Sex & Violins: An Erotic Crime Anthology features exactly what the title states. There is crime. There is music as a backdrop to every short story. There is a lot of sex. The sex is graphic and detailed which makes this anthology from White City Press very much an adults only read. The book isn’t for everybody. It is a good one and well worth your read.
After an introduction by Editor Sandra Murphy explaining the history of the project, it is on to the stories.
Jack
Bates gets the book started with “A Legacy for Murder.” Rachel McKinnon is in town
to appear with the Port Pinnebog Symphony Orchestra. Internationally
recognized, she is a legendary vocalist. She also likes to toy with the men in
an orchestra. She has her target selected and wheels are in motion that could
alter opening night.
“Winter
Performance” by Lara Hazzan follows where, Anna, the Maestro of the Baltimore
Symphony, has been called to the performance hall as there has been a murder on
the premises. David, the symphony librarian, is dead on the premises. Anna saw
him very late the night before. What they were doing and a lot more is about to
come out.
Her
husband is a pianist and is playing in the symphony. But, he does not feel
challenged by the pieces he has been told to play for the concert. He is also a
bit down lately in “Piano Tuning” by Anna V. Nelson. There are also issues in the
bed room. The new celloist could make things worse as men are seriously attracted
to her. Other women are annoyed by how she plays her instrument.
Nico
Benedetto wants to hire the private investigator to tail his wife in “The Tail”
by Chandler Christie. His wife goes somewhere every Thursday night. He just
wants to know where she is going and what she is doing. Joelle is the principal
cello for the Pacific Heights Chamber Orchestra and Thursday nights are
supposed to be rehearsal night. He wants to know what is going on and wants to
know now.
Diana
is with Tom Bradshaw as he goes to meet Stephanie in “The Law of Stephanie” by
Albert Tucher. Stephanie will play cello at the swingers party and Tom wants Diana
to help get close to her. Diana is used to working, professionally, one on one,
but Tom is paying handsomely, so she is going to work. That is until a murder
brings the event to a halt and a new complication.
Shari
Held is up next with “Concerto for Harp and Homicide.” Hannigan play the harp superbly
well and is a prima donna. The orchestra is on their annual outreach tour in
various small towns where they will give free concerts. Harry Hannigan plans his
own personal outreach with Millie Mason. She is also looking forward to it. She
has a plan to change him too.
They
had been practicing Beethoven’s Fifth for weeks, but things are not going well
in “What’s Love Got to do With It?” by Kenn Keeley. Our narrator plans to
commit murder for her fellow musician Leonard Giovanni and Rosa. Her plan is
well thought out and already in motion.
She
figured out a major piece of herself back in college in “Ruby Wants to Watch”
by Joseph S. Walker. Porn does not work for her. It has to be real people, imperfections
and all. Her friend Carmen also has some of the same desires. She also has a
plan on how to take their voyeurism to a totally new level.
It
was May 2022 in downtown Reno when our narrator found the cello in the local pawn
shop. She bought it and took it home in “The Cello of Monkey Pawn Shop” by
Linda Kay Hardie. It is a beautiful looking instrument and it plays beautifully.
It is also trouble.
Grant
Fuchs is massively hated in Chamberlain County and for good reason. He is the
local art critic and just ripped to shreds the first outdoor concert of the
season by Riverton Symphony. He is also soon dead in “Reed Between the Lines”
by Steve Lisko. Now the cops are talking to everyone. Including Trask who has a
long history of ruins with Grant Fuchs in his role as coordinator of the city
arts events. Mr. Trask also knows at least two of the possible murder suspects
intimately.
It
is about to be time for the 2019 holiday concert and the semiprofessional, the
Porta Larga Symphony Orchestra, is doing their best they can. Conductor Vall Hall is trying to get their
best, but intimate relationships between musicians are a bad thing when those
relationships collapse with hard feelings. Siggy Hagen is the rock star of the
Orchestra. He is supremely confident of his abilities on stage and in the
bedroom. The trail of carnage in his wake proves his bedroom powers. Now he is
dead and his murder case needs to be solved.
“Rescue
Me” by Editor Sandra Murphy is the final story in the anthology. The woman’s
clothing is ripped as she comes into his room and locks the door. She tells him
two men are after her. They are planning to kill her because of what she saw.
Dave helps her to hide, gets rid of the thugs, and then gets his reward. What
seems to be an all too predictable short story, has a lot more going on as it
unfolds.
Short
bios in the “Our Orgasmic Orchestra” section follows and brings the read to the
final note.
Edited
by Sandra Murphy, Sex & Violins: An Erotic Crime Anthology
provides quite the read. The twelve stories included are entertaining with
plenty of crime, music, and graphic sex. The anthology lives up to the title
and then some. Well worth your time, though you may wish to pace yourself a bit
as you make your way through the reads.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3YEKTkg
My
reading copy was an ARC from Publisher Jay Hartman of White City Press with no expectation
of a review. The book releases tomorrow, October 31st.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2024
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