The Murder Score

The author of THE MURDER SCORE challenges every reader to identify the murderer and solve the fascinating mystery of his humorously thrilling novel. Like a trick silhouette, this ingenious story appears to be the exact opposite of its true reality until the very last chapter when the perpetrator is finally revealed. It is only then that each and every reader will gasp with shocked surprise and dissolve into delighted laughter upon discovering how their logical perceptions have been so skillfully manipulated and gently twisted by the seemingly simple and humorously straightforward narrative.

THE MURDER SCORE is certain to become a well-loved classic of its genre.

Set in Sugar Hill, a quiet and beautiful village in northern New Hampshire in the autumn of 1941, only weeks before Pearl Harbor and America's entrance into World War II, the story is intimately written as the memoir of a kindly, goodnatured local minister, the Reverend Henry Fuller, who has a long-suffering and sharply comic and compassionate view of life. Fuller recounts his own part in trying to solve the savage murders that suddenly broke the peaceful, dream-like existence of his quaint village.

Energetically assisted by his clever, domineering, gossip-loving wife, the rather timid minister inadvertently teams up with a quick-witted busybody who has recently arrived to live somewhat reclusively in the remote village. Mistaken for a German, the thickly-accented visitor is soon revealed to be Austrian - Viennese to be exact - and none other than Hollywood's greatest film composer, Max Steiner. Beleaguered by his excessive workload at Warner Bros., Steiner has walked out on his contract and sought the tranquil and silent refuge of this secluded hamlet. Sugar Hill is also the unlikely home of the world's most famous and acclaimed movie star, Bette Davis, who is the composer's greatest ally at their home studio. Max has scored almost all of Miss Davis' movies and has also won her great admiration and affection. Considering Steiner a genius, Bette readily tells everyone that "Max knows more about drama and understands it more deeply than any of us do." In fact, it was the rebellious Bette Davis who talked Steiner into going on strike and fleeing from the studio and abandoning Hollywood until his employers gave into his demands of a more reasonable schedule. Busy herself filming her current assignment at Warners, "The Man Who Came to Dinner", for the next few months, Bette has offered her Sugar Hill home, Butternut, to Steiner so that he can calm his nerves and peacefully rest while he finally has a chance to write the serious music he has always longed to compose - in this case, a concert masterpiece entitled 'The Autumn Sonata."

Before he knows it, Steiner has abandoned his solitude and his symphony and joined up with his next door neighbor, the helplessly beleaguered Reverend Henry Fuller, and is racing off to beat all odds and solve a series of brutal, very high profile murders that the police find themselves completely unable to even begin to crack. The amusing and brilliant little film composer will eventually discover that crime solving is no different than scoring his films back at Warner Bros. - he will use the same unique talents to attempt to reveal the murderer and bring them to book as his Watson-like partner, Fuller, marvels in amazement at his startling acumen as a detective who is seemingly only second to Sherlock Holmes.


MICHAEL JOHN SULLIVAN is the celebrated author of several books in various genres. He has won national awards and rave reviews. His previous novels include GAME OF ANGELS, HAIL, COLUMBIA, THE ALL-AMERICAN BOY, and NEAR THE WATER'S EDGE. His acclaimed biography A FATAL PASSION established him as a premier Random House author. He is also the author of several original screenplays and a three act stage play based on his novel.