Greed, lust, power, and murder are words not commonly associated with the world of classical music. Yet this is the setting into which blind Daniel Jacobus, a reclusive, cantankerous violin teacher living in self-imposed exile in rural New England, is inexorably drawn. For Jacobus, who spends his time chain smoking, listening to old LPs, and berating students in the hope they will flee, the evils of that world are epitomized by the "Piccolino" Stradivarius,...

A Parisian art dealer is found dead in his hotel room the day after a Paganini concert. In his wallet is a scrap of sheet music, torn from a page that belongs to the competition's winner. But how did the dead man get hold of it? And why? Detective Antonio Guastafeste asks violin maker Gianni Castiglione to help him navigate the curious world of classical musicians, their priceless instruments, and the unsavory dealers who prey upon them.