Reviews for Murder a Cappella

Musical Mystery, Verified Purchase

Any Sweet Adeline would love this book! Any non-Sweet Adeline will enjoy it thouroughly as well.

L. Sikeson

So much fun solving the mystery and reliving the San Antonio competition! Loved it!

Delia Price, Verdugo Hills Chorus

A must read.

Jackie Wheatley

I thoroughly enjoyed it. Well written and fun to join in.

IDKW

Lots of fun details about Sweet Adelines!

Debi Veder, ChannelAire

I am a Sweet Adeline and so it was very meaningful to me. I just knew she was an Adeline. I loved it.

Joan Felton

Wow! Who would think of murder amid the beautiful music of an international Sweet Adelines competition? This author did. For a Sweet Adeline, this book will put you right in the middle of an international contest, with all its hustle, bustle and backstage maneuvering. And when the murders start, you'll be as shocked as I was. But, it held my attention, piqued my curiosity and kept me turning pages until the end. Of course, I had to know who-dun-it and why. Fun read for anyone, fascinating for anyone in the singing world.

C. Crow

I love a mystery where I can't guess the ending. A red herring sent me off in the wrong direction on this one... but I enjoyed the likable narrator and her funny friend, so I didn't mind the detour. Entertaining dialogue and a snappy pace kept me reading. I know nothing about singing or group competitions, but this novel placed me in that world in a way that felt authentic, and made me care about the outcome of the competition as well as the finding of the murderer. San Antonio, the Alamo, and the Riverwalk are all evocatively presented--makes me want to visit there again. A clever, fun book.

Lo

Murder A Capella is a tightly crafted cozy murder mystery, a fun book with a big twist at the end.
Set in exotic, historic San Antonio, Texas, during the International Convention of the Sweet Adelines, the story chronicles a double homicide at the Alamo, the seat of Texas Independence. The main character, Tina Overton, a contestant at the convention and also a police officer with the Fort worth police department, witnesses the murders and volunteers to assist the San Antonio PD in its investigation. That investigation leads her to drill deep into the inner workings of the international organization.

James R. Callan co-wrote the book with his daughter, Diane Bailey, who joined the women's musical group Sweet Adelines in the 1990s and competed at her first international competition in San Antonio. The inside track Bailey's personal knowledge of the world of such competitions provides an authentic base for the novel's plot. The book is filled with references, direct and oblique, to the world of music and of close harmony singing in particular.

I highly recommend Murder A Capella for mystery and thriller fans.

Stephen Woodfin

Bob Hostler See all my reviews.
5.0 out of 5 stars Mystery
Wow' What a refreshing tale. A great story,and one that is a good read for any age group. Young adults as well as "old timers" like myself. I have been a mystery reader all my life and usually can figure them out, but this one fooled even me with an interesting twist at the very end.

Give us more to enjoy from this author. Bob

What a hoot this novel was! I would love to see this made as a movie with all the music provided by Sweet Adelines and Barber Shop Quartets. There are so many quotable lines, such as those in Princess Bride and UHF. (What? Mine are the only kids who memorized those movies?)
quote: Shutting down the speculation was about as likely as teaching armidillos not to become roadkill.
quote: Some of the habits I'd developed as a single working mother clung to me like staticky clothes from the dryer.
Delightful paragraph:

They say being famous is not as easy or glamorous as it looks. As the afternoon stretched on, I believed it. Dozens of women approached to compliment our performance. I accepted their congratulations with as much grace as I could muster, but after several hours my graciousness had leaked out. I squirmed in my seat, hot, and hungry for something better than another hotdog. . . . By the end of the day, the only things holding me together were bobby pins and the vice grip of my makeup.

I love books that show me another world, another process, another way that I would never see on my own. I know I did not learn the whole of the world of the Sweet Adelines, but what I did see was fascinating. There was little blood to the murders, but there was lots of police investigation told from the viewpoint of a singer at a Sweet Adeline competition, held at the Alamo, who was also a policewoman.
I can recommend this book to anybody who doesn't need a lot of explosions in their literature to stay happy.

Lelia Rose Foreman

What a delightful mystery! Not only does it have a different kind of backdrop for a murder mystery, we get to learn about a world not a lot of us know about. Quartet competitions, specifically, the Sweet Adelines. This story takes you on unexpected turns and keeps you guessing until the end. The backdrop is the Alamo and since I live in Texas, I was happy to read about a place I have been to. The characters are believable as well as the story itself. James R. Callan and Diane Bailey have collaborated bringing their separate talents to this wonderful book. Diane is member of the Sweet Adelines, so brings that experience into the story. Kudos to them both for attention to detail. Great read.

Amazon Customer

5.0 out of 5 stars Mystery
By Fred-Suz - See all my reviews
Authors Callan & Bailey have presented an interesting murder mystery detailing the Barber Shop genre that I have not previously seen in print or in film. Familiar settings in San Antonio make this a fun ride, with numerous twists and turns. Cleverly disguised characters make for a surprise ending. Great book that could be enjoyed by a wide audience.

5.0 out of 5 stars Murder a Cappella
By Galand Fox Nuchols - See all my reviews
Murder a Cappella keeps readers picking and discarding the murderer as they read chapter after chapter. There are a plethora of suspects and motives. I never once anticipated the final solution to the murders, even though hindsight proved the clues were there. Thank you Mr. Callan and Ms. Bailey.

Good light reading. Especially fun if you're a Sweet Adeline!

Kaye |Washburn