Sweet Man is Gone by Peggy Ehrhart

Peggy Ehrhart is a former college English professor (her academic specialty being medieval literature) who in mid life bought an electric guitar (a red Stratocaster) signed up for guitar lessons and formed a band (The Last Stand Band). Based on those experiences, she has now written a sweet little Cozy Mystery in which her amateur detective, Maxx Maxwell, the smart, gutsy, talented and gorgeous lead singer of Maxximum Blues takes center stage.

Maxx lives in a scruffy little apartment in Hackensack, New Jersey and works at a waitress job that she really doesn't like very much (and is driving her crazy), but needs in order to make ends meet. Her band is finally getting some recognition, thanks to the talents of guitarist, Jimmy Nashville, who Maxx would be totally in love with if she hadn't sworn off guitar players. Which is probably just as well, because Jimmy seems to have a sea of girlfriends.

Then Jimmy plunges to his death from the window of his 9th floor apartment. Police seem inclined to believe it is a suicide, but Maxx resolves to sort out the mystery on her own. Maxx's quest to unravel the mystery takes place amidst a backdrop of blues and bar music scenes that really ring authentic and true and the blues lover will easily recognize the many references to blues tunes sprinkled liberally through the book. As Maxx digs deeper into the mysterious past of Jimmy Nashville, another death occurs, and despite a skeptical cop involved in the case and some surprising developments Maxx manages to persevere until the puzzle is solved.

With a likeable spunky sleuth and quirky characters, this book is the perfect blend of music and mystery and manages to strike just the right chords. Let's hope that this debut book is just the first of many to star Maxx Maxwell. Now, you'll have to excuse me while I go search for my blues CD's. Reading this book made me realize just how much I love that musical genre.