Rookie detective Leslie Hodges is rewarded for solving the Edison phonograph homicide by being assigned to a homicide involving Seminal Society member Ernst Chladni’s original euphon. The euphon is a musical instrument that produces enchanting sounds when glass rods are rubbed with wet fingers.

An internationally recognized antiquities expert is found hanging by the neck in his garage the day after the euphon. which he

authenticated, is thought to be a fake. Several wealthy Seminal Society collectors. as well as a Pittsburgh cop working for one of the collectors. are known to have been at the home of the deceased at the critical time.