About the Book

Book:The Maestro’s Missing Melody

Author: Amy Walsh

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Release date: September 13, 2024

She was thrilled to apprentice with her fiddler hero—until she got to know him. He regretted his decision to play teacher to college kids—until he got to know her.

For aspiring musician and college student McKay Moonlight, winning a summer internship with Scottish master fiddler Huntley Milne was a dream come true. When a last-minute change moved the internship program from the Scottish Highlands of her ancestors to a village she’d never heard of along the River Deben, McKay was determined to make the best of it. However, she didn’t expect to make such a terrible first impression on her summer mentor.

Hosting a bunch of college students was the last thing Maestro Huntley Milne needed. He was already up to his ears in problems, with Aunt BeeBee being placed in a care home, resulting in him having emergency custody of his tween nephew and niece. Then he met McKay Moonlight, and the chaos really began.

The Maestro’s Missing Melody is a charming story featuring endearingly eccentric characters, a treasure hunt caper through the nooks and crannies of a mansion, and genuine laugh-out-loud moments. Sunshine and thunderclouds attract in this delightful age-gap Christian romantic comedy from Amy Walsh.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Amy Walsh is a 5th-grade teacher who loves teaching children about what she loves to do herself: reading and writing. She enjoys outdoor activities, especially hiking and camping. Amy also appreciates opportunities to share her faith through singing, teaching, and writing for her church family. Amy and her husband, Patrick, have three children: Bree, Spencer, Liz, and a son-in-law, Kyle. Amy and her family love to spend time together celebrating special occasions, listening to great music, swimming and kayaking, and having occasional ping pong tournaments.

More from Amy

The Maestro’s Missing Melody Cast of Characters

Maestro Huntley Milne regrets committing to host a group of college students, especially when Aunt BeeBee ends up in a care home, forcing him to move into the Milne Monstrosity on Sycamore Street which is about two hours northeast of London. Aunt BeeBee is nagging him to locate the missing Milne stave book, Dory and David are fretting about being put back into foster care, and even his aunt’s cats are high maintenance. Then he meets McKay Moonlight…

McKay Moonlight was thrilled when she won the musical apprenticeship at Maestro Huntley Milne’s Highlands Music Center. After all, she had a little crush on him for years after seeing him play at the Rocky Mountain Fiddler Championships. When the apprenticeship is relocated to a tiny town near the Deben River, rather than the Highlands of her ancestors, she takes it in stride. Who would think her traveling mishaps would cause her to be late and forget something very important – ruining her chance to make a good first impression on her summer mentor.

The Milne Monstrosity was built by a wealthy plantation owner, who brought his family to England just prior to the American Civil War. This mansion is a hodgepodge of turrets, towers, secret passages, and gables – – and does not fit in with the other homes on Sycamore Street AT ALL. Beatrice Milne has filled the mansion with many colorful and eccentric collections. Other unique features of the Milne property are a tiny guest house which is the exact replica of the Monstrosity, and a stone amphitheater decorated with musical gargoyles within view of the River Deben.

Dory and David are tween twins who went from foster home to foster home until they were finally adopted by Mama Bee. Dory enjoys riding her bike around her village, learning to play the flute, reading great books – – and finally having a family, even if her adopted mother is much older and let’s say “different” from other parents. David plays the guitar very well, but his real passion is for building gadgets. The twins were content living in the Milne Monstrosity in Eden Cove with Mama Bee encouraging them to explore their interests and grow their talents. But now, Mama Bee is in a care home and they are stuck with grumpy Uncle Huntley until Mama Bee comes home. That’s IF she ever comes home.

Beatrice Milne, aka Aunt Bee Bee or Mama Bee, always had her fingers in so many pies, and those pies were always so splendid, that she seems larger than life to the people of Eden Cove. Now she is a patient of Balmy Bay Residences, the care home she helped refurbish as one of her projects. What’s with her change in personality – and her obsession with Huntley needing to search for the missing Milne stave book?

Arabella and Gerard are Aunt Bee Bee’s ginormous cats who have a love/hate relationship with the Maestro. Who knows, maybe they can help with the treasure hunt for the missing stave book…

My Impressions

“God never abandons His people –even when their faith has dwindled to nothing, and when they’ve lost all hope.”

The neat thing about this series of books, Our House on Sycamore Street, is that each book is by a different author, involving varying genres and time periods. All stories take place in the same little town, all on the same street on an English island. Amy Walsh’s contribution, The Maestro’s Missing Melody, bk 6, is a fun contemporary rom-com. McKay Moonlight is a star-struck intern who has won a spot as a summer student in a small group being mentored by Scottish maestro Huntley Milne.

When family circumstances change the plans for the summer itinerary, Maestro Milne regrets his promise to hosts the college students and especially seems to dislike McKay. How God uses what the Maestro sees as major inconveniences in his life to bring about change and a reckoning about life’s meaning is a wonderful thing to see.

However, God usually uses hard things to bring growth and the Maestro rails against God for past life events as well as current difficulties. Can McKay’s faith and optimism along with that of quirky Aunt BeeBee and twins David and Dory breathe life back into Huntley’s dead soul?

I really connected with the lost, lonely, and afraid characters in this novel. Such deep hurts and fears to carry around! And yet, so much of the suffering seems chosen or at least magnified beyond the original pain, if that is possible . But that is how it is when we either don’t seek God’s guidance in our plans or actively refuse His help.

I would have liked to discuss this book with a book club. Some characters’ actions had me scratching my head. (“Can a person really do that?” I wondered, many times. )

I was pleased to find some final storyline tie-ups, but it involved an epilogue and an “after epilogue epilogue”, plus a bonus scene on the author’s website. I would prefer all action wrapped up within the book. Just my two cents’.

I received a copy of the book through Celebrate Lit. I also bought my own copy. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.

Notable Quotable:

“That God cares and provides. That God listens and whispers. That when we are alone in the wilderness, it’s there that God teaches, strengthens, and emboldens us.”