Frost the Fiddler

by Janice Weber

Book Overview

Most concert violinists wouldn't pack explosives in the case along with their Stradivarius, but Leslie Frost is no ordinary musician. When she's not performing the Kreutzer sonata, she's spying on... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312077580
• ISBN13: 9780312077587
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 338 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Spy - concert / recording violinist!

Quite an unusual combination! Janice's book is well-written, has a good pace to keep you hooked, uses a lot of technical concepts and lingo, and almost without contradictions; some concept comes from sci-fi, but is treated as a fact. The spy-line is holding all this together with some (inevitable?) exaggerations, but, that is what keeps the reader interested! I am not convinced JW had seen spying in the milieu musical... but she certainly makes an impression that she knows the subject very well! No wonder she knows the musician's lifes part of the story: everything else remains a great achivement and shows how serious an author she is... In addition, the book is funny, has a good love-sex line, very pertinent references to east-west relations (well, east of the 20-th century: communism and unification of Germany - not our-day terrorism). I disagree with Arno Schaefer's review - everything really ties-up well, and danger to your life is sufficient justification for a spy to eliminate the enemy... The goals of the perpetrators are pointed to in a clear couple of sentenses leaving no doubt they are "bad guys". As for Chance - he is just "collateral damage". Sorry, Arno: we do not get to vote on the fate of fictional heroes: even the author does not have too much of a say here - that's just the way the cookie crumbles! Finally, given the technology of the era, the method of data transfer is very much logical too! Well, I liked this book and recommend it to all thrill-lovers!

The female Bond

Janice Weber is one of the most inventive writers out there, and her books are astounding for their originality and their strong female voices. "Frost the Fiddler" is one of her best; Weber manages to combine Bond-esque espionage with the world of classic music. (For those that don't know, Weber is also a world-renowned pianist.) The book does become a bit complicated and perhaps convoluted at the end; Weber novels rarely have happy endings. It may also seem a bit dated at this juncture (most of the spyspeak is now everyday lingo, unfortunately, with our changing post-9/11 world) but it's well worth the read, and readers won't soon forget characters like Leslie Frost, or Maxine.

A wonderful author

Janice Weber's books always make me cry, "More! More!" Eva Hathaway had me in stitches, and Frost did much the same.

The best spy-novel I ever read !

I just finished reading this book and I enjoyed it very much. I couldn't put it down. I loved every page of it. It's really fast paced and by the time you finish it, you actually believe that you know Leslie "Smith" Frost. I hope that she will return soon in another, just as exciting novel. Sincere congratuations to Janice Weber !!!

Lady Spy Who's Great Fun

I think Janice Weber writes wonderfully fun novels. She gives us humor, and a bit of outrageousness. Nice change of pace to have a talented, woman musician/spy as the protagonist. JW has written other novels, all of them good. Too bad most of them are no longer in print.