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.
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