Death Beats the Band (Phoenix Press Publishers, 1943; Coachwhip, 2020) seems to have been the only book that Ida Shurman (1916-1997) wrote. She was a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music and spent most of her career working in the sociology field with her husband Dr. Jesse J. Frankel.
I knew before reading Coachwhip’s brief biography of Shurman that she was a musician. Her knowledge of music is evident in almost every page of this story. It takes place during the big band era of Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, and Tommy Dorsey, opening on a snowy night with Jack Coler and Windy Carmichael, a bass player and a clarinet player on their way to join the ensemble of the famous crooner, trombonist, and band leader Andy Parker at a roadhouse in New Jersey.
Neither of them has worked with Parker before so they don’t quite know what to expect. They arrive to find a nearly empty restaurant and dissension among the band members. Parker has antagonized everyone. He’s making a play for the roadhouse owner’s teenage daughter, he’s withheld his half-brother’s inheritance, he’s holding his vocalist to her contract even though she’s got a much better offer, and he snipes at the rest of the group, who strike back in their various ways.
The phones are out of order due to the storm and the usual crowd has stayed away, creating a classic isolated country house in a snowstorm setup. Despite not having the opportunity to rehearse, the band’s playing goes well and the few dancers show their appreciation for their efforts. Near the end of Parker’s theme song, as the band is winding up for the big finish, an explosion stops everything and Parker falls to the floor, with a gunshot through his back.
Almost everyone had a reason to want Parker dead, so there is no dearth of suspects but most of them were playing their instruments at the time of the shot. Jack Coler serves as the amateur sleuth. The police cannot be called until the telephone service is restored and Coler is the only one present with no history with Parker.
The description of the fashionable clothes the dancers wore is great: The boys wore “trousers almost up to the armpits, and pegged to about twelve inches at the cuffs; loudly striped shirt, and over it, a bulky clumsy-looking jacket that came almost to his knees.” The girls wore “striped ankle socks and stylishly dirty saddle oxfords” with sweaters and skirts.
The mystery itself is well plotted. The text could use some tightening and the dialog is sometimes awkward. When music is discussed, the writing is slick and authoritative, which makes the less polished bits more obvious. Mid-20th century history buffs will love this authentic snapshot of the period, and fans of musical mysteries will want to add this title to their reading lists.