The Cellist

by Kevin Marsh

Mia Ashton, a hard working young cellist has always dreamt of playing to large audiences. With a series of classical concerts designed to help boost her career and the support of an agent, her desire to become a top class musician is finally within her reach, but then tragedy strikes.
One of her colleagues is found dead soon after performing with Mia and this sets off a chain reaction that threatens to destroy everything that she has worked for. Living in the shadow of a serial killer stirs memories from her past, pushing her ever closer to breaking point.
Will Mia find the strength to carry on or will the killer put an end to her dreams?
Perhaps the price of fame is too great.

326 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2017

About the author

Kevin Marsh was born in Canterbury in 1961. He lived and went to school there attending the Technical College, (now Canterbury College), as an apprentice sheet metal worker. During his five years of training he worked at a small local company with his father and brother. In 1981 he was married and moved to Whitstable, (his father's home town).
His first novel, The Belgae Torc, book 1 in the Torc Trilogy, was launched on 30th June 2012. Two more books followed to complete the trilogy then a change of genre produced a psychological thriller then a series of crime novels.
He is now semi-retired from teaching steel fabrication and welding and spends more time writing, walking and cycling.

Reviews

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can always count on Kevin Marsh to deliver tension. It was in The Witness in spades and the tension in The Cellist comes in the form of a puzzle. I found myself very impatiently wanting to figure out which female was the serial killer going around killing Mia's friends and associates. It was driving me mad because I had to know. Maybe its just me but when I read a thriller such as The Cellist; I enjoy trying to figure out the back story before the author discloses it at the end of the novel. I like making observations as I read the chapters. It makes it more exciting for a reader such as myself.

I bought The Cellist having read all of Kevin Marsh's previous novels and The Witness is my favorite. It is not a sequel but there are characters from The Witness in this novel and we get to sort of 'catch up' on their lives. Think of it as a trauma related victim's reunion of sorts! Anyway, Mia is very likable. She has a traumatic childhood event, is very close to her father and as an adult is a fabulous cellist. I'm sure classical music lovers will enjoy the chapters where Mia practices certain pieces of music, plays concerts throughout England, etc., I enjoyed her romance with boyfriend Ben as well.

Kevin Marsh is a born storyteller. I can count on his novels to be entertaining, intelligently written, and always exciting! I never know where in the world I will end up but there is always action without gore and overly done violence. He knows how to build a story, develop characters until you reach a tipping point!

I would highly recommend The Cellist to anyone who enjoys serial killer stories with depth and heart.

[MR D J FIELD · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot outline was promising. Unfortunately, though, it became apparent Mr. Marsh has no knowledge of a cellist working as a professional classical musician and didn't do nearly enough research to hide this fact. Her concerts would have been acoustic, she wouldn't have been aware of any broadcast sound checks. The author has substituted his sketchy knowledge of a rock concert and assumed it would be the same. Mia would not have gone to Epsom, in spite of her age' the accompanist would go to the soloist; but even if she did, she would have taken her own cello. (every cellist I've ever met carries their bow in the cello case, not in a bag with the music) Even then, it would be unheard of to go to a strange accompanist on the pretext of learning about a future accompanist's "eccentricities". Playing carols? An apparently talented soloist (of the standing that would be playing as a soloist in the Albert Hall) wouldn't be involved! The whole musical side of the sub-plot is, I'm afraid, totally nonsense. This book gives proof to the cliché "don't write about what you don't know about". I think the author was feeling uncomfortable anyway; the ending was horribly rushed.