Tess Gerritsen is brilliant. She wrote a book that encompasses two entwined stories - one about a current day violinist who purchases a haunting, hand-written waltz in an antique store in Rome and the other about the fate of the young Jewish composer who lived in Vienna when the Holocaust threatened Italy. Julia Ansdell becomes possessed by her search to discover the origins of the Incendio waltz. Playing with Fire goes back and forth between Julia in the present day and the composer, Lorenzo Todesco, in the mid 1940's. The suspense in both stories builds to a distressing level. And, not only did Tess Gerritsen create two amazing tales connected by a single piece of music, she actually wrote the waltz herself. I'm listening to it as I write my review. What a perfect marriage of song and story. As I said earlier, brilliant.