First, Do No Harm
The Midnight Special
Scamming the Birdman
The Music Box Murders
The Enchanted Ear
The View from the Vue

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for more information on each of Larry Karp's books. 

 
Larry Karp is currently being published by Poisoned Pen Press
 

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THE KING OF RAGTIME

Scott Joplin leaves a major musical composition with Irving Berlin, but Berlin claims he never received it.  Then, Joplin is found in Berlin's company offices, crouched over a blood-soaked body.  Music publisher John Stark and his strong-minded daughter, Nell, need to get around their edgy relationship to find the manuscript and exonerate Joplin.

 

This historical mystery from Larry Karp is the second novel in the Ragtime Historical Mystery Trilogy and was released by Poisoned Pen Press on October 1, 2008.

 

Read Chapter One of "The King of Ragtime" by Larry Karp.

 

What Others Are Saying...

Set in Manhattan in 1916, Karp's well-crafted second homage to ragtime (after 2006's The Ragtime Kid) charts Scott Joplin's race against time and the effects of a ravaging illness to secure his musical legacy...Karp's meticulous research helps create a vivid picture of the time and locale. Memorable, authentic characters are another plus. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly, June 30, 2008

 

Impressively researched, with a substantial bibliography, Karp's second Joplin mystery (The Ragtime Kid, 2006) paints a full-bodied portrait of Harlem back in the day...it takes you places you'll be glad you visited.

Kirkus, August 1, 2008

 

The second Joplin historical mystery (see THE RAGTIME KID) is a fascinating look at the Manhattan music world during WWI. ...  Readers will enjoy the wild ride...as real figures like [Scott] Joplin and [Irving] Berlin come to life beyond the legend. The amateur sleuthing is fun to follow but it is the obsessed with insuring for Lottie’s future and how history recalls him Joplin who turns this whodunit into a concerto performance.

Harriet Klausner, The Mystery Gazette,  August 26, 2008

 

The second book in Karp’s ragtime mystery trilogy is based on the real-life controversy of whether the smash hit song, “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” was actually written by Irving Berlin, who published it, or Scott Joplin, who claimed Berlin stole it from him. Once again the author has taken actual musical history and deftly superimposed a fictional murder plot onto it. With a well-tuned ear for dialect and colloquialisms of the time and place, he’ll convince you that it’s New York City in 1916, and you are there. Edward R. Murrow couldn’t have done it better...In the 19-teens racism, sexism, and anti-Semitism were painfully blatant, but city life had cadences and syncopation, much like ragtime music. This book captures that rhythm. 

Bill Farley, Seattle Mystery Bookshop

 

Read the full reviews of "The Ragtime Kid" by Larry Karp.

 

 

 

Author:  Larry Karp
Hardback: 308 pages

Publication date: 10/1/2008

ISBN-10: 1-59058-526-7
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-526-9

currently out of print

 

Trade Paperback:  308 pages

Publication date: 4/1/2010

ISBN: 978-1-59058-701-0

 

Large Type Trade Paperback: 416 pages

Publication date: 10/1/2008
ISBN: 978-1-59058-527-6

 

Kindle e-book:  512 pages

Publication date: 11/12/2009
ISBN: 978-1-61595-106-2

 

Also available as an audiobook (CD, Cassette Tape and MP3) from Blackstone Audio

 

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All of Larry Karp's books can be found at Seattle Mystery Bookshop!All of Larry Karp's books (including autographed copies AND books that have gone out of print) can be found here:
The King of Ragtime is also available a Kindle e-book from amazon.com