Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Butterfly Waltz
Jane Tesh

Silver Leaf Books
September 15, 2015 / ISBN 978-1-60975-124-1
Fantasy / Paranormal

Reviewed by Laura Hinds

 

Reviewer's Notes: Jane Tesh also writes the Madeline Maclin Mysteries and the Grace Street Mysteries, published by Poisoned Pen Press

Pianist Des Fairweather is a young man with great musical talent who lives with the fear that he may be afflicted with dangerous magical powers. He remembers his parents demise, brought on by his father's use of such powers, and the very thought of using them himself enslaves him to his fears, thus keeping his creative abilities from blossoming.

When his friend, Jake Banner, invites him to come along on a search for a supernatural story he plans to write for the tabloid he works for, Des reluctantly agrees. If his affinity for beings from other dimensions helps Jake get the story - a tale of a talking flower garden - Jake's sister will help Des to get an audition with the city symphony, a position Des fervently desires.

At the Snowden estate, where the talking flowers are rumored to exist, the men meet the beautiful and young Christine Snowden. Jake is immediately smitten and vows to do whatever he can to help her to save her home from her evil cousin by finding her missing brother and bringing him home to manage the estate. Des, meanwhile, discovers a black grand piano in the music room and begins to play. His melodies attract Kalida, an other worldly creature, who can morph into a butterfly or even a bird. She is from a dark world, where the beings live to kill and destroy other worlds, but music has changed her, and she came to live in the human world years before. To hear such beautiful music once again touches her heart, and she is inexorably drawn to Des.

As worlds collide, there is a struggle between good and evil, and the only hope may be for Des to release his creativity fully and hope that music and love can collude to conquer and save the world as he knows it.

Butterfly Waltz is an imaginative book, with complex characters and interwoven stories. It is at once a fantasy, a romance and a mystery novel. The tale is spun by narration from the main characters' points of view, including conversations among the varied flowers. An adult fairy-tale is what springs to mind, with characters both light and dark, and a moral running throughout the book.

Before writing my review, I set out to learn a bit more about Jane Tesh and was interested to learn that she writes using the sense called synethesia, meaning she sees letters as colors. This fascinated me, because while reading the book, the story came to life in my mind in very vivid colors.

I've long been a fan of Tesh's two mystery series, and hope that she continues them, but I'm even more excited and hopeful for future fantasy novels as she is evidently a master at this genre as well.

Reviewed 2015
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