derek hawkins

During the Nazi occupation of France in WW2, General Hans Reichman was given the task of confiscating musical instrument from French musicians and sending them to Germany for their use by the Hitler youth. He did a fine job but he secretly kept some of the more valuable instruments, and it is these instruments that later became known as the ‘Reichman Collection’, and is the subject of this book.
Someone is going to extreme measures to steal these instruments. But why? The current owners have no idea, the police have no idea, and a story unfolds around the celebrated violin virtuoso Anna Maria Gilberto whose Stradivarius violin becomes the object of an attempted violent theft. The story follows Anna and her lover from North America to Europe where several other robberies have taken place. Of a pair of Stradivarius violins owned by a London teacher only the less valuable one was stolen, from a senile old diplomat in Windsor the thieves stole only a virtually worthless broken Viola. There must be a reason, but whatever it is it completely mystifies the authorities.
Five deaths occur as a result of these robberies, and still no one has the answer.
The story has many twists and turns, a large helping of romance and a spoonful of intrigue, that all finally culminates in a remarkable suspenseful conclusion. It’s what Hitchcock movies are made of!