<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4611.1300" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>I have often thought of the same thing...once I tuned prior to the arrival of Prez Clinton and thought about what if I found a bomb hidden in the piano and I was the only one who knew how to get into it to disarm it.  I would save the day!  Well, for the liberals anyway...;-]  </DIV> <DIV>Consider the statue to be made of some exotic type of ebony!  By the way, you might want to consider a husband/wife team of piano technicians who solve the mysteries...one is in the shop and the other is always out and about and running into trouble.  The shop 1/2 could be a genius type who would listen to the stories and offer help in interesting ways...the other half would be the one to go out and do the footwork.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Sounds like fun!</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>David I.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********<BR><BR>On 2/22/01 at 6:03 AM Anita Sullivan wrote:</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid"> <DIV>Dear List,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I have a rather odd request. I've been tuning and fixing pianos for about 20 years and I'm also a writer. I've decided to write a series of mystery novels with a piano tuner as the heroine. I've started the first one and have two more ideas in mind.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I want the mystery to revolve around some aspect of music, pianos, musical instruments. In the first novel a wooden carving is stolen for no apparent reason from one of the tuner's client's house. It's a beautiful statue of a monk playing a cello (some friends actually do have a carving like this, and it's beautiful). My dilemma is this: What wood can the statue be made of, which would be valuable enough to be stolen by someone who wanted it in some aspect of musical instrument building, and yet still could be made into a statue probably about 2 feet high? I had in mind Brazilian Rosewood, does that make sense?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I was going to have it be a harpsichord builder, but then I am told rosewood was not used on historical harpsichords (thus would not be used in replicas). Duh! I guess I should have known that. So, either I need another wood, or I have to change the guy into a builder of historical pianos, or maybe a violin maker.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The instrument builder, by the way, is NOT the one who stole the statue. Heaven forbid! He's just a kind of red herring. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>If anybody can help me, I would be MOST  grateful. I would even receive plot ideas graciously! Please reply to me at my home address, <A href="mailto:anita@proaxis.com">anita@proaxis.com</A>