Small Town Symphony (in Four Deadly Movements)
Daniel Cole is a 27-year-old musical genius whose extraordinary auditory memory allows him to hear patterns others can’t. All he wants is to finally move out of his parents’ house and into his own place, but his non-normative demeanor has an alienating effect on the people he encounters. Instead, he is labeled a “Freak” and accused of a string of burglaries at real estate open houses. With his entire future in jeopardy, he sets out to clear his name, enlisting his only friend, a mechanic with a criminal past, to assist him. But when Daniel’s unconventional investigative style, enhanced by his auditory memory and perfect pitch, uncovers otherwise overlooked musical clues, he unwittingly exposes an underbelly of corruption in this seemingly idyllic town. And with each new revelation, another body turns up, with Daniel always implicated as the prime suspect.
Enter Nat Gilliam, the small-town central New Jersey police officer tasked with the investigation. An outsider to the community himself, Gilliam empathizes with Daniel’s struggles against the snobby, narrow-minded, and judgmental villagers. Still, he can’t eliminate Daniel as a suspect. Alongside a local journalist with her own outsider status, their investigations crisscross and finally converge with the realization that Daniel’s auditory memory holds the key to unlocking the town’s sordid secrets and solving the four murders.
Released March 6, 2026 from Solstice Publishing.
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