The Devil in Music: A Novel by Kate Ross

               Here is the final Julian Kestrel novel.  There is a short story which I don’t think I have read, but I will try to find.  Whether I find the short story or not, it is sad to see Julian’s story come to an end.              

                Julian Kestrel is traveling across Europe with his dear friend Dr. MacGregor.  While traveling, he comes across the story of Lodovico Malvezzi, a Marchese who was murdered years ago in Italy, and becomes determined to solve the case.  Dr. MacGregor does not think Julian’s investigation is such a great idea.  Julian’s valet, Dipper, doesn’t think it is either.  Julian, however, dismisses their concerns and decides to go to Italy, whether anyone likes it or not.

                Immediately upon his arrival in Italy, Julian offers his services to those involved in the case.  The police are not happy to see him, but the family welcomes Julian in.  They even go so far as to have Julian, Dipper, and Dr. MacGregor stay with them in order to aid Julian as he looks into the murder.              

                Despite the inside access to those who knew the murder victim, Julian encounters the problem that some of the people involved so long ago are either missing or dead.  Even the main suspect, a young vocal student who went by the name of Orfeo (at his sponsor’s request) cannot be found.  In fact, Orfeo has not been seen since the night the Marchese was found dead.  As the murder was reported as a heart attack at the time, no one looked for Orfeo.  Now, everyone wants to know where he is.

                With the police suspecting pretty much everyone of being Orfeo, Julian goes about seeing who else the murderer could possibly be.  As he does this, Julian struggles to keep his objectivity as he starts to fall in love with the Marchese’s widow, Beatrice.  With others vying for Beatrice’s attention, Julian finds himself having a hard time keeping his emotions and jealousy out of the investigation.

                There are so many characters and storylines in this book that it can be difficult to keep everything straight.  Fortunately, there is a listing of the characters in the front to help clarify which character is which.

                As for the actual story, I really wanted to take Julian and shake him for getting involved with a suspect.  He knew, and kept reminding himself, the widow could be a murderer, but did little to remove himself from the situation.  Then there’s Dipper, whose dealings with one of the maids helped him and Julian get into a lot of trouble.  Throughout this book, I really wanted to asked these two characters, where in the world is your sense?

                Someone whose sense I didn’t have to wonder about was the old, blind maestro who taught Orfeo.  As Orfeo was taught in secret, the only way Maestro Donati could identify Orfeo was if he sang.  Even Orfeo’s speaking voice wouldn’t help.  Maestro Donati had to hear him sing.  That does not mean he ran around asking everyone to sing for him, though.  Instead, Maestro Donati remained calm and waited for things to unfold.  If the series had gone on, I would have really liked to see this character return.

                Even though Julian and Dipper drove me a little crazy in this book, I am sad to see the series end.  There are characters from this book and previous books (including Julian and Dipper themselves) that I would like to see return, or at least find out what happened to them.  Unfortunately, that will not be happening, and I have to leave this series as it is.  Unless I find the short story, of course.