Stuart Dill's "Murder On Music Row" is described on the cover as a music industry thriller. Published just last year, Mr. Dill's first novel comes in at 341 pages. He's been an artist manager for over 25 years in Nashville's country music scene, helping to guide the careers of Minnie Pearl, Dwight Yoakum, Billy Ray Cyrus, Jo Dee Messina and Laura Bell Bundy among others. On the back cover you can read testimonials to his first effort as an author from Rodney Crowell, Marshall Chapman and Jo Dee. There are plenty of reviews on-line. I'm merely a recommender, not a reviewer.
If you enjoy the murder mystery/thriller genre, this book is for you even if you don't give a damn about country music. If you choose to read a review rather than just go with my recommendation (can't blame you if you do), I recommend (there I go recommending again) reading Tennessean senior music writer Peter Cooper's interview/review of October 24, 2011. In addition to writing for The Tennessean, Cooper is also a singer/songwriter. He describes the superstar recording artist in Mr. Dill's book, Ripley Graham, as egomaniacal and says that the job of artist manager involves more than a modicum of psychology. Dill says that "we manage artists by getting to know their fears so we can get them to a safe place". The copy of the book I bought at the Cool Spring's Barnes & Noble had been signed by Mr. Dill with "Find a 'safe place' and enjoy!" I did. Hope you do too.
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