Cloudy with a Chance of Murder: A Daniel Jacobus Mystery

Elias’s diverting seventh Daniel Jacobus mystery (after 2017’s Spring Break) takes curmudgeonly violinist and teacher Jacobus, who’s blind, from his home in the Berkshires to Utah to attend a performance by his protégée, Grammy-winning Yumi Shinagawa, at a music festival held on Antelope Island, an uninhabited area in the middle of the Great Salt Lake. During the festival’s first performance, a freak storm sends tons of ice crashing down on the tent covering the stage and washes out a section of the causeway, leaving the island cut off. In the chaotic aftermath, a festival organizer is found murdered. Jacobus, who feels his blindness sharpens his investigative skills (“It was when one listened and not just looked that one could gain understanding”), sets out to solve the crime—and prevent Yumi from becoming the next victim. The behind-the-scenes glimpses of musicians’ professional lives are edifying, but what gives this mystery its verve is the vibrant cast of characters and Jacobus’s indomitable personality and wry wit. Not just music lovers will enjoy spending time in his erudite company. (Dec.)