The Case of the Orphaned Bassoonists

Cassandra Reilly travels to Venice to solve the mystery of a missing bassoon, and lands in the midst of an international cast of characters who all have something to hideAt the Venice-based symposium on women musicians of Vivaldi’s time, an instrument has gone missing: an antique bassoon, an invaluable family heirloom—and bassoonist Nicky Gibbons stands accused of the theft. Determined to clear her name, Nicky calls Cassandra Reilly—lesbian translator and part-time sleuth extraordinaire—and summons her to the City of Water. Fifteen scholars and musicians are attending the symposium, and each has a multitude of quirks and secrets—as well as motive to steal the bassoon. As Cassandra investigates, she immerses herself in the world of Baroque music, the tangle of personal intrigues at the symposium, and a second mystery involving the orphaned bassoonists of eighteenth-century Venice.Wry, intelligent, and atmospheric, The Case of the Orphaned Bassoonists is the fourth and final book in the Cassandra Reilly Mystery series, which begins with Gaudí Afternoon, Trouble in Transylvania, and The Death of a Much-Travelled Woman.From Publishers WeeklyThe present-day international classical-music scene meets Vivaldi-era Venice in Wilson's third winning tale featuring translator and amateur detective Cassandra Reilly. The jet-setting lesbian heroine obligingly sets off for Italy to help her friend, bassoonist Nicky Gibbons, who stands accused of stealing a priceless antique bassoon during a symposium on women musicians of Vivaldi's time. Symposium organizer Alfredo Sandretti insists that Nicky stole the valuable bassoon, but whether she did or didn't soon becomes irrelevant, because as Cassandra slyly interviews each of the possible suspects, she learns that they're all harboring their own secrets (or, as she later discovers, are gifted liars). Mousy oboist Anna de Hoog is in town to play in the concert, in spite of her lack of virtuosity; Gunther, a German with a promiscuous mistress, is constantly making frantic calls to his alleged grandmother; and Vivaldi expert Andrew McManus seems more intent on garnering the attention of Sandretti's son, Marco, than anything else. Running concurrently with the stolen instrument story is the more intriguing, yet lamentably not as fully developed, mystery of the orphaned bassoonists of Baroque Venice. While this novel lacks a unifying thread, Wilson nonetheless has marvelously depicted Venice and its history, introducing modern (if nutty) women personalities that should please feminist readers. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. From BooklistThe many moods and shifting colors of Venice come alive in Wilson's masterful third in the Reilly European Trilogy. Cassandra arrives to help her friend, bassoonist Nicola Gibbons, who's been accused of stealing an antique bassoon while attending a conference on women musicians of the Vivaldi era. She arrives at a grand villa to find an odd assortment of conferees, including a Canadian bassoonist/scholar; a strangely drab and untalented Dutch oboist; a couple of tall Nordic baroque bassoonists embroiled in a teutonically torrid affair; and the hosts: the domineering, hot-tempered Alfredo Sandretti and his browbeaten son, Marco, who will do anything--anything?--to please him. Cassandra manages to locate the missing bassoon but finds that a murder by drowning has muddied the waters. Whitney ScottCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved