The RagTime Traveler
by Larry Karp and Casey Karp
Alan Chandler’s sixty-five year love affair with Scott Joplin’s music has made him a leading authority on Joplin’s life and works. Despite advanced cancer and chemotherapy treatment, Alan is still active as a ragtime scholar, composer, and concert pianist. When a fellow pianist, Mickey Potash, gets his hands on a bag full of hitherto-unknown Joplin compositions, Alan drops everything.
Before Alan can persuade Mickey to turn over his big find, Mickey is killed and the music is stolen. Alan doesn’t trust the police to find the killer–or Joplin’s music–but as he carries out his own search, he repeatedly finds himself in 1899, talking to Joplin and other early ragtimers. Someone in the past has a major grudge against Joplin, and Alan is increasingly sure that there’s a connection to his friend’s death. Unsure whether he’s having chemo-induced hallucinations or traveling in time, Alan nevertheless risks his life jumping between 1899 and 2015 in his effort to bring Mickey’s killer to justice, recover Joplin’s lost music…and prevent someone from murdering Joplin before the music has even been written.
This historical mystery is a sequel to Larry Karp’s Ragtime Historical Mystery Trilogy, but assumes no previous knowledge of the earlier books. It will be released by Poisoned Pen Press on June 6, 2017.
What Others Are Saying
The fourth Ragtime Mystery (The Ragtime Fool, 2010, etc.) is filled with warmth and wonder and interesting music trivia, buoyed by the relationship between the two sleuths
Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2017
Larry Karp and son Casey’s welcome addition to Larry’s Ragtime trilogy (which concluded with 2010’s The Ragtime Fool)…Lovers of Joplin and ragtime will enjoy this trip to the past.
Publishers Weekly, April 3, 2017
Want a sample? Read Chapter One.
Koi Scribblings 