This third Maggie O’Shea mystery, following DARK RHAPSODY, opens a few years before the Soviet Union’s rusting Iron Curtain is shredded by eastern Europeans eager to view the stage of freedom. Two women near the Hungarian border wait for someone to help them cross, but Russian guards kill one, while the other takes an infant into the river. She brings with her the tale of a lost Rachmaninoff concerto and the whereabouts of a missing Van Gogh painting evocative of Starry Night.

"This complex novel has many subplots simmering in a stew, the stock of which is the international music and art world."

In contemporary Boston, concert pianist Maggie O’Shea prepares to perform at the Museum of Fine Arts. She is introduced to Yuri Belankov, a former violinist from St. Petersburg, who was interviewed by Maggie’s husband shortly before Johnny O’Shea’s boat exploded. “The heart will always grieve.” But she has moved on and accepts the love offered by Michael Beckett.

Yet mysterious messages from Europe suggest a connection to Johnny, the Van Gogh and the concerto --- as well as wartime horrors in Paris. Maggie is recalcitrant to bear credence to what she fears may be a lure to extortion. While on her courtyard balcony, though, she hears familiar violin strains but can’t identify from which concerto. Could it be the lost composition from before Rachmaninoff’s death in 1943?

However, an invitation to perform in London with a Russian orchestra sways Maggie to unravel loose threads to her past, all of which the award-winning journalist Johnny O’Shea had been investigating. This complex novel has many subplots simmering in a stew, the stock of which is the international music and art world.

Name-changing characters detract from endearing them to readers, but identities concealed from nefarious Russian mobsters are essential --- especially for a troubled homeless youth. At times, the name changes and nicknames are reminiscent of the Abbott and Costello “Who’s On First” routine but without the comedy. Series newcomers should read the two previous installments to know who’s on first.