Piano Man

by Noreen Gilpatrick

Musician Paul Whitman is hired by a mysterious employer to restore old pianos on a lonely Puget Sound island, but someone is stealing piano strings, the accommodations stink, and the neighbors are unfriendly

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

424 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1991

Reviews

[Melanie Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book-- a spooky cozy full of wonderful characters. I especially like books with people trapped places. This time it is an island where it is hard to tell friend from foe.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel won the Malice Domestic award from St. Martins Press. Paul Whitman, an unsuccessful concert pianist ready to give up the academic life he had been following, answers an ad to restore three pianos on an isolated island in Puget Sound. On arrival, he discovers that he and the pianos will be housed in an old chicken coop, that the strings have all been taken from the pianos, that suspicious neighbors follow him and quickly stop talking when he enters the local store/restaurant. Moreover, Ben Murdoch, who hired him, isn't even on the island. Then he hears that there was a previous `Piano Man' whose current where-abouts are unknown, and that Paul is being used for bait to catch a killer whose victims have all had something to do with pianos and music. Good sense of place, surprise ending(s), and a good read.

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What fun. I was so engaged with this town and its folks. There's a seamless shift in attitude toward the townspeople that takes place about halfway through (can't say much about without a spoiler). It's really well done.

[Taddow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect when I fished this book out of the free book bin at the local university while watching my one year-old practice running through the halls but I was pleasantly surprised. I haven't really been interested in this type of mystery book since childhood with my run through the Hardy Boys series, but the author does an excellent job of roping you in from the onset with the isolated setting, the strange behavior of the characters and the pacing as things start to escalate. The identity of the killer was a surprise (though a possibility that I entertained while reading) and there were some minor flaws I saw with the "big reveal" at the end but overall an enjoyable book.

[Sam Sleep · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, cozy read. My second read through.
I definitely appreciated more this time around. One thing that always stuck with me was the main character. There were a few things about him that I related to that I hadn't seen before. The kind of thing that inspires honesty in my own writing. That, and Gilpatrick definitely nailed the pianist bit.
There was a bit of head hopping I noticed near the middle and to the end of the book. Maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention at the beginning.
Not my usual kind of read, but I did enjoy.

[Marina]

Very good mystety about a man hired to go to an island off of "Puget Sound" to repair 3 very damaged pianos. He becomes the focus of everybody in the town's attention and suspicion; as he is followed & gossiped about. He begins to realize that he is in for much more than he bargained for as people begin to end up dead, hung by missing piano strings.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scary.