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Sign up todayThe King of Ragtime
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Learn moreIt’s 1916, and time’s running out for Scott Joplin. Before he dies, he wants to provide for his wife and secure his place in musical history.
Joplin has written a musical drama, and his young piano student, Martin Niederhoffer, convinces him to try to get Irving Berlin to publish and produce the work. The next day, Niederhoffer walks into his office and finds Joplin crouched over the blood-soaked body of a young man. He hustles his teacher away, but the two are seen leaving the building.
When Berlin flatly denies ever having received Joplin’s play, young Niederhoffer engages the services of hit man Footsie Vinny, who gives Berlin a five-day deadline to come up with the manuscript.
Then, just when things couldn’t get worse, Niederhoffer’s girlfriend is kidnapped. Can the ailing musician be exonerated before it is too late?
Larry Karp has written fiction and nonfiction, practiced perinatal medicine, and restored and collected antique music boxes. He and his wife have lived in Seattle for more than thirty years. They have two grown children.
Mirron Willis is a talented actor whose credits include theater, film, and television. His recordings include the Odyssey Honor award winner Elijah of Buxton by Paul Christopher Curtis; Sixty Feet, Sixty Inches by Bob Gibson, Reggie Jackson, and Lonnie Wheeler; Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead; Invisible Life, Basketball Jones, and I Say A Little Prayer by E. Lynn Harris. Mirron is the recipient of numerous Earphone Awards and has recorded many works by Walter Mosley and Orson Scott Card.
Reviews
“Well-crafted…Karp’s meticulous research helps create a vivid picture of the time and locale. Memorable, authentic characters are another plus.”
“An extensively researched and eminently readable historical mystery, this is a must for ragtime fans.”
“Impressively researched, with a substantial bibliography, Karp’s second Joplin mystery paints a full-bodied portrait of Harlem back in the day.”
“The rich and immensely expressive voice and narration of actor Mirron Willis place the listener fully in the world of Joplin and Berlin. His ease with dialects and gender render all characters real and immediate. The tragedy of Joplin’s quest to express his great gifts, and Willis’ skill with prose and personalities, will stay with the listener.”
“Mirron Willis gives a virtuoso performance…[and] never strikes a false note in Karp’s well-researched period mystery. He fashions living human beings of all colors, textures, and dispositions with only his smooth, sultry voice. A rich listen. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
“An impressive account of [Scott Joplin’s] final months, the murder mystery made all the more real by the recognizable names associated with it.”
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