About the Author:
Rena Fruchter is the author of three books—two critically acclaimed books in the biographical genre—Dudley Moore—An
Intimate Portrait, and I’m Chevy Chase…and you’re not. And now, her
exciting and soon to be released book: The Orchestra Murders—A Cynthia
Masters Mystery.
Ms.
Fruchter is a renowned pianist, writer and educator, and director of an
arts organization. Her performances have taken her throughout the
United States, Europe, Australia and the Far East in both solo and
ensemble appearances. She made her solo debut with the Philadelphia
Orchestra at the age of six, performing the Haydn Piano Concerto in D
Major. Appearances with other orchestras and on radio and television
followed. At age eleven, she gave her first performance with the Boston
Pops under Arthur Fiedler at the Esplanade, later returning to perform
the Schumann Piano Concerto with the Boston Pops in Symphony Hall.
For
twelve years, Rena Fruchter was a music columnist for the New York
Times. She was also a music critic and an arts commentator for New
Jersey Public Television, the London Music Correspondent for the Boston
Herald and a contributor to many other publications. Her radio
interview series, “Backstage Portraits,” was broadcast throughout the
United States.
A
graduate of Brandeis University, Rena also holds degrees in both piano
performance and pedagogy from the Royal College of Music in London,
England, where she studied with Louis Kentner and Lamar Crowson. She
also studied with two distinguished Nadias--Nadia Boulanger in France
and Nadia Reisenberg in New York.
Rena
is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Music For All Seasons, an
organization that presents musical programs for people confined in
institutions including hospitals, nursing homes, prisons and special
facilities for children. The organization also runs “Voices of Valor,”
which provides workshops for veterans to write and record their own
songs. The organization was co-founded by Rena and her husband, Brian
Dallow. Dudley Moore was the Founding Advisory Board President of Music
For All Seasons, which is now in its 21st year.
Rena
is CEO of Martine Avenue Productions, a company co-created with Dudley
Moore to bring his musical works to the public. The company has
produced seven CDs, the latest, the two-CD set Dudley Down
Under—unabridged, the complete live Dudley Moore Trio concert at Sydney
Town Hall (Australia) on May 2, 1978. This CD is produced in honor of
Dudley on the tenth anniversary of his death.
The
company donates a portion of its proceeds to two charities designated
by Dudley—the international research fund of the US-based “Cure PSP” and
“Music For All Seasons, Inc.”
With
long-time friend and colleague Dudley Moore, Rena toured the United
States and Australia, New Zealand, and the Far East in two-piano
performances.
Rena
Fruchter is the author of the critically acclaimed book Dudley Moore—An
Intimate Portrait, published in 2004 by Ebury/Random House/UK and
subsequently published in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.
Her
popular book I’m Chevy Chase…And You’re Not, an innovative biography
presenting the American comedy icon in a fascinating and revealing look
at his life and work, was published in the UK and US. The only
authorized biography of Chevy Chase, it provides a comprehensive view of
the brilliant and complex actor, comedian and writer.
Her new book has just been published and is called The Orchestra Murders—A Cynthia Masters Mystery.
Rena
is married to Brian Dallow, and they are the parents of four adult
children, including a set of triplets. They live in New Jersey.
About the Book:
Superstar
conductor Sir Gregory Langhorne and his globe-trotting, violin-soloist
son Jonathan Langhorne are the best of friends—until a brutal murder
shatters their lives and Jonathan becomes the prime suspect.
Six
years later, Sir Gregory is now the music director of the world famous
Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra and has finally reconciled with his son
Jonathan, just as members of the orchestra are being killed off one by
one.
The
challenge for brilliant young hotshot Philadelphia Detective Cynthia
Masters is to solve not only the orchestra murders, but the question of
why murder seems to follow the Langhornes. Has Masters finally met her
match—a case that cannot be solved? Set in London and Philadelphia, this
dramatic story of murder, infidelity, and the abuse of money and power
establishes Cynthia Masters as a world-class detective in this thrilling
and unusual mystery.
I am so pleased to be promoting this book here on my blog. This was one I wanted to read but didn't have the time to do so. Thankfully I can reveal the first chapter to you, and we can all read it together!
The Orchestra Murders—A Cynthia Masters Mystery
By Rena Fruchter
Prologue
Philadelphia Tuesday, September 20, 2011
The
last two minutes of his life were the longest. As Richard Warren
reached for the door, the masked stranger grabbed his wrist firmly. The
bass player was supposed to be onstage at the very moment he was stopped
in the rehearsal room by a man wearing a rubber mask of a smiling old
man with long white hair.
“I’ve chosen you,” he said, “from all the competition.”
“Look,”
Warren said. “I’m sure it’s all a great prank, but I’m due onstage
right now.” He took his bass and bow, moved swiftly toward the door, and
was an arm’s length away when the stranger pulled a small pistol from
his pocket. “Stop,” he said, motioning Warren back to the middle of the
room. “Down on your knees. Now!”
Warren
moved back a couple of feet, and then froze in place, unable to catch
his breath. “Who...are you? What...do you...want?” he asked, struggling
to say each word, his own voice echoing inside his head. He put down his
bass very gently and knelt on the hard wood floor.
Until
a few minutes earlier, it had been a day like any other - without a
hint that it could be his last. “Please,” he said, putting his hands
together as in prayer. “I’ve got a wife, children. Please.... let me go.
I won’t say a word about this to anyone. I promise. Please don’t hurt
me.”
“Oh don’t worry, Mr. Warren. It’s not my intention to hurt you. I just need a small favor.”
Warren
took a deep breath, feeling a flood of relief. Maybe there was still
some hope. “Anything. Anything you want.” His knees were aching,
burning. He was afraid to move. The room started spinning, as the man
moved closer, holding the gun inches from his head. Richard felt hot and
cold. Sweat was dripping from his forehead. He thought of his wife,
Janet--of never seeing her again. “Just tell me what you need.”
“Oh,
you’re upset. I won’t hurt you,” he said, putting the pistol back in
his pocket. “That would be too easy - much too easy. Now the first
thing, Mr. Warren, is to close your eyes and relax.”
“OK,”
Warren said. He was glad to close his eyes. They were stinging. He
could barely see, from the sweat pouring down, mixing with tears and
blurring his vision. It felt soothing to close them.
Lifting
a heavy pair of pliers from the table, the masked man brought them down
onto the back of Warren’s head with all the force he could muster.
Everything went dark. Warren didn’t feel a thing; he never saw the
stranger cut the horsehair from his bow before securing it tightly
around his neck and finishing the job.
“Damn, I meant to tell him the favor,” he said to himself. “I guess he might have figured out I needed him to be my victim.”
© Rena Fruchter, 2012
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