The Midnight Special

Thomas Purdue #3

by Larry Karp

It's a beautiful June day in New York, but not for Thomas Purdue. His friend Edna Reynolds calls to say she's just murdered Marcus Wilcox, a tinhorn interior designer who's been harassing her. While trying to check out an unusual music box his friend Broadway Schwartz has sighted in a local antique store, Thomas is told they have no such box. And then he gets an urgent ER call to come treat his pal Frank the Crank, who's been badly beaten up. Dead bodies accumulate; so do sightings of the mysterious music box. Edna decides Thomas needs her help and calls in octogenarian music-box dealer Sophie Soleski, safecracker Cleveland Gackle, super-antiques-picker Broadway Schwartz, and Jitters Levitsky, a young man with an unusual but useful neurological disorder. Big Al Resford flies in from London, bringing his own particular expertise. In this complex, thoughtful sequel to The Music Box Murders and Scamming the Birdman , Thomas needs to fit together some very oddly-shaped puzzle pieces -- but disastrously misses the most important clue of all!

Genres: Mystery

Hardcover

First published March 24, 2001

About the author

Larry Karp practiced perinatal medicine and wrote general nonfiction before turning his back on medical work to write mystery novels full-time. The backgrounds and settings of Larry's mysteries reflect many of his interests, including musical antiques, medical-ethical issues, and ragtime music. His current book, The King of Ragtime, the second work in a ragtime mystery trilogy, centers on a real-life dispute between Scott Joplin and Irving Berlin over the alleged theft of a piece of music."

Reviews

[Roberta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the two earlier books in this series a while ago. I think that reading the earlier books helped in understanding the characters, particularly Dr. Purdue and his wife. I was relieved to find out the Dr. Purdue is teaching rather than seeing patients since he seems to spend most of his time fixing music boxes, detecting and hatching plots. There is a very strong resemblance to the Lovejoy books so it was funny that one of the characters in this book mentions Lovejoy.

I am surprised and a little disappointed that there have been no more Dr. Purdue mysteries after this one.

[Susan Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful story… Dr. Thomas Purdue has a wonderful collection of special music boxes and friends who share his passion. When one of them gets into trouble, they all join in the fray which starts to include murders. Larry Karp has a wonderful style. I'm now going to have to go back and read his others.

[LJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL (Amateur Sleuth-New York-Cont) – VG
Karp, Larry – 3rd in series
Write Way Publishing, 2001- Hardcover
Dr. Thomas Purdue receives a call from his friend, and fellow music box lover, Edna Reynolds. Edna's afraid she just killed an annoyingly persistent designer who has been pressuring her to give him her collection of automatons to sell. On his way home, Thomas stops at a shop to view a rare music box, but the shop owner, the same one Edna thought she'd killed, claims he doesn't have it. When people associated with the music box start getting beat up and murdered, Thomas is on the hunt.
*** Thomas is loyal, caring, and very protective of his friends. The story builds, layer upon layer, moving along quickly and culminating in a classic scene of gathering all the characters in a room. I particularly enjoy that the characters are older and it's clear the author knows and loves New York City. This is a delightful book filled with wonderful characters, and interesting information.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

New York neurologist and music-box collector Thomas Purdue finds himself enmeshed in the mystery of a stolen music box. He's also helping a friend who had a stroke find a way to get back to her work of repairing automata, and reform a young boy who tried to break into his apartment. To solve a murder, he has to enlist the help of his disapproving father.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and learning about antique music boxes, but found the main character and sleuth Dr. Thomas Purdue (neurologist) a little different. His language expressions, relationship with his wife and way he went to help out people but with the underlying motive of helping solve the crime were some of the things I did not care for. Overall a decent "cozy" type mystery set in NYC.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting little mystery involving a neurologist whose true passion is antique music boxes. Characters with personality, lots of info about the restoration of music boxes. Fun to read and a nice surprise from the condo's take one, leave one library.

[Terry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting subject. Slow moving. Very long conclusion.