviewer that this is a thinking person's mystery. I liked it very much for the new knowledge I gained about Mozart, the fast-paced plot, and the multiple European settings. The narrator was a bit too often sexually aroused (seemed gratuitous), but the intrigue was wonderful. Interested in translation, archives, and mysteries related to documents, I would recommend it to anyone who wants a mystery that makes them consider issues beyond the resolution of a crime.
July 4, 2015
What an annoying and aggravating book. I wish I could have abandoned it, but it's just so hard for me to do that, and a small little part of me did want to see whodunit (although even the so-called resolution was unsatisfying). It's filled with a cast of unlikeable and unrealistic characters, the writing is slow and ponderous, and the book manages to render a topic I love (Mozart's life and music) almost uninteresting.
June 20, 2020
Another reviewer put it perfectly -- what an aggravating book. The plot promised a whirlwind adventure of a musicologist, down on his luck, who stumbles upon a copy of an undiscovered copy of a Mozart diary and is whisked away into a world of luxury and crime. What the book actually delivered was a mess of too much pointless detail sprinkled with too-perfect ah-ha! moments.
The book started off strong. I was immediately hooked hung on every word...and then something changed. About halfway through, it's as if the author got tired of writing. The overall plot stayed the same, but the setting went off the deep end. Suddenly, the musicologist is a sex-crazed deviant running around Europe for no solid reason. At one point, trying to hide from his would-be killers, he decides the best option would be to dress-up as a neo-Nazi and get body piercings. It was a train wreck I just couldn't stop watching.
By the time the mystery is revealed, I couldn't remember any of the relevant details because the only pieces that really mattered were in that first half. When I got to the end, my immediate response was, "That's it?" I wouldn't say the solution was particularly predictable, or that it wasn't a satisfying solution to the initial mystery posed in the first few chapters; it just absolutely did not match the insanity that led up to it, and so it felt like a letdown.
The book started off strong. I was immediately hooked hung on every word...and then something changed. About halfway through, it's as if the author got tired of writing. The overall plot stayed the same, but the setting went off the deep end. Suddenly, the musicologist is a sex-crazed deviant running around Europe for no solid reason. At one point, trying to hide from his would-be killers, he decides the best option would be to dress-up as a neo-Nazi and get body piercings. It was a train wreck I just couldn't stop watching.
By the time the mystery is revealed, I couldn't remember any of the relevant details because the only pieces that really mattered were in that first half. When I got to the end, my immediate response was, "That's it?" I wouldn't say the solution was particularly predictable, or that it wasn't a satisfying solution to the initial mystery posed in the first few chapters; it just absolutely did not match the insanity that led up to it, and so it felt like a letdown.
May 28, 2018
If you are looking for a DaVinci Code-style mystery involving Mozart manuscripts, this is your book. Unfortunately you also get a protagonist who is dumb as a bag of hair [seriously, if this guy was in a horror movie, you'd be screaming, "You moron! Dont go in the basement!"], a large group of other characters that barely have a sympathetic soul among them, an incredibly convoluted plot, and a contrived and completely unsatisfying ending.
The one star is for the writing itself. It was engaging enough to keep me reading and hopeful for 650-odd pages. I just wish some of that hope had been justified. Alas.
The one star is for the writing itself. It was engaging enough to keep me reading and hopeful for 650-odd pages. I just wish some of that hope had been justified. Alas.
January 9, 2025
Man, I am an odd man out on this book. I loved this book so much. I read it while listening to Mozart and it was a lovely added level to immerse me into the story.
Granted the last time I read it was probably over a decade ago, so maybe I'll reread to see if my infantile mind missed something that everyone else seemed to have caught onto.
On the other hand, maybe I want to keep the memory of loving it, forever.
Granted the last time I read it was probably over a decade ago, so maybe I'll reread to see if my infantile mind missed something that everyone else seemed to have caught onto.
On the other hand, maybe I want to keep the memory of loving it, forever.
November 24, 2024
Can't finish it. Will skip towards the end becuase it is waaaaaaaayyyy too long with waaaaaaay too much boring babble between protaganist Peirce and the snobby super rich he gets involved with.
Could have been a great novel though - just couldn't hold my attention. I'm curious how it ends though and who stabbed who.
