The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb, B-
In The Violin Conspiracy, high schooler Ray McMillian wants to play the violin, but his mother wants him to get his GED and quit school early so that he can get a job. Learning on a school rental instrument, and without any private lessons, he nonetheless learns to play well enough to get a scholarship. His grandmother gives him an heirloom violin, which turns out to be a Stradivarius valued at over 10 millions dollars. Everyone in his family wants their share, and (disgustingly) the family that had once enslaved his ancestors sues him, claiming that the violin belongs to them. Then, just as Ray’s getting ready for a major competition, the violin gets stolen. Who stole it, and how?
This was in many ways an enjoyable book, but I gave it a B- grade because it wasn’t entirely satisfactory. There’s a lot about the story, including the resolution of the mystery, that doesn’t ring true, and the writing is not at all times the best. But the biggest problem is the way in which the book is billed. It’s sold as a mystery, but it’s more of a diatribe against systemic racism in America and in the classical music community. If that’s the book the author needed and wanted to write, then that’s exactly the book that he should have written, and I’m all for it. I had signed on for a mystery, though, and as a mystery it left me feeling disappointed.
What The Violin Conspiracy excels in is making one’s heart bleed. OMG, is it ever painful watching that young man struggle to get any kind of support for his dream of playing the violin. There probably aren’t many books detailing the kinds of barriers that young black classical musicians face in school and in the classical music world, and sometimes even at home. So I think The Violin Conspiracy is an important book in that regard. Just don’t read it for the mystery.