Daniel Jacobus

The Daniel Jacobus series is a series of four mystery novels written by American author Gerald Elias. The chief protagonist in the series is Daniel Jacobus, a blind violin teacher that is as brilliant as he is irritable. A child prodig,y Jacobus participated in the Grimsley Competition where he lost narrowly, missing the opportunity to play the single Stradivarius three quarter size violin ever made. Dogged by misfortune, he gets invited to the Boston Symphony Orchestra to serve in the coveted position of concertmaster, only to lose it when he suddenly goes blind. Bitter, hot tempered, brilliant, and misanthropic all at once, he is on a quest to insult and infuriate anyone that he meets. After losing his job as symphony concertmaster, he retreats to a house in Berkshire where he is resigned to teach the violin to learners he believes are half as good as he ever was. He spends every waking moment trying to annoy them so much, so that they hate him and quit. While he has a vile temper, his sense of justice and fair play still shine giving him a second dimension. His multidimensional character gets him into complex detective mysteries where he is victim and hero in turn. However, his sharp intellect manages to get him and the people he is tasked to acquit out of trouble every time.