THE AXEL FILES - The Fiddler's Strad

Morello's Stradivarius

Antonius Stradivari was the premiere maker of string instruments during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Only six hundred and fifty Stradivarius instruments still exist; each is worth millions of dollars. Like many historic masterpieces, these instruments, particularly the violins, have become the targets of thieves. Unfortunately for the thieves, Stradivarius violins are nearly impossible to fence. As such, only a handful have been stolen, usually by amateurs.

Rather than planned Thomas Crown-like burglaries, these thefts tend to be robberies of opportunity. Eventually, most of these crimes are solved. The robber typically hides his prize in a closet. When he dies, a relative usually finds the instrument while cleaning. But this was not the case for the missing Morello Stradivarius.

Edith Morello was once considered the finest female violinist of the twentieth century. A designation she resented bitterly for adding the word female to the description. Edith Morello was a great artist, but she was also a nasty, cheap, abusive prima donna who expected those around her to be at her beck and call twenty-four hours a day. Morello died at age ninety-one in 1995. There were a handful of people who accepted Morello's abusive behaviour because they respected her long-lost talent. Others stayed because Morello promised them her prized violin.

In the end, the violin was stolen a week before Morello died. Those who took Morello's abuse were further disappointed when they learned she left her entire substantial estate, including the missing violin, to charity.

The NYPD, the FBI, and Interpol failed to solve the case. The violin has been missing for thirty years. Only one man can find the violin. That man is Private Investigator Axel Webb. It's not a case Axel wants to take, but it is a case he has to take. His old nemesis, the Russian gangster Vladimir Bok, figures Axel owes him for helping destroy his profitable art forgery ring. Bok's mistress, Lena Petrenko, a violinist of note in Moscow, wants the Morello Stradivarius, and she wants her lover, Bok, to get it for her.