It’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 has narrated over 200 audiobooks across various literary genres and has won several Earphone Awards for Excellence and is an Audie Award finalist and winner. Notable works include Ginny Gall by Charlie Smith, The Smokey Dalton Series by Kris Nelscott; My Song: A Memoir by Harry Belafonte; The Long Fall (Booklist, Best of 2009) and others by Walter Mosley; Uncle Tom's Cabin, Elijah of Buxton, The Translator; and Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B Dubois. In three seasons at the Ensemble Theatre (Houston, Texas), Mirron appeared as JP in What I Learned in Paris, Malcolm X in The Meeting, Henry in Race, and as Countee Cullen in Knock Me a Kiss (2013 Giorgee Award for Best Leading Actor). Other roles include Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry VI Parts 2 & 3, and A Raisin in the Sun with the world-renowned Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He has also performed as guest narrator with the Houston Symphony. Film and TV guest appearances include Criminal Minds, Private Practice, The Exes, Monk, 24, Seinfeld, Cheers, The Parkers, Living Single, E.R., Star Trek, and Independence Day, among others. Mirron resides and records audiobooks on his family's historic ranch in East Texas.