Summary and Reviews of The Strings of Murder by Oscar de Muriel

The Strings of Murder by Oscar de Muriel

The Strings of Murder

by Oscar de Muriel
  • BookBrowse Review:
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  • First Published:
  • May 3, 2016, 412 pages
  • Paperback:
  • May 2017, 416 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

The brutal slaying of a violinist in his home in 1888 sparks a locked room murder mystery investigated by two diametrically opposed Edinburgh detectives.

1888: a violinist is brutally murdered in his Edinburgh home. Fearing a national panic over a copycat Jack the Ripper, Scotland Yard send Inspector Ian Frey. Frey reports to Detective "Nine-Nails" McGray, local legend and exact opposite of the foppish English Inspector. McGray's tragic past has driven him to superstition, but even Frey must admit that this case seems beyond belief...

There was no way in or out of the locked music studio. And there are black magic symbols on the floor. The dead man's maid swears there were three musicians playing before the murder. And the suspects all talk of a cursed violin once played by the Devil himself.

Inspector Frey has always been a man of reason?but the longer this investigation goes on, the more his grasp on reason seems to be slipping...

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Reviews

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The relationship between the two detectives and Oscar de Muriel's sparkling dialogue really elevate this murder mystery. Great wit and humor are on display as the cops gradually learn to appreciate each other's skills and intelligence, all the while sparring with great gusto. With such a colorful background, intriguing characters and a satisfyingly twisting plot, The Strings of Murder is a pleasure to read...continued

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(Reviewed by Kate Braithwaite).

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Beyond the Book



The Old and New Towns of Edinburgh

In The Strings of Murder, Oscar de Muriel's historical crime novel set in Victorian times, detectives, Frey and McGray crisscross a city that has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995. As someone who knows Edinburgh well - I was born and grew up there - I thoroughly enjoyed the novel. Abbeyhill, opposite the famous Palace of Holyrood, was the street where I lived until I was six years old. In the book, Frey and McGray lodge in the Georgian neoclassical splendor of the Edinburgh New Town, but their suspects and crime scenes carry them up and down the High Street of the Old Town that link the famous sites of Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace and Abbey.

Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh has been the capital city of Scotland since the ...

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Read-Alikes

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