The Ragtime Fool
It's 1951, and ragtime is making a comeback. In Sedalia, Missouri, plans are underway for a ceremony to honor Scott Joplin. Brun Campbell, the old Ragtime Kid, learns of a journal Joplin kept and wants to show it to Sedalia's movers and shakers, hoping to persuade them to set up a ragtime museum.
Unfortunately for Brun, author/historian Rudi Blesh is determined to publish the journal. But Joplin's old friend wants to suppress the material. Even worse, two Sedalia Klansmen are hot after the journal and don't care if they have to kill someone to get it. In the middle of this imbroglio is Alan Chandler, a 17-year-old pianist in love with ragtime. If Alan can stay alive, he may be able to prevent catastrophe and learn what it really means to be Black in 1950s America.
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Karp populates his book with nearly as many historical characters as fictional ones....Ragtime remains central to the series, both in terms of its ambience and its plots, making the trilogy a must recommendation to fans of jazz and American roots music.
--BooklistLarry Karp, with his novelist's eye for plot and character and his historian's respect for time and place, again applies his practiced skills as a veteran writer of mysteries. Together with his leading man The Ragtime Fool, they promise to keep you turning the pages well past midnight.
--Max Morath, "The Ragtime Man" Entertainer and spokesman for American music and historyKarp handles the intricate plot well, but the best part of the book is its picture of people torn between what they want to forget and what they need to remember.
--Publishers WeeklyIn The Ragtime Fool...historical and imagined characters try to resolve a half century of loose ends, but reality always intrudes when an American art form, its creators, and the public crisscross color and culture lines. These books offer stories for enjoyment; they may also cause you to read the documented histories, and then listen to the music - where more mysteries reside.
--David Reffkin, Director of The American Ragtime Ensemble
