The Mystery of the Last Stradivarius

“As an old fan of classical music, I have enjoyed seeing the violin, one of the most beautiful musical instruments, become the protagonist of a fiction. I am confident that readers, whether they are interested in music or not, will appreciate this new novel by Alejandro Guillermo Roemmers.” – Mario Vargas Llosa

If every novel could represent a world, this new novel by Alejandro Guillermo Roemmers effectively represents two. The last violin crafted by the celebrated luthier Antonio Stradivari is the protagonist and, at the same time, the common denominator of the two plots, which ultimately form a unique text: a detective novel close to the noir genre, starting from a current event (the murder of a father and his daughter in a small Paraguayan town), intertwined with a richly composed historical novel in which, across the centuries, the story of the violin is depicted through the lives of its occasional owners over nearly three centuries. We are talking here about a complex narrative that offers several layers of meaning. This novel invites readers to embark on an exciting journey between the inherent laws of the detective genre (nothing is known about the motive of the double crime), and we witness its investigation, following a historical thread through the depths of the souls of those who have owned the violin. This detective novel and the seed of a historical novel that alternate in the even and odd chapters oppose, articulate, and complement each other to form a very attractive universe in its internal coherence. The novel also includes a supernatural vein: the last violin crafted by Stradivari is presented as an amulet, a powerful object that protects from all evils whoever possesses it. Although, if taken in a strictly realistic manner, the sublime music it produces could also be seen as a good example of some kind of pagan or divine protection.