Could have been a great novel though - just couldn't hold my attention. I'm curious how it ends though and who stabbed who.
November 18, 2023
Reads like a spy novel with exotic locales and exotic people, but somewhat disjointed from the mystery behind the story. Did not feel a connection to the characters, but interesting stories about the life of Mozart.
April 30, 2024
I was expecting something like The Da Vinci Code but with music, and received an extremely slow story with a boring narrator, who has an exceptionally stereotypical male gaze and proceeds to sexually assault someone in the first 100 pages. Nope. DNF immediately.
August 11, 2017
Hilariously atrocious writing. Stopped pretty quickly.
November 25, 2009
It was pretty good! I have to say the main drawback is it's length, almost five hundred pages. Egad!
Here's the story:
Matthew Pierce is a Mozart scholar. I won't say a "prominent" scholar because he's a little down on his luck and hasn't made his big break. While on a trip in Europe, he gets stuck in Milan and happens to see an estate sale. He notices, stuck between some other miscellanous papers, what appears to be parts of Mozart's diary. No one else had noticed so he get's the papers for next to nothing.
And then the whirlwind starts. He gets invited to a swanky event hosted by a Viscount in France on his estate. And this is a fancy fancy get together lasting weeks with some of the world's wealthiest and talented people: opera singers (of course), royalty, etc. And everyone has something to do Mozart. So of course there's gossip, masked balls, and of course....DEATH.
A few people wind up dead, there's scary threatening notes, and attempted murder. Of course there is. So Matthew Pierce needs to know a few things: 1) is his Mozart diary for real? 2) is his life in danger? 3) who is threatening the guests?
It was actually a pretty fun whirlwind mystery. I have to say Harrison Gradwell Slater knows his Mozart. I loved reading the diary pieces and it even inspired me to pop in and listen to some Mozart while reading parts of the book. I absolutely adored the European descriptions. He makes the cities and settings come alive. I loved that.
The only thing is that it drug a bit sometimes. And sometimes Matthew Pierce was so kowtowed (I had to look up how to spell that word...ha!) that I wanted to slap him upside the head. And like I said before, it's a bit too long.
But now it's got me all interested in the life of Mozart.
Here's the story:
Matthew Pierce is a Mozart scholar. I won't say a "prominent" scholar because he's a little down on his luck and hasn't made his big break. While on a trip in Europe, he gets stuck in Milan and happens to see an estate sale. He notices, stuck between some other miscellanous papers, what appears to be parts of Mozart's diary. No one else had noticed so he get's the papers for next to nothing.
And then the whirlwind starts. He gets invited to a swanky event hosted by a Viscount in France on his estate. And this is a fancy fancy get together lasting weeks with some of the world's wealthiest and talented people: opera singers (of course), royalty, etc. And everyone has something to do Mozart. So of course there's gossip, masked balls, and of course....DEATH.
A few people wind up dead, there's scary threatening notes, and attempted murder. Of course there is. So Matthew Pierce needs to know a few things: 1) is his Mozart diary for real? 2) is his life in danger? 3) who is threatening the guests?
It was actually a pretty fun whirlwind mystery. I have to say Harrison Gradwell Slater knows his Mozart. I loved reading the diary pieces and it even inspired me to pop in and listen to some Mozart while reading parts of the book. I absolutely adored the European descriptions. He makes the cities and settings come alive. I loved that.
The only thing is that it drug a bit sometimes. And sometimes Matthew Pierce was so kowtowed (I had to look up how to spell that word...ha!) that I wanted to slap him upside the head. And like I said before, it's a bit too long.
But now it's got me all interested in the life of Mozart.
December 8, 2014
A begrudging 2 stars.
This was not the story I thought it was going to be. I thought it would be more of a historical fiction.
There are 4 main sections of this book.
Part One: College professor/musicologist who is trying and failing to climb the rungs of academia visits Europe during summer break to find inspiration. Attends estate auction in Italy and buys box of random financial documents belonging to estate dating to the 1700's. Finds secret Mozart diary at bottom of box. Comes back home and is randomly contacted by some secret music Illuminati to attend a 3 week party/convention in France.
Part Two: Attends strange musical Illuminati party. Strange and mysterious things start happening. People are murdered. Lots of talk about Mozart documents. Conspiracies develop revolving around an international money laundering scheme. Shady characters.
