Mysterious and musically inclined, Bellweather Rhapsody brings the reader into the quaint world of the Bellweather Hotel in upstate New York. A hubbub of activity for years, the hotel's popularity has declined, but is busy one weekend a year due to the Statewide high school music competition. This year, Statewide happens to fall on the 15th anniversary of a murder-suicide at the hotel and someone is using this occasion to disturb the competition, in a deadly way.
I loved the constant perspective shift of the novel's quirky characters; there's Hastings who's run the concierge desk since before any of the other characters were born; Minnie Graves, who witnessed a murder-suicide at the hotel 15 years prior and has returned with her companion pooch to finally put to rest her inner demons; Alice and Bertram (Rabbit) Hatmaker, inseparable twin music geniuses; their pugnacious chaperone, "Weirdo" Wilson and a cast of wacky conductors and musical prima-donnas.
Reminiscing on my own high school band experience and the angst and anticipation of a hotel room with minimal adult supervision, I was drawn in immediately. As a sporadic reader of mysteries, I wasn't sure what to expect, but the variety of plot lines from teenage lust to haunted hotel rooms kept me hooked.
Although, this novel was written for adults. I think that the sharp wit of the characters and the constant forward motion of the mystery will engage young adults as well. VERDICT: While intriguing and just the right amount of strange, this novel should remain widely available at public libraries and accessible to curious high school readers.
Awards: Alex Award, 2015
