The Ragtime Fool (Ragtime Mysteries)

Larry Karp
Poisoned Pen Press (2010)
ISBN 9781590587164
Reviewed by Carol Hoyer, PhD, for Reader Views (01/10)

The author takes readers back to Sedalia, MO in the year 1951 when ragtime was a hit with all.  Brun Campbell, the only white student of Scott Joplin wants to have the city build a museum to honor ragtime.  However, there is one problem; many of the privileged whites don’t want it. Bring in Rudi Blesh who is trying to buy Scott Joplin’s personal journal from Mrs. Joplin, yet he can’t get permission to buy it and publish what he finds until the “boss” gets home. Blesh is hot to trot and when he wants something he usually gets it.

We have to remember in those years, blacks were not allowed in the same places as whites.  In this town, very few people knew if the Ku Klux Klan existed or not, but one daughter and a young, want-to be ragtime player discovered they were there, active and planning to teach blacks a lesson. One Klansman had no idea that in the place they chose to blow up his daughter would be in there.  Watch how the famous black men figured out what was going on and changed the place of the bombing to include the Klansmen.

The author has given us characters you love and hate; you root for the underdogs. This is a fast-paced story that will keep you reading till you reach the end. You will find yourself in Sedalia, fighting for what you think is right.  The vivid descriptions, language and action will keep you on the edge of your seat.

The author has done his research and is able to describe actual historical events and locations and still keep your interest. “The Ragtime Fool” by Larry Karp is a must read if you like fast, action-packed storylines that you can imagine yourself in.

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