The Ragtime Fool

Ragtime is making a comeback in 1951. 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 use it to persuade Sedalia's movers and shakers 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 it all 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. Larry Karp has written long and short nonfiction, restored and collected antique music boxes, and practiced perinatal medicine. He left medicine in 1994 to write mystery novels full-time. Larry and his wife Myra have lived in Seattle for 33 years. www.larrykarp.com