Ragtime at the Amelia: A Sherman Sheridan Investigation - Paperback

by Stephen C. Bloom (Author)

Two mysteries:
- Scott Joplin's first opera, "Guest of Honor," written in 1902, lost before even the first production and never heard;
- the death 93 years later of a middle-aged woman who falls onto the street outside the Amelia Cafeteria.

Private Investigator Sherman Sheridan is asked to investigate these mysteries from two different men within 24 hours of each other. The commissions come with surprisingly large retainers, at a time when Sheridan needs the work.

Sheridan (named by a Civil War-obsessed father) is a failed novelist and drop-out from a Ph.D. program in literature. His office, still partly subsidized by his first client from several years before, is on the second floor of an old downtown building, directly above the Amelia Cafeteria. Sheridan pursues both commissions from this headquarters, despite the obstruction of a surly, turf-conscious police detective and an enforcer for a local criminal gang. To counter those obstacles, he enlists the assistance of a blind bookie, an underworld arsonist, the staff of the Amelia, and most especially an attractive female bartender.