Part Three: Professor skips around Europe and lands in a secret Russian monastery where he pretends to be a monk for a month while transcribing more secret Mozart documents at monastery. Barely survives an attempt on his life when evil hitman hired from evil money laundering corporation tries to kill him. Spends 9 months in hospital and rehab.
Part Four: All guests reconvene at the secret musical Illuminati party for a "Who dunnit" convention. Confessions are made, some secrets are kept. Most of the plot remains unresolved while professor man walks away into the sunset. I put down the book with disgust and went to sleep.
This was not the story I thought it was going to be. I thought it would be more of a historical fiction.
There are 4 main sections of this book.
Part One: College professor/musicologist who is trying and failing to climb the rungs of academia visits Europe during summer break to find inspiration. Attends estate auction in Italy and buys box of random financial documents belonging to estate dating to the 1700's. Finds secret Mozart diary at bottom of box. Comes back home and is randomly contacted by some secret music Illuminati to attend a 3 week party/convention in France.
Part Two: Attends strange musical Illuminati party. Strange and mysterious things start happening. People are murdered. Lots of talk about Mozart documents. Conspiracies develop revolving around an international money laundering scheme. Shady characters.
Part Three: Professor skips around Europe and lands in a secret Russian monastery where he pretends to be a monk for a month while transcribing more secret Mozart documents at monastery. Barely survives an attempt on his life when evil hitman hired from evil money laundering corporation tries to kill him. Spends 9 months in hospital and rehab.
Part Four: All guests reconvene at the secret musical Illuminati party for a "Who dunnit" convention. Confessions are made, some secrets are kept. Most of the plot remains unresolved while professor man walks away into the sunset. I put down the book with disgust and went to sleep.
September 28, 2010
If you are a fan of the Da Vinci Code, you may like this book more than I did. The Mozart aspects of the book were very interesting. However, I found the dialogue to be stilted, the main character to be annoying and the plotting ridiculously over the top.
Two things I would also like to point out to the author:
1. At the time of writing, Switzerland used Swiss Francs as currency, not dollars.
2. If you are going to introduce the character of a frumpy librarian just so you can be surprised later when she is sexy in a costume, make sure you actually get where she's from correct. Iowa City is the home of the University of Iowa, NOT Iowa State, which is in Ames, IA. Don't be so condescending about the Midwest that you let your ignorance in geography shine through.
This librarian is glaring over her glasses at you for your lack of fact checking.
Two things I would also like to point out to the author:
1. At the time of writing, Switzerland used Swiss Francs as currency, not dollars.
2. If you are going to introduce the character of a frumpy librarian just so you can be surprised later when she is sexy in a costume, make sure you actually get where she's from correct. Iowa City is the home of the University of Iowa, NOT Iowa State, which is in Ames, IA. Don't be so condescending about the Midwest that you let your ignorance in geography shine through.
This librarian is glaring over her glasses at you for your lack of fact checking.
March 20, 2011
Part travelogue, part history book, part musicology, all mystery. I found the book compelling and the research which gives it the fountation just a fascinating as the plot structure. I believe the book does reveal the cult of personality that still surrounds Mozart over 200 years after his death, but obviously not as dramatic as the book suggests. The only thing holding me back from giving the book five stars was the ending, not the actual ending but the way it was wrapped up in the somewhat cliche way where everyone was brought back in the end. Also at some stages there were a lot of characters to keep track off. Still, I love the descriptions of the cities and places visited, it made the book and set the right old world intrigue atmosphere. Very good read.
April 12, 2021
I was looking forward to reading this, because the premise seemed intriguing. Old manuscripts, a cloak-and-dagger mystery set against the backdrop of European elite, historical flashbacks. This book tried very hard to be a happy marriage between Agatha Christie and Dan Brown, but it dragged on for too long and it failed to engage me as a reader. It simply lacked excitement. The characters were boring and I couldn’t even tell any of them apart. All the women are sexy seductive minxes and all the men are sleazy middle-aged perverts. None of them are the least bit likeable. I really had to commit to finishing this novel. It’s a shame that the author squandered such a great premise. He could have done so much with it.
