Bellweather Rhapsody

A high school music festival goes awry when a young prodigy disappears from a hotel room that was the site of a famous murder/suicide fifteen years earlier, in a whipsmart novel sparkling with the dark and giddy pop culture pleasures of The Shining, Agatha Christie, and Glee Fifteen years ago, a murder/suicide in room 712 rocked the grand old Bellweather Hotel and the young bridesmaid who witnessed it. Now hundreds of high school musicians, including quiet bassoonist Rabbit Hatmaker and his brassy diva twin, Alice, have gathered in its cavernous, crumbling halls for the annual Statewide festival; the grown-up bridesmaid has returned to face her demons; and a snowstorm is forecast that will trap everyone on the grounds. Then one of the orchestra's stars disappears--from room 712. Is it a prank, or has murder struck the Bellweather once again? The search for answers entwines a hilariously eccentric cast of characters--conductors and caretakers, failures and stars, teenagers on the verge and adults trapped in memories. For everyone has come to the Bellweather with a secret, and everyone is haunted. Full of knowing nods to the shivery pleasures of suspense and the transporting power of music, this is a wholly winning new novel from a writer lauded as "charming" (Los Angeles Times), "witty" (O, The Oprah Magazine), and "whimsical" (People). AUTHOR: Kate Racculia grew up in Syracuse, New York, where she played bassoon in her high school band and voraciously read Mary Higgins Clark, Agatha Christie, and Ellen Raskin. She received her M.F.A. from Emerson College and is also the author of This Must Be the Place.