Ghost Trio

by Phyllis Irwin, Lillian Faderman

A grieving pianist visits the site of her true love’s death hoping to find answers that will help her to move on, but what she finds leaves her with more questions than answers.

Lee Howe, a professional pianist, comes to Southern California from New York on a mournful She believes that if she can see the site where her beloved Devorah met her death, she will begin to accept that she must move on with her own life.

Devorah Manikian had been rehearsing for a starring role in Carmen and was living in Eggerscliffe, a 1920s-style pseudo-castle belonging to the wealthy and eccentric impresario, Annajean Eggers. Devorah was gone only a few weeks before Lee was notified that she was dead—tragically killed in a tower fire at Eggerscliffe.

But as Lee stands alone on a deserted patch of beach just below the castle, she hears Devorah singing. Is it the cocktail of tranquilizers, sleeping pills, anti-depressants, and anti-anxiety drugs Lee has been taking since learning of Devorah’s death that makes her hallucinate her beloved’s voice—or is Devorah being kept a prisoner somewhere in Eggerscliffe?

276 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 17, 2025

About the author

Phyllis Irwin, a professor of music emerita, is the author of two college music textbooks and the co-author of a music education textbook. As a nonagenarian, she is still performing publicly as a pianist.

see also: Lillian Q. Irwin
see also: Lillian Faderman