The Lost Concerto

Maggie O’Shea Romantic Suspense, #1

by

Helaine Mario

Thrilling mystery and romantic suspense novel featuring a missing child and a classical music theme!

The Lost Concerto is the first book in author Helaine Mario’s thrilling Maggie O’Shea Romantic Suspense series and features a grieving classical pianist searching for her godson, the child of her best friend, who went missing at the time of her murder. With its compelling plot, immersive settings, and well-drawn characters, I couldn’t put this book down. 

Life has often dealt Maggie O’Shea a tough hand, but the past year has been devastating with the murder of her best friend, former US diplomat Sofia Orsini on a remote island off the coast of France and the disappearance of Sofia’s young son, followed by the accidental death of her husband in a boating accident as he searched for clues to the child’s location. But when Special Agent Simon Sugarman approaches her with a clue to the child’s whereabouts out of Maggie’s own past, she knows she must go to France and follow it up herself even if it means reuniting with her first love and the father of her only son who’s been MIA/Presumed Dead for over 30 years. 

Maggie is an engaging and sympathetic heroine who, as the story opens, is barely keeping it together after the events of the previous year. She’s sunk deeply into her depression over her beloved husband’s death, steeped in guilt for having involved Jimmy, an experienced investigative reporter, in the search for the missing Tommy and Sofia’s murderer. Due to her grief, Maggie, an acclaimed concert pianist, no longer has the will to play, but she’s determined to do anything she can to find Tommy, including traveling to France under the guise of performing at their upcoming musical events. She’s convinced the boy’s father, a man suspected of heading up and financing a deadly international terror organization, is responsible for his mother’s death. Sugarman teams her up with a retired government operative who’s facing his own demons, and their initial meeting is anything but positive. I loved watching their relationship turn into something completely different. 

Told from multiple points of view as our protagonists follow their meager clues and travel across the pond to France. The descriptions of the various settings are vivid and authentic, making you feel you are viewing the action from inside the scenes themselves. Throughout the book, the questions of who they can trust and what clues will bring them the answers they need to rescue the missing boy from his own father remain key to their success. 

I recommend THE LOST CONCERTO to readers of mysteries, thrillers, and romantic suspense, especially those with an interest in classical music. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours.