3 stars

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This was a cute book about musicians in a small community orchestra. The conductor is a philanderer who is not afraid to use seduction to further his career. When he gets food poisoning after a date with one of the cello players and misses the concert, a guest conductor is brought in. The guest conductor drops dead in the middle of the performance, landing on one of the orchestra's most generous benefactors, injuring her. The benefactor withdrawals her financial backing from the orchestra, leaving it broke and desperate.

Cellist Erin suggests a plan to recover the lost finances, but the plan has a lot of moving parts and is risky. Part of the plan hinges on a less than talented cello player who inherits a Stradivari cello and the diva benefactor whose vocal skills are questionable.

The story is kind of all over the place. The book delves into the life of musicians in a small orchestra. It has a variety of characters, but we don't learn much about them other than superficial generalities and stereotypes. The story also includes a small story arc about the Stradivari cello being stolen and recovered. This storyline was odd and out of place and I'm not sure why it was included, unless it was to set something up for the next book in the series.

Overall the book was a light, fun read. It is well-written, but isn't a book that I will think twice about now that it's read.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The authors’ love Of music is depicted very well in this book. The characters were well written and enjoyable. I look forward to the next installment to learn more about the orchestra. Thanks to Farrago and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Not great literature, but a thoroughly enjoyable light read. Most of the characters were believable, and it was good to see the nastiest person get their come-uppance.

Unfortunately, I was not totally captured by this book - it was well written and easy to read but did not pique my interest. The dialogue was funny in parts and the story line was pretty good and will suit other readers of cosy mysteries.

First of all, I have to make something clear: when I got this book the description and genre of the book, even the cover stated that it was a mystery. That was part of why I was attracted to it, and I would be dishonest if I said that this in no way influenced my opinion. Why, would you ask?

Because this book is everything but a mystery. I don't say it as something bad, it's merely a stating of a fact. And it wouldn't be a problem, even for me (a huge mystery fan) - but the initial concept clearly claimed that it was one, thus turning my expectations that way. Now, I get that this all happened before the publication, and it has been corrected by the time it comes out (now), which is absolutely alright, so I try to focus on which readers should read it, who might find it interesting - instead of criticizing the lacking mystery part.

To be honest, I'm not even sure how I would categorize this book. If I must say something, I'd say it's a contemporary general fiction... dealing with musicians. Or musician's lives. (BTW I totally get how hard it might make the marketing for this...) It's currently marked as 'humor', but I'm not sure that fits that well, either. There are humorous situations, and it's a light read, but I don't think that's the most characteristic attribute to the book. There's the so-called mystery of the stolen cello, but that only happens around the half, and doesn't really keep going more than a couple of chapters - and nobody seems to care who took it, it just gets found, and that's it. So, it's definitely not a mystery, either. The main character is a young woman, finding herself in the music and in the life of the orchestra, but there are many other, almost equally important characters of different ages and gender, and we get to see many of their POVs as well, so I neither can say it's women's fiction, nor new adult... It's so hard to grab and put in an exact category! I give up trying...

Anyways: the point is, this was an entertaining story about the life of an orchestra, though it was predictable, too. What I enjoyed the most, and I think the strength of this book is how their life, the life of amateur musicians and singers is described. It's very well described, in small, numerous details, which sometimes takes the reader's attention from the actual story - but I didn't mind this at all, because I honestly think this was the best about the book! It's very well captured, even the tiniest details, and - I say this from experience - so very accurate! So, dear reader, if you go through the pages of this book, know that every single thing about these orchestras and choirs are really happening this way. This is how it goes. I loved these descriptions!

I also liked the characters, though I feel like I would've liked to know a bit more about them. See a bit more. They were good enough to be interested in, but I didn't feel it was enough. Fortunately, this is only the first book of a series, so I really hope I get to know them in the sequel more! This is probably also the reason why some minor arcs in the book weren't closed by the end: the author was thinking in larger arcs, in a series, not in a standalone book. Regarding only this book, I must say that the members of the orchestra were just as spot on as the description about their life: the "types" of amateur musicians were all very well described and represented. Since there are many equally important characters, there weren't enough time for all of them to be wholly introduced and thus some of them didn't seem to have as much depth as others, but I think that can be okay if the sequel gives a bit more "screentime" for them. Erin was likable, I loved Ann, and I would be so up to see way more of Charlie!

I would recommend this book to people interested in music and in the everyday life and habits of amateur musicians. I think you'd be especially entertained with this one if you yourself are one! I found many observations funny and right on spot! This book is also a good choice if you'd like to just lightly read something that manages to keep your interest, but not making you feel so anxious and worked up so it just adds to your daily stress. It calmed and switched off my mind a bit.

Just for heaven's sake, don't expect it to be a mystery!

A humorous book about a classical music orchestra without a mystery, as billed. It's merely one catastrophe after another with a crazy cast of characters. An entertaining afternoon read.

I found this book to be lacking in the mystery department. It was more along the lines of a book about a girl in the orchestra. Some of the book was very slow and other parts seemed to go very fast or almost be skipped. I will try this author again to see how she does her next book.. I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher and this is my honest opinion.

On a general level this book is quite funny but unfortunately the "mystery" part is lacking.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to Farrago and Netgalley for this ARC

There are things I liked about Life, Death and Cellos, but overall I found it disappointing.

I was looking forward to this because classical music is a real interest of mine, and I’m pleased to say that the book’s real strength is the musical background. Isabel Rogers plainly knows a great deal about the music and about playing the cello, all of which she brings to life wonderfully – and I speak with all the authority of a dreadfully bad teenage cellist who hasn’t touched the instrument for many years. :o) I thoroughly enjoyed the passages dealing with the structure of various pieces, the technicalities of playing the cello, the workings and personalities of an orchestra and even the background history of Stradivari instruments. Sadly, the other aspects of the book didn’t work nearly so well for me.

Part of the problem for me is that the book isn’t the “mystery” it is billed as; it’s more sort of chick-lit-with-classical-music as we follow Erin, a twenty-something amateur cellist, through her relationship problems, her problems at work, discovering her talent as a cellist...you get the idea. Frankly, the story felt pretty stale and dull to me, it’s blindingly obvious where it’s heading from quite early on and it plods from one unlikely but entirely predictable event to the next as things fall inevitably into place. The dialogue creaks rather and Rogers is forever explaining the meaning of conversations rather than writing good enough dialogue simply to show it convincingly. We get far too many points of view from slightly thinly-painted characters (several of whom are wholly irrelevant and are just a distraction), the humour is often pretty clunky and there’s an awful lot of filler like this, as a character gets into the back seat of a car:
“‘Shift forward Erin,’ he said, as he tried to fit his knees into the car. ‘I have real men’s legs. They are longer than you think.’
Erin obligingly slid her seat forward and felt the car’s suspension dip as Charlie’s weight fell in.”
It’s just a bloke getting into a car, for heavens’ sake! Or a couple of pages of wholly irrelevant faffing about not looking at a mobile phone immediately before the sender of the crucial text walks in and imparts the news anyway. Wading through a lot of this stuff became a real trial.

So, despite the good musical aspects, I can’t recommend Life, Death and Cellos. It may be for others but it wasn’t for me.

(My thanks to Farrago for an ARC via NetGalley.)