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The story concerns the unpublished manuscript of a cadenza for solo piano which disappears at the time of the composer's mysterious death in 1947, immediately following his performance of the cadenza in three public concerts. Discovery of the manuscript in 1981 precipitates a rash of burglaries, extortions, and murders. The detective hired by the publisher and the Farringford family to recover the manuscript never quite realizes that at least twelve separate individuals and groups are determined to possess it for their own diverse ends. But she's not alone in he ignorance: most of these pursuers are themselves unaware of the others--even as their paths continually cross.

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Humorous Private-Eye Mystery subtly skews and subverts generic conventions to continuously surprise readers with reversals of their assumptions and expectations.

Robert D. Sutherland received his Ph.D. in English at the University of Iowa, and, for a number of years, taught courses in Linguistics and Creative Writing at Illinois State University. He particularly enjoyed teaching Old English, History of the English Language, Semantics. and the writing of poetry and prose fiction. He and his wife Marilyn have traveled widely, reared two sons to adulthood, and joined with others in working for peace, social justice, and the preservation of the natural environment. His publications include a scholarly book, Language and Lewis Carroll; a novel, Sticklewort and Feverfew (with 74 illustrations by the author), which received the 1981 Friends of American Writers Juvenile Book Merit Award for author/illustrator; a second novel, The Farringford Cadenza; short fiction, poems, and essays on literature, education, and publishing. His interests include classical music, reading, walking, the nature of metaphor, and the comparative study of mythologies.