June 13, 2014
This is an interesting read. In some ways, it reminds me of John Grisham or Dan Brown. However, it's scholarly, full of interesting trivia and real history. It's set in Europe, and in some ways is a little like a travel guide.
This would translate very brilliantly to film, with a big enough budget.
For some reason, at one point early in the book (p 103-111), the narrator suddenly seems to be a complete idiot or perhaps suffering from some mental disability...after having seemed clever enough at the outset. However, that goes away if you press through.
Not a bad summer read, especially if you enjoy music.
This would translate very brilliantly to film, with a big enough budget.
For some reason, at one point early in the book (p 103-111), the narrator suddenly seems to be a complete idiot or perhaps suffering from some mental disability...after having seemed clever enough at the outset. However, that goes away if you press through.
Not a bad summer read, especially if you enjoy music.
August 19, 2016
I saw a lot of earlier comments on this book with which I completely agreed. The parts describing the protagonist's travels and the sections about Mozart are highly enjoyable. So much of this is padded, though. A skilled editor would have trimmed down this book to a much more manageable length and made it a far better read. As for the whodunit: the clues were so abundant, and the story repeated them so often, I found very little that was a surprise at the end. The worst parts, by far, were the sections in which the protagonist was mired in lewd thoughts about some of the female characters. At times, I felt I was reading a teenage boy's poorly written fantasies.
July 10, 2013
This was a looong book. It took me forever to finish. I read more about Mozart than I ever have or ever will again. It's not that it was boring, there were just so many words. As a person who usually loves description, I was becoming overwhelmed by all the wordiness. This would be a better movie than book, mostly because it would be condensed to a reasonable length. So glad to be finished with it.
June 24, 2013
It was pretty good considering it was too long, too historical and too descriptive for me. Thank goodness for the complex murder mystery that was threaded throughout the novel. There were quite a few characters to keep track of but the main character, Matthew, kept me grounded. I found it kind of amusing how such a down on his luck musicologist could be so instrumental in solving such a complicated murder mystery.
December 6, 2013
Best way to describe this book? Snore fest. I am so annoyed that I just don't have the ability to not finish a book once I start it because this book irritated me completely. The potential was there for a great mystery thriller but it got completely bogged down by long passages of alleged Mozart diaries, overflowing superfluous scenery description and sadly not one really likable character.
Huge disappointment.
Until next time,
~Lisa
Huge disappointment.
Until next time,
~Lisa
April 21, 2009
One star is a vast overstatement. Probably the worst book I have read in decades. Was a book club selection and we all panned it..found no redeeming info in it that we could not have gotten out of travel brochures. Can sum it up by saying that when I give it to a used book store I want to make certain no one can trace it back to me!
February 24, 2008
A murder mystery linked to undiscovered Mozart diaries and forgeries within the world of musicology, performance, and competitive foundation support. The book starts slow but picks up the pace after the first few chapters.
June 23, 2013
Money, murder, sex, power... Great read!!! A vast number of characters each with their own piece of firewood to throw in the fire. I love a complex plot with turns and twists that seem to never end.
August 11, 2014
I started this book with great gusto and was immediately drawn in. I lost interest about half way through and took forever to finish the rest. It became a little to complicated and unbelievable. I did enjoy the parts about the diary and Mozart.
April 28, 2014
This book is certainly written by a musician who knows Mozart. It's a mystery that hangs out among high society in various European cities, but it's all related to a Mozart manuscript that the protagonist finds and needs to be authenticated. You don't have to be a musician to enjoy the book.
August 23, 2007
An intelligent murder mystery in the style of The Da Vinci Code (though not THAT good.) The ending was a bit disappointing.
September 8, 2008
A musicologist discovers lost Mozart letters. He is invited to Venice where he realizes he is in danger. Great descriptions of art and architecture, music and art.
October 17, 2008
I think it's the worst book I've finished in a long time. I'm not sure why I kept going other than momentum.
January 18, 2013
Music
Mozart
Mystery
Author named "Slater"
It 'sang' out to me.
Good storyline and enjoyable.
Read in 2007.
Mozart
Mystery
Author named "Slater"
It 'sang' out to me.
Good storyline and enjoyable.
Read in 2007.
June 25, 2013
3.5 Good historical fiction and great detail. Too long, but had me googling more about Mozart.
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