book review the violin conspiracy

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‘The Violin Conspiracy’ could be one of the year’s big crowd-pleasers

Brendan Slocumb’s debut novel is as engaging as it is suspenseful.

When I opened Brendan Slocumb’s debut novel, “The Violin Conspiracy,” I was immediately transported to a place I’d never been, surrounded by characters I’d never met. In the crowded world of fiction, that’s no small accomplishment. Taking inspiration from his day job as a music teacher, Slocumb has orchestrated an engaging and suspenseful story about an aspiring musician and his great-great-grandfather’s violin.

Rayquan (who prefers to be called Ray) McMillian is a senior in high school with lofty aspirations. His mother, who doesn’t understand her son’s obsession with “that fiddle,” wants him to graduate early so he can get a job to help pay the bills. “You could have been making good money at Popeyes by now,” she tells him. But Ray loves playing the violin, and he plays it well. If Ray were a White teenager, he’d be considered a prodigy, but most people do not take this young Black violinist seriously.

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In the beginning, there is only one person who believes in Ray — his Grandma Nora who delights in her favorite grandchild’s musical gift. She encourages Ray to follow his passion because she understands it. “You know my PopPop used to play fiddle, don’t you? I loved hearing him when I was a little girl,” she tells her grandson. “That’s where you get your talent from.”

PopPop, Nora’s grandfather, was an enslaved man who played the fiddle for his enslaver, Thomas Marks. “He knew playing that fiddle kept him and his family alive, baby,” Nora tells Ray. Once PopPop was set free, Marks gave him the fiddle. Since then, the instrument has been passed down through the generations though never used. But maybe, Nora thinks, that could change: She finds the instrument in the attic and presents it to Ray.

The young man knows he has been given a treasure, even if it is a filthy mess with cracked and missing and warped pieces. Ray finds a way to restore it, and the instrument becomes his companion on a journey to becoming a classically trained violinist who performs around the country but doesn’t miss the chance to blast Eric B. & Rakim when he’s riding in his car alone. The trouble begins when Ray starts making the auditioning rounds and considers upgrading his violin only to discover that PopPop’s was no ordinary fiddle. It’s an 18th-century Stradivarius worth about $10 million.

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Ray becomes a sensation (thanks in large part to his violin), especially when he decides to compete in the Tchaikovsky Competition, one of the most prestigious classical music tournaments. For two years, Ray does little more than tour and practice in preparation; his greatest desire is to become the first American to win in his category. It would be a major accomplishment. Never before has there been someone like Rayquan McMillian — a young Black American man with a Stradivarius violin standing on the world stage.

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Then, two weeks before the competition, Ray opens his violin case to find only a white Chuck Taylor sneaker and a ransom note.

The police and FBI are brought in, but where should Ray and the authorities begin? With Ray’s family, who’ve been trying to cash in on the fiddle ever since its real value was discovered? Or with members of the Marks family, enslavers’ descendants who now claim the violin belongs to them? Everyone is a suspect, and the clock is ticking.

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“The Violin Conspiracy” is so wonderfully written, especially its descriptions of music, that at times I questioned whether I was reading or listening to a concert; the notes in Bach’s Chaconne or Mozart’s Violin Sonata No. 21 in E Minor practically floated up from the pages. Slocumb is equally adept at suspense, whether he’s conveying the ticktock of the main mystery or the heart-pounding, fist-clenching realities Ray has to face as a young Black man in America. This novel, which will keep readers on the edge of their seats until the very last page, is sure to be a favorite in 2022.

Victoria Christopher Murray is the author of more than 20 novels. She most recently co-wrote the best-selling novel “The Personal Librarian.”

The Violin Conspiracy

By Brendan Slocumb

Anchor. 352 pp. $28

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‘The Violin Conspiracy’ Review: A New Kind of Mystery

Brendan Slocumb’s debut novel “The Violin Conspiracy” begins near the story’s end: Rayquan “Ray” McMillan, a classical violin soloist, has just had his Stradivarius violin — an instrument valued at over 10 million dollars — stolen less than a month away from the most important competition of his life. Throughout the rest of the novel, Ray reflects on his career and the events leading up to the robbery, allowing readers to uncover the mystery of his past while he sorts out the issue at present.

The plot covers a great deal of temporal ground — readers follow Ray from his first violin gig in high school through college and into his professional career. Luckily, the beginning of the story sets up the necessary context for his career and relationships, making these transitions seamless and easy to follow. From the start, readers know which of Ray’s relationships are strained, and which are positive ones with people he looks up to and admires.

The narrative’s clear structure comes from Ray’s reasoning as he attempts to solve the violin mystery. He jumps from one incident to the next without confusion and navigates different settings to yield a captivating yet manageable pace. The inverted time structure also does much to keep the reader curious and engaged; the start of the story introduces many questions that the rest of the novel sets out to answer.

However, the novel’s timeline occasionally produces an emotional disconnect between the reader and the characters. For instance, when Ray’s violin is stolen at the beginning of the novel, he is incredibly distraught and reluctant to play another violin in the meantime. With a big competition in the near future, which is emphasized as extremely important to Ray’s success, his emotional reactions are hard to justify without understanding the family history of his violin, which is not revealed until much later in the story.

Additionally, at times the characters’ reactions do not seem appropriate for the situation at hand and instead only serve the purpose of creating suspense or adding drama. This is often the case for Ray’s family, especially before anyone knows about the value of Ray’s violin. For instance, when Ray’s Grandma Nora gifts Ray the old family violin, most of the family vehemently protests despite believing it to be worthless and not caring about the violin’s existence before she made the decision to give it away. Similarly, Dr. Janice Stevens, Ray’s mentor, has a dramatic reaction over the phone with Ray when she first suspects the true value of Ray’s violin. This moment creates high suspense which is further built by the following flashback, but when she meets with Ray in person, her tone is entirely different and the growing suspense falls flat.

Beyond the mystery of the violin theft, “The Violin Conspiracy” highlights two main struggles in Ray’s life: the difficulty of being a Black soloist in a white-dominated field, and the strain his money and success has placed on his relationships, particularly with his family. Slocumb’s skillful exploration of these complex issues through the lens of Ray’s career effectively creates a nuanced and cohesive plot.

The novel highlights each of these issues by weaving them throughout Ray’s life. The story jumps through settings, from his childhood home in Charlotte to concert halls across America. In each, Slocumb goes in depth into select moments which showcase the different facets of prejudice faced by Ray on his journey to become a professional musician.

Ray faces discrimination from not only his superiors but also his colleages, law enforcement, and total strangers. The reader sees this discrimination come up repeatedly in different forms, from people making assumptions about the kinds of music he plays to people doubting his merits and abilities. These moments come both when Ray is excelling and when he is just living life as a normal person. Slocumb's inclusion of small everyday moments that are punctuated by racism towards Ray brilliantly captures Ray’s reality and allows the reader to understand the depth of Ray’s challenges by experiencing it through his first-person perspective.

However, not all of Slocumb’s descriptions are so skillful; some feel a bit bland. His music metaphors sometimes feel cheesy and forced, and he occasionally breaks into overly flowery language, which is out of place in the rest of the work. Some sections are too descriptive and over explained: After showing, there are times the text proceeds to unnecessarily tell, to explicate in a repetitive way. For instance, the story gives many examples of Ray’s Aunt Rochelle looking out for Ray and helping him when no other family member would. Aunt Rochelle is clearly contrasted with other family members who are only nice to Ray when they need something from him. After illustrating this contrast with repeated examples throughout, near the end, the text unnecessarily spells out this contrast for the reader.

Nevertheless, Slocumb does a great job at giving a deep look into the world of classical music and telling a story of challenges that resonate with a large audience. Coming from a background of classical music and music education, Slocumb is clearly knowledgeable about the specific worlds present in the story, and he does a great job of painting it for everyone else.

Overall, the novel tells a very compelling and valuable story of a Black musician from his childhood to his professional career. It confronts privilege, racial discrimination, complex family relationships, the strain of success, and the stuggle of upholding a family legacy, all in a unique way. With a well-thought-out plot infused with both mystery and complex relationships, “The Violin Conspiracy'' is a thrilling tale not to be missed.

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Book Reviews

Thriller 'the violin conspiracy' addresses racism in classical music.

Bethanne Patrick

Polemic rarely works in fiction, and that's for a very good reason: Fiction begets empathy, and polemic encourages attack.

But in his debut thriller The Violin Conspiracy, Brendan Slocumb employs polemic about racism to great effect as he reminds us that the high-toned world of classical music suffers from, and because, of racism.

Slocumb knows that world inside and out. A violinist, performer and lifelong music teacher, in his online biography he says that becoming a musician saved his life: "Friends [I] grew up with are today sitting in jail; when they were out running the streets, [I] was in rehearsals." The author's protagonist Rayquan (Ray) McMillian has had a similar trajectory. Young Ray's mother never encouraged his delight in the violin, but his grandmother loved to hear him play, and insisted he take his grandfather's fiddle.

Although caked with years of rosin and missing a chin piece and a bridge, Ray sees the violin's worth and cobbles together money for its repair. Eventually, after he's been awarded a full scholarship to college, a professional luthier recognizes the fiddle as a genuine Stradivarius, worth millions of dollars. Soon Ray's family and another (white) family will try to claim his beloved violin, with stakes increasing as he prepares for the most important event of his young career — competing in Moscow's Tchaikovsky Competition.

Ray decides to hole up in a Manhattan hotel with his delightful girlfriend, violist Nicole. One evening as they're about to leave for dinner, Ray opens his case to check on his violin and finds it gone, a white Converse sneaker with a ransom note in its place. In the course of Ray's struggle to raise the $5 million in Bitcoin the thieves demand, we learn about his personal struggles. He continues his education in the face of his mother's insistence that he get a job and help out with household finances, faces the disdain of many teachers and fellow students as a young Black man performing classical music, and learns big truths about how much money is needed to pursue this kind of creative calling.

What's most interesting about Slocumb's novel isn't the mystery of how and why the violin disappears, although the red herrings and dead ends are interesting enough, especially when it comes to the Marks family, who insist that the Strad belongs to them because their forebear gave it to Ray's great-great-great-grandfather — whom they enslaved. It's easy to imagine a similar tug-of-war in present-day America, where so many still seem to believe that because enslaved people had no rights, their progeny shouldn't either.

But while Ray pursues his missing violin, he also has to pursue his passion, which is playing the violin — and that equals performing but also practicing. Slocumb imbues his character's life with so much authenticity in the details, details that anyone who has played a stringed instrument, or played in a professional ensemble, will recognize. You get moments of glory on stages, but you also have to spend hours practicing scales and phrases. You have to travel a great deal, making sure you always have proper security and insurance for your instrument, sometimes more than one. Rehearsals and sound checks and dealing with accompanists take up more time than you'd like.

And you do it anyway. Where Slocumb shines, even when his writing becomes a little stiff, is in the passages where he shows Ray's grit. "So here's what you do if you're a Black guy trying to make it work in an unfamiliar world:," Ray tells us. "You just put your head down and do the work. You do twice as much work as the white guy sitting next to you, and you do it twice as often, and you get half as far. But you do it."

Shortly after I finished reading a galley of The Violin Conspiracy , I saw a Daily Telegraph obituary for 85-year-old Black violinist named Edmund Reid who died on Jan. 17. Born in Jamaica and the recipient of a scholarship to London's Royal Academy of Music, the acclaimed Reid "was often the only black musician to be found among the rank-and-file members of British orchestras." I am sure Brendan Slocumb knew Reid's name, and of his talent, long before I did (shame on me). Slocumb's debut on the page will, I hope, not be his last appearance there, because he has plenty of brio to share with readers as well as listeners.

Bethanne Patrick is a freelance writer and critic who tweets @TheBookMaven .

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Review: ‘The Violin Conspiracy’ could be one of the year’s big crowd-pleasers

When I opened Brendan Slocumb’s debut novel “The Violin Conspiracy,” I was immediately transported to a place I’d never been surrounded by characters I’d never met. In the crowded world of fiction, that’s no small accomplishment. Taking inspiration from his day job as a music teacher, Slocumb has orchestrated an engaging and suspenseful story about an aspiring musician and his great-great-grandfather’s violin.

Rayquan (who prefers to be called Ray) McMillian is a senior in high school with lofty aspirations. His mother, who doesn’t understand her son’s obsession with “that fiddle,” wants him to graduate early so he can get a job to help pay the bills: “You could have been making good money at Popeyes by now.” But Ray loves playing the violin, and he plays it well. If Ray were a white teenager, he’d be considered a prodigy, but most people do not take this young Black violinist seriously.

In the beginning, there is only one person who believes in Ray – his Grandma Nora, who delights in her favorite grandchild’s musical gift. She encourages Ray to follow his passion because she understands it. “You know my PopPop used to play fiddle, don’t you? I loved hearing him when I was a little girl,” she tells her grandson. “That’s where you get your talent.”

PopPop, Nora’s grandfather, was an enslaved man who played the fiddle for his enslaver, Thomas Marks. “He knew playing that fiddle kept him and his family alive, baby,” Nora tells Ray. Once PopPop was set free, Marks gave him the fiddle. Since then, the instrument has been passed down through generations, though never used. But maybe, Nora thinks, that could change: She finds the instrument in the attic and presents it to Ray.

The young man knows he has been given a treasure even if it is a filthy mess with cracked and missing and warped pieces. Ray finds a way to restore it, and the instrument becomes his companion on a journey to becoming a classically trained violinist who performs across the country but doesn’t miss the chance to blast Eric B. & Rakim when he’s riding in his car alone.

The trouble begins when Ray starts making the auditioning rounds and considers upgrading his violin only to discover that PopPop’s was no ordinary fiddle. It’s an 18th century Stradivarius worth about $10 million.

Ray becomes a sensation (thanks in large part to his violin), especially when he decides to compete in the Tchaikovsky Competition, one of the most prestigious classical music tournaments. For two years, Ray does little more than tour and practice in preparation; his greatest desire is to become the first American to win in his category. It would be a major accomplishment. Never before has there been someone like Rayquan McMillian – a young Black American man with a Stradivarius violin standing on the world stage.

Then, two weeks before the competition, Ray opens his violin case to find only a white Chuck Taylor sneaker and a ransom note. The police and FBI are enlisted, but where should Ray and the authorities begin?

With Ray’s family, who’ve been trying to cash in on the fiddle ever since its real value was discovered? Or with members of the Marks family, enslavers’ descendants who now claim the violin belongs to them? Everyone is a suspect, and the clock is ticking.

“The Violin Conspiracy” is so wonderfully written, especially its descriptions of music, that at times I questioned whether I was reading or listening to a concert; the notes in Bach’s Chaconne or Mozart’s Violin Sonata No. 21 in E Minor practically floated up from the pages.

Slocumb is equally adept at suspense, whether he’s conveying the ticktock of the main mystery or the heart-pounding, fist-clenching realities Ray has to face as a young Black man in America. This novel, which will keep readers on the edge of their seats until the very last page, is sure to be a favorite in 2022.

Victoria Christopher Murray is the author of more than 20 novels. She most recently co-wrote the bestselling novel “The Personal Librarian.”

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Word of Mouth

Submitting a book for review, write the editor, you are here:, the violin conspiracy.

Debut novelist Brendan Slocumb invites readers into the competitive, passionate and racist world of classical music in THE VIOLIN CONSPIRACY, a beautifully rendered and complex novel with a fast-paced mystery at its heart.

Ray McMillian is a young Black classical violinist who has fought against all odds to continue doing what he loves best: discovering the intricacies of classical works and using his beloved violin to bring them to life, adding his own spin through pacing, energy and performance. From a young age, Ray was drawn to the instrument after hearing his grandmother share stories about her own grandfather, Leon, whose gift for the violin may have saved his life. As the black sheep of his family, Ray’s interest in music was not just misunderstood but actively discouraged, with his mother often hounding him to quit “messing around” and get a real job. His family’s criticism aside, he also has faced down historically --- and often openly --- racist institutions to earn his place in some of the country’s top orchestras, performing not just a little better than his peers, but two or three times better…and being held to impossibly high standards.

"Through his totally original premise, heartfelt love of music and a shocking tale of human greed, [Slocumb] communicates universal themes and essential truths about art, prejudice and ambition in a way that feels as pure and gorgeous as hearing a violin for the first time."

But almost none of that matters now. Ray is preparing to compete in the international Tchaikovsky Competition, a combination of the Olympics and “American Idol” that determines the best musicians in six categories. Only one American has ever placed first, and no Black Americans have placed at all, meaning that Ray has the chance to change history if he does well. With his beloved family heirloom in his hands, he has no reason to doubt himself. Until the violin is stolen from his hotel room only months before the big event.

With the competition fast approaching, Ray has no time for setbacks, but the theft has far worse repercussions: the instrument is a practically priceless Stradivarius, a hand-crafted 18th-century work of art with its own celebrity following…and a $10 million insurance policy that could make Ray, and his money-hungry family, very, very rich. The money means nothing to him, but that doesn’t stop the police, the insurance company and the court of public opinion from rapidly descending on him. As a Black man, Ray already has fought decades of racism and prejudice, but this latest development puts him --- and his instrument --- at the heart of a crime with massive global, financial and public intrigue. But this is not the first time Ray and his violin have made headlines.

For the past year, Ray has been at the crosshairs of another legal battle. The Marks family, formerly of Italy, were renowned plantation owners in the south whose ancestors once enslaved his great-great grandfather. When his master died, Leon was given not just his freedom, but the violin he often played for them. Although the Marks family has spent generations ignoring their role in the slave trade --- not to mention a simple instrument that none of them could play --- once they learn that their family heirloom is shockingly valuable, they announce that the violin was not gifted to Leon, but stolen by him during a slave uprising.

Sensing that their meal ticket could vanish overnight, Ray’s family launches their own lawsuit against Ray, claiming that he stole the violin from his older relatives. With countless suspects --- including scores of black-market art and antiquity dealers --- so many motivations, and classical music’s own inherently racist systems and structures, it seems that Ray’s career has come to a stunning and tragic halt. But Slocumb quickly turns the story into a fast-paced mystery full of twists and turns and a hero who will stop at nothing to be able to play his beloved violin again.

Slocumb is a terrific writer, and his eagerness for the subject matter leaps off every page, but in Ray he has crafted a truly perfect hero: someone vulnerable and human, yet almost supernaturally talented and full of endless potential. When he describes his love of music, the way it seems to flow through his veins, there is no reader who can’t help but fall for him. Never before have I spent so much time on YouTube while reading a book, but I doubt I will be the last person who feels like they need to hear every composition Ray plays.

However, Slocumb is just as unflinching in his accounts of the inherent racism of the classical music world. Many of the prejudices and downright abuses Ray faces are pulled from his own past; they are absolutely harrowing yet, unfortunately, not surprising. Combined with the mystery of the stolen violin, which manages to surpass even the most terrible moments of racism Ray has ever faced, these painful, poignant passages set the novel a cut above other historical mysteries and even most contemporary, issue-based books.

Ray often ruminates on his love of music, and near the end of the book, he explains that “music is truly a universal language, and that we, the listeners, will always impose our own fears and biases, our own hopes and hungers, on whatever we hear…. Music is about communication --- a way of touching your fellow man beyond and above and below language; it is a language all its own.” I can think of no better description for what Slocumb has done here. Through his totally original premise, heartfelt love of music and a shocking tale of human greed, he communicates universal themes and essential truths about art, prejudice and ambition in a way that feels as pure and gorgeous as hearing a violin for the first time.

Reviewed by Rebecca Munro on February 24, 2022

The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb

• Publication Date: December 6, 2022
• Genres: Fiction , Mystery , Suspense , Thriller
• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Vintage
• ISBN-10: 0593315421
• ISBN-13: 9780593315422

StarTribune

Review: 'the violin conspiracy,' by brendan slocumb.

When I opened Brendan Slocumb's debut novel, "The Violin Conspiracy," I was immediately transported to a place I'd never been, surrounded by characters I'd never met. In the crowded world of fiction, that's no small accomplishment. Taking inspiration from his day job as a music teacher, Slocumb has orchestrated an engaging and suspenseful story about an aspiring musician and his great-great-grandfather's violin.

Rayquan (who prefers to be called Ray) McMillian is a senior in high school with lofty aspirations. His mother, who doesn't understand her son's obsession with "that fiddle," wants him to graduate early so he can get a job to help pay the bills. "You could have been making good money at Popeyes by now," she tells him. But Ray loves playing the violin, and he plays it well. If Ray were a white teenager, he'd be considered a prodigy, but most people do not take this young Black violinist seriously.

In the beginning, there is only one person who believes in Ray — his Grandma Nora, who delights in her favorite grandchild's musical gift. She encourages Ray to follow his passion because she understands it. "You know my PopPop used to play fiddle, don't you? I loved hearing him when I was a little girl," she tells her grandson. "That's where you get your talent from."

PopPop, Nora's grandfather, was an enslaved man who played the fiddle for his enslaver, Thomas Marks. "He knew playing that fiddle kept him and his family alive, baby," Nora tells Ray. Once PopPop was set free, Marks gave him the fiddle. Since then, the instrument has been passed down through the generations, though never used. But maybe, Nora thinks, that could change: She finds the instrument in the attic and presents it to Ray.

Ray becomes a sensation (thanks in large part to his violin), especially when he decides to compete in the Tchaikovsky Competition, one of the most prestigious classical music tournaments. For two years, Ray does little more than tour and practice in preparation; his greatest desire is to become the first American to win in his category. It would be a major accomplishment. Never before has there been someone like Rayquan McMillian — a young Black American man with a Stradivarius violin standing on the world stage.

Then, two weeks before the competition, Ray opens his violin case to find only a white Chuck Taylor sneaker and a ransom note.

The police and FBI are brought in, but where should Ray and the authorities begin? With Ray's family, who've been trying to cash in on the fiddle ever since its real value was discovered? Or with members of the Marks family, enslavers' descendants who now claim the violin belongs to them? Everyone is a suspect, and the clock is ticking.

"The Violin Conspiracy" is so wonderfully written, especially its descriptions of music, that at times I questioned whether I was reading or listening to a concert; the notes in Bach's Chaconne or Mozart's Violin Sonata No. 21 in E Minor practically floated up from the pages. Slocumb is equally adept at suspense, whether he's conveying the ticktock of the main mystery or the heart-pounding, fist-clenching realities Ray has to face as a young Black man in America. This novel, which will keep readers on the edge of their seats until the very last page, is sure to be a favorite in 2022.

Victoria Christopher Murray is the author of more than 20 novels. She most recently co-wrote the bestselling novel "The Personal Librarian." She will be at Club Book at 7 p.m. March 22.

The Violin Conspiracy

By: Brendan Slocumb.

Publisher: Anchor Books, 352 pages, $28.

Event: Club Book, 7 p.m. March 8, livestreamed on Facebook/clubbook.

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How a real-life stolen violin inspired Brendan Slocumb’s bestselling mystery

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Even though it’s been more than 30 years, author Brendan Slocumb still feels the heartbreak of his stolen violin.

In his senior year of high school, Slocumb’s family found their home ransacked after a trip to an amusement park. Slocumb, who had been playing violin since he was 9, went immediately to the hiding spot under his bed. “I looked. My instrument was gone. I looked again. It was gone,” he says. “I looked for a third time and it wasn’t there.”

Slocumb had the 1953 Eugene Lehman violin for less than a year and hoped it would take him through college and into his professional playing career. “It was supposed to be my ticket to success and it was gone. It was the worst feeling in the world.”

The stolen violin is one of many life experiences Slocumb drew upon to write his debut novel, “The Violin Conspiracy.” He joins the L.A. Times Book Club Feb. 23 to discuss his bestselling mystery, which tells the story of Ray McMillian, a gifted violinist whose family violin — a rare Stradivarius — is stolen just before one of the world’s most prestigious classical music competitions.

The mystery begins with the violin heist. Then it takes a step back to Ray’s upbringing as a Black teenager in North Carolina and his struggles to play the violin with unsupportive family members, a beat-up school rental instrument and a lack of private lessons.

Much of the story mirrors Slocumb’s life.

Born in California, Slocumb was raised in Fayetteville, N.C., and began playing violin through a public school music program. For both Slocumb and his character Ray, the violin was a means to escape a challenging childhood and a ticket to college and a professional playing career. After graduating from college with a degree in music education and concentrations in violin and viola, Slocumb played in orchestras throughout northern Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. He has taught music to students from elementary through high school for more than 20 years. He also plays in a rock band called Geppetto’s Wüd.

Slocumb grew up reading Sherlock Holmes mysteries and had always been interested in writing, but being a performer and teacher took priority. “I’m a songwriter for my band, and that’s about the extent of my writing aside from a horrible manuscript I wrote 20 years ago that I hope no one ever sees,” he says.

He felt compelled to write “ The Violin Conspiracy ” during the upheaval of 2020.

In March of that year, when schools and businesses closed and the U.S. banned travel from Europe, the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic set in. “As a working musician, it really struck me because no concerts, no rehearsals, no weddings, no receptions, no recitals,” he says. “Everything literally stopped.”

Slocumb began writing about his painful experiences as a Black musician — the racism and discrimination he constantly endured from teachers, other musicians and audience members — through his character Ray.

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Months later, George Floyd’s murder at the hands of white officers in Minneapolis sparked global protests against police brutality and racism against Black people. “It really dawned on me that with the world seeing what happened, stories like this one would probably be better received,” Slocumb says.

Classical music can be a difficult environment for musicians of color to thrive. As Slocumb explains in his author’s note, fewer than 2% of musicians in U.S. orchestras are Black. The statistics come from the League of American Orchestras.

Several scenes from the novel are plucked directly from Slocumb’s life, including the day high schooler Ray plays his first paying gig at a wedding but is barred from entering the venue by a racist family member.

Writing “The Violin Conspiracy” also was an opportunity to celebrate Slocumb’s victories and honor the people who helped him along the way. In the novel, Ray’s Grandma Nora — his first avid supporter — is named after Slocumb’s grandmother. And Ray’s mentor Janice is based on Dr. Rachel Vetter Huang, Slocumb’s college teacher, whom he calls “a life-saving force.”

The biggest difference between Slocumb and his protagonist is Ray’s technical prowess. “I’ve got a little bit of talent, but I live vicariously through Ray,” Slocumb says. “I’m a little bit jealous of him.”

Slocumb re-created other moments from his life throughout the book. In one scene, Ray plays “ Czardas ,” a work by Italian composer Vittorio Monti. Ray struggles with the technicalities of the piece, specifically its harmonics — or whistle-like tones produced by softly touching the strings — before working with his mentor to nail it later during a college convocation.

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For Slocumb, “Czardas” was also a redemption piece in college after he bombed a performance in front of his fellow music students. “I was about to quit,” he recalls. “I came back a month later, my teacher gave me ‘Czardas’ to play. When I say I killed it, I absolutely destroyed it. And that was the piece that gave me every bit of confidence back that I needed.”

“The Violin Conspiracy” has been praised for its vivid descriptions of music. This is how Slocumb describes Ray’s performance of “Czardas”: “The mournful opening notes gave way to sunlight on a park bench, to the glitter of water pouring endlessly from a waterfall on a very hot summer day.”

In the first drafts, Slocumb says some of his writing was too technical. “It would make perfect sense to me and perfect sense to my musical colleagues, but when I let a nonmusician read it they were like, ‘This is a foreign language to me. I have no idea what this means.’”

Slocumb realized he needed to get more creative and hone in on the imagery music can conjure. “It takes me to a different place. I envision birds and a babbling brook, and Cupid zipping from cloud to cloud,” he says. “I wanted to make sure that nonmusicians would be able to enjoy the experience that a working musician has when they perform.”

After “The Violin Conspiracy’s” 2022 release, thank-yous poured in. Slocumb heard from many Black musicians who said, “This is a story that I’ve been carrying along as well. I experienced the exact same things Ray has gone through in the story, and no one would believe me. Now it’s out there in the world to see and I am being validated.”

Slocumb says it has been gratifying to learn that the book is changing perspectives. Some readers, especially older white men, expressed shock at the figures and personal experiences detailed in his author’s note. “They would say, ‘I just didn’t believe it until I read this. And now I look at people and look at situations differently. I understand now that I can’t view everyone through the exact same lens, not everyone’s experience is the same as mine.’”

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Nov. 29, 2022

While the process of writing “The Violin Conspiracy” was “relatively easy,” Slocumb says tackling his second novel, “Symphony of Secrets,” proved to be much more challenging. Out in April, “Symphony of Secrets” is a thriller about a professor who discovers that a famous American composer stole music from a young Black artist.

“The entire story, I had to make it up from start to finish, from every character to every situation,” he says. He struggled to find time to write while also performing, teaching and promoting “The Violin Conspiracy.”

Initially, he was disappointed by his draft. So he put the story away for about six months, and when he read his “Symphony of Secrets” manuscript again he thought, “ ‘Whoa, I’m actually digging this and this is a good story. Did I write this?’ I just had to step away from it.”

Now, Slocumb feels comfortable in his new identity as a musical thriller writer. He’s currently developing a concept for his third novel.

Finding a balance between performing, teaching and writing is still a work in progress, though. In February, Slocumb was trying to eke out some time, in half-hour chunks, to practice “Czardas” again, a piece he hadn’t played in years. During these busy times, he’s grateful for the discipline he’s honed in his decades as a musician.

“It’s really, really tough,” he says. “But you do it because you love it, and what else are you gonna do?”

What: Author Brendan Slocumb joins the L.A. Times Book Club to discuss “The Violin Conspiracy” with Times classical music critic Mark Swed .

When: Feb. 23 at 6 p.m. Pacific .

Where: Live streaming online. Sign up on Eventbrite for watch links.

Join us the book club: Sign up for the book club newsletter for latest books, news and live events.

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The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb

• Publication Date: December 6, 2022
• Genres: Fiction , Mystery , Suspense , Thriller
• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Vintage
• ISBN-10: 0593315421
• ISBN-13: 9780593315422
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THE VIOLIN CONSPIRACY

by Brendan Slocumb ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2022

A solid page-turner.

A classical musician tries to find his stolen violin in this entertaining debut novel.

There are few worse nightmares for a musician than having a treasured instrument stolen. For Ray McMillian, the protagonist of Slocumb’s debut, the theft of his violin is especially painful—not only was it a gift from his beloved grandmother, it’s also a Stradivarius, one of the rarest instruments in the world. And it happens to be worth more than $10 million. Ray, a classical music phenom who’s about to compete in the prestigious Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, discovers his violin has gone missing in his Charlotte, North Carolina, house; when he opens its case, he finds only a tennis shoe and a ransom note demanding $5 million in Bitcoin. He has a few suspects in mind, chief among them the members of two families: the Marks clan, who claim that Ray’s great-great-grandfather, an enslaved person, took the violin from their ancestor; and his own family, a collection of grasping doubters who don’t care much for Ray but do care about his valuable violin. Ray trusts only a few people, including his violist girlfriend, Nicole, and his “mentor, friend, and surrogate mother,” Janice. Slocumb’s novel is told in flashbacks, chronicling Ray’s early years and fraught relationship with his uncaring mother and his ascent as a star violinist who takes America by storm. Ray, who is Black, has to deal with not only lawsuits from his family and the Marks family, but also with vicious racism from both inside and outside the music world: “No matter how nice the suit, no matter how educated his speech or how strong the handshake, no matter how much muscle he packed on, no matter how friendly or how smart he was, none of it mattered at all . He was just a Black person. That’s all they saw and that’s all he was.” While the whodunit element of Slocumb’s novel is unlikely to stump mystery fans, his writing is strong, if a little unpolished in parts. Still, it’s a gripping novel, and Slocumb, himself a violinist, does an excellent job explaining the world of classical music to those who might be unfamiliar with it.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2022

ISBN: 978-0-593-31541-5

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Anchor

Review Posted Online: Nov. 29, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2021

LITERARY FICTION | GENERAL FICTION

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BOOK REVIEW

by Brendan Slocumb

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SEEN & HEARD

Awards & Accolades

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New York Times Bestseller

HAPPY PLACE

by Emily Henry ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 25, 2023

A wistfully nostalgic look at endings, beginnings, and loving the people who will always have your back.

Exes pretend they’re still together for the sake of their friends on their annual summer vacation.

Wyn Connor and Harriet Kilpatrick were the perfect couple—until Wyn dumped Harriet for reasons she still doesn’t fully understand. They’ve been part of the same boisterous friend group since college, and they know that their breakup will devastate the others and make things more than a little awkward. So they keep it a secret from their friends and families—in fact, Harriet barely even admits it to herself, focusing instead on her grueling hours as a surgical resident. She’s ready for a vacation at her happy place—the Maine cottage she and her friends visit every summer. But (surprise!) Wyn is there too, and he and Harriet have to share a (very romantic) room and a bed. Telling the truth about their breakup is out of the question, because the cottage is up for sale, and this is the group’s last hurrah. Determined to make sure everyone has the perfect last trip, Harriet and Wyn resolve to fake their relationship for the week. The problem with this plan, of course, is that Harriet still has major feelings for Wyn—feelings that only get stronger as they pretend to be blissfully in love. As always, Henry’s dialogue is sparkling and the banter between characters is snappy and hilarious. Wyn and Harriet’s relationship, shown both in the past and the present, feels achingly real. Their breakup, as well as their complicated relationships with their own families, adds a twinge of melancholy, as do the relatable growing pains of a group of friends whose lives are taking them in different directions.

Pub Date: April 25, 2023

ISBN: 9780593441275

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Berkley

Review Posted Online: Feb. 23, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023

ROMANCE | CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE | GENERAL ROMANCE | GENERAL FICTION

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by Emily Henry

IT STARTS WITH US

by Colleen Hoover ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 18, 2022

Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.

The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.

Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.

Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6

Publisher: Atria

Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022

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by Colleen Hoover

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The Violin Conspiracy Book Club Questions and Discussion Guide

The Violin Conspiracy is full of rich topics for your book club discussion. The story centers around Ray McMillian, a young Black man who is an incredibly talented violin player. Just before he is due to play in the toughest competition of his life in Russia, his highly valuable Stradivarius violin is stolen out of his hotel room and held for ransom.

Who is the culprit? Could it be his family, who feels owed a financial benefit since the violin came from his grandmother, or the family of the original owner, who said his ancestor stole it from them? Or is it an unknown player? Use our The Violin Conspiracy book club questions to discuss these questions and much more.

This book has so much to offer– it explores the history of slavery and racism in Ray’s family, the tension within his current immediate family, a romance, a mystery, and an examination of the professional world of classical music. Our The Violin Conspiracy discussion guide has everything you need to explore this book with your book club, a book synopsis, selected reviews from other readers, and 3 ideas if you’re looking for similar reads.

Get the discussion started around the complex issues in this book with 10 The Violin Conspiracy discussion questions included in the guide.

(This article contains affiliate links. This means that if you choose to purchase, I’ll make a small commission.)

The Violin Conspiracy Synopsis

(We always chose to provide the publisher synopsis because we feel that it’s worthwhile to discuss whether the official book description actually squared with your experience of the book.)

The Violin Conspiracy , Brendan Slocumb

Growing up Black in rural North Carolina, Ray McMillian’s life is already mapped out. But Ray has a gift and a dream—he’s determined to become a world-class professional violinist, and nothing will stand in his way. Not his mother, who wants him to stop making such a racket; not the fact that he can’t afford a violin suitable to his talents; not even the racism inherent in the world of classical music.    When he discovers that his beat-up, family fiddle is actually a priceless Stradivarius, all his dreams suddenly seem within reach, and together, Ray and his violin take the world by storm. But on the eve of the renowned and cutthroat Tchaikovsky Competition—the Olympics of classical music—the violin is stolen, a ransom note for five million dollars left in its place. Without it, Ray feels like he’s lost a piece of himself. As the competition approaches, Ray must not only reclaim his precious violin, but prove to himself—and the world—that no matter the outcome, there has always been a truly great musician within him.

10 The Violin Conspiracy Book Club Questions

These questions have been tailored to this book’s specific reading experience, but if you want more ideas, we also have an article with 101 generic book club questions .

• Do you think Ray’s family had a rightful claim to the violin? Why or why not?
• “And none of that mattered. No matter how nice the suit, no matter how educated his speech or how strong the handshake, no matter how much muscle he packed on, no matter how friendly or how smart he was, none of it mattered at all. He was just a Black person. That’s all they saw and that’s all he was.” Racism is a major subject in this book. How did you feel about the different stories and examples of racism portrayed in this book?
• Did you guess who the thief was before it was revealed?
• “He did teribl things to my momma and to my brother and to many other slaves. Even tho he did all that I still lookt him in the eye and treetd him with respekt. No mattr how mad I was. No mattr how bad things got. I was always respektfl. Even when I didnt get no respekt. I dont never want you to forget that girl. I wont.” Ray is connected to previous generations of his family through the violin. How does the importance of respect impact his ancestors’ lives, and Rays? How does it shape him as a person?
• Ray’s mother and grandmother have very different attitudes towards his music. How do their attitudes affect who Ray becomes as a person, and as a musician? 
• Beyond it’s musical value, what does the Stradivarius violin represent in this story? What is its meaning, and its worth, to different people in the novel?
• “They could toss any piece of crappy music they wanted at him, and he would play. He would not be ignored, denied, or embarrassed ever again. He was a musician, and music had no color.” How does Ray finally become his own confident person? Do you think you would have been able to withstand all the challenges he faced while working towards his goal?
• How would you feel if you were Ray’s family, or the family of the slave owner? Would you be happy to let Ray play the violin, or would you feel you were owed something?
• What do you think about Ray and Nicole’s relationship? Did it seem authentic to you, or were you surprised?
• This novel is in parts a mystery, thriller, historical fiction, and coming of age story. Do you think all these worked well together? Were there some aspects you liked better than others?

Selected Reviews for The Violin Conspiracy

(Use these selected Goodreads reviews to compare with your own experience of the book. Do you agree or disagree with the reviews?)

“The novel tries to combine a Bildungsroman novel with a more suspenseful storyline but the two don’t quite mesh together. The flashbacks into Ray’s teenage years do add context to his life and the violin but they fail to make him into a more rounded character. I found him rather flat, at times a little more than a vehicle to move the story forward. I would have liked for him to have a more defined personality and a more developed characterisation. Other characters were similarly one-dimensional, Ray’s mother in particular. She’s portrayed as a horrible person: every scene she is in she says something awful. She has no redeeming qualities whatsoever and I could not understand why Ray would bother with her at all.”

“This book grabbed me and kept me engaged throughout. I just kept finding ways to keep listening to it. Make sure to read/listen to The Author’s Notes. There were times during the book I couldn’t help but wonder if the scenes were a little over dramatic. And then Slocum explains that they were episodes taken from his life.”

“I read the author’s note and I understand that he had to put up with a lot of the unfortunate racist attacks just because he is a black boy/man trying to play violin. As a black woman I can certainly empathize with the author. However, I think it would have been better if he had written a nonfiction novel so that people could properly bear witness to all he had to endure. Because putting in so many examples of racism into THIS book did not add to the story. It only served to neglect other elements.”

“I appreciated that this story shone a light on someone who is gifted in music, someone whose life is music, someone who had a bleak future ahead, finding courage and determination and growing into a decent man. Yes, Ray faced prejudices and the author made that quite apparent in the telling, but Ray was no quitter and he sallied forth with the sage advice of his grandmother. The story was interesting and made many valid points about discrimination against the black community in the area of classical music which hopefully have diminished.”

NEED BOOK CLUB IDEAS?

Use our guide to find dozens of book ideas for your group.

3 Books Like The Violin Conspiracy

The Violin Conspiracy was a Good Morning America book club pick. If you like their curations, check out the follow guide for other GMA books: Lessons in Chemistry guide , The Maid guide , The Personal Librarian guide , Klara and the Sun guide , The Midnight Library guide , Lions of Fifth Avenue guide , and The Vanishing Half guide .

Horse , Geraldine Brooks

This novel is another complex exploration of racism, history, and relationships through time. This novel focuses on the horse racing industry, and the varied characters are brought together through one famous horse named Lexington.

The story links characters, from enslaved people in 1850, to the art industry in 1950’s New York, to scientists and historians in 2019 Washington D.C. This is another excellent book to examine the impact of racism through the lens of a specific professional field.

Read this one for book club and use our Horse discussion guide .

Take My Hand , Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Beginning in 1973 Alabama, this story follows nurse Civil Townsend as she sets out to make a difference in her African-American community. Civil struggles with her assignment to assist with birth control for young poor Black girls, which eventually leads to permanent sterilization.

We see the shame of forced sterilization through the viewpoints of Civil as a young woman and at an older age nearing retirement, the affected community, and through a young lawyer fighting for the rights of the community.

Body and Soul , Frank Conroy

For another exploration of music and it’s redemptive qualities, look no further than Body and Soul . Living in squalor in 1940’s New York, young Claude Rawlings is brought out of his dismal surroundings because of his prodigious musical talent. Claude is swept up into a vastly different life, thanks to his talent and kind mentors.

This novel follows the hardships, music, and discovery Claude experiences in his life, all thanks to his intimate relationship and love of music.

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The Violin Conspiracy: A Novel (Good Morning America Book Club) Kindle Edition

• Print length 334 pages
• Language English
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publisher Anchor
• Publication date February 1, 2022
• File size 2384 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
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From the publisher, editorial reviews, about the author, excerpt. © reprinted by permission. all rights reserved., product details.

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0988Z1VMC
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Anchor (February 1, 2022)
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 1, 2022
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 2384 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 334 pages
• #208 in Coming of Age Fiction (Kindle Store)
• #363 in Black & African American Literature (Kindle Store)
• #367 in Coming of Age Fiction (Books)

About the author

Brendan nicholaus slocumb.

Brendan Nicholaus Slocumb was born in Yuba City, California and was raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a degree in music education, concentrations on Violin and Viola. While at UNCG, Brendan was the concertmaster for the University Symphony orchestra and served as the principal violist. He performed with numerous small chamber ensembles, including flute and clarinet choirs, and in the BESK string quartet.

As a musician, Brendan has performed on violin with the Washington Metropolitan Symphony, the McLean Symphony, the Prince George's Philharmonic, and the Alexandria Symphony. He currently serves as the concertmaster for the

NOVA- Symphony Orchestra. Brendan has been a frequent adjudicator and guest conductor for several district and regional orchestras throughout North Carolina and Virginia. He also performs chamber music with members of the Annandale symphony. He maintains a private music studio teaching lessons to students on violin, guitar and piano.

He is the founder of the nonprofit organization, Hands Across the Sea, based in the Philippines. After touring the Philippines with the Northern Virginia Chamber Ensemble and witnessing firsthand the conditions that many of the young music students and their families endure, Brendan founded the Hands Across the Sea to offer support to the Berea School of the Arts in Manila, by providing instruments, lessons, and monetary support. The organization also supplements school supplies and dental and medical assistance.

In his spare time, Brendan enjoys writing, exercising, collecting comic books and action figures, and performing with his rock band, Geppetto's Wüd.

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A Lost Opera Manuscript Discovered. A Century-Old Mystery Ignited.

In Brendan Slocumb’s sophomore novel, “Symphony of Secrets,” a professor is tasked with deciphering a rediscovered opera, only to uncover a historical betrayal.

Credit... Tara Anand

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• April 18, 2023
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SYMPHONY OF SECRETS , by Brendan Slocumb

Brendan Slocumb’s first novel, “The Violin Conspiracy,” displayed his deftness at crafting character-driven stories featuring amateur sleuths with a deep reverence for music history — and everything to lose. With his pitch-perfect follow-up, “Symphony of Secrets,” he firmly establishes himself as a maestro of musical mystery.

Prof. Bern Hendricks is, to put it mildly, obsessed with a disgraced early-20th-century composer (of Slocumb’s invention) named Frederic Delaney. It’s an enduring fascination, fueled by admiration and an imagined sense of kinship. He’s memorized every song, pored over every available factoid and channeled his reverence for Delaney into his field of study. So when he receives a summons from the powerful and prestigious Delaney Foundation, he already has his suspicions as to why.

The foundation has discovered the holy grail of American music — the original draft of Delaney’s lost opera, “Red.” It’s the final piece in his “Rings Quintet,” an Olympic-flag-inspired series that became an international sensation and redefined modern opera. Bern’s job is to verify the draft’s authenticity and prepare it for a debut that will forever alter the landscape of music. For Bern, the request is an honor that will solidify his standing as a scholar and allow him to repay the foundation, whose program for underprivileged youth ushered him toward success as a musicologist and researcher. Most important, it’s a chance for him to redeem his fallen hero, who became something of a joke when “Red” never surfaced.

The assignment is anything but straightforward. Delaney had a peculiar style of drafting his work, and Bern needs help deciphering “Delaney’s Doodles,” the pattern of symbols and markings that were the composer’s secret guide for how the music should be played. He gets an assist on that from his friend Eboni Washington, a cybersecurity expert and code-cracking genius from the Bronx. Together they unearth a fact that could upend all previous scholarship on the composer: Delaney had a possible lover and collaborator in a neurodivergent Black woman named Josephine Reed.

“Symphony of Secrets” is a gripping read that seamlessly jumps between Bern and Eboni’s present-day pursuit of the truth and Delaney and Josephine’s tragic story from decades before. Although the mystery is taut and the characters engaging, what makes the book sing is how it makes audible the chords that echo between present and past, coming together to create a consonant harmony. Slocumb dexterously interlaces the two plotlines, using them to echo and refract issues that haven’t disappeared over the years, only changed resonance. The way Josephine, a disenfranchised Black woman, has her innate talent used and abused under the guise of “being helped” by Delaney is a counterpoint to Bern’s slow and demoralizing realization that the foundation sees him as nothing more than a means to an end. Both believe their pure love of music will allow them to soar, and both end up smashing painfully into the glass ceiling of white supremacy.

Slocumb’s writing is invigorating, and the detail in his character work makes the main characters in both time periods easy to root for. The arc of the story mirrors the sensation of listening to an unfamiliar piece of classical music and thinking “This is nice” as it starts, then suddenly finding yourself rapt, then thrilled, then, by the end of the journey, entirely astonished. Slocumb is a composer and conductor, and those skills translate well to his mystery writing — his mastery of pacing and tempo and his natural sense of when to soothe the audience and when to jolt them out of their seats are on full display.

The novel’s examination of white supremacy as an extractive force is clear and present without tripping up the fast-paced and thrilling plotline, and Bern and Eboni’s budding romance adds an additional layer of enjoyment. Bern’s discoveries destroy his image of the man that he believed to be integral to his love of music and sense of self; but he discovers in Josephine a musician worthy of that admiration and respect, and a legacy worth risking everything to preserve.

Alyssa Cole writes romance novels and thrillers. Her most recent book is “How to Find a Princess.”

SYMPHONY OF SECRETS | By Brendan Slocumb | 433 pp. | Anchor | $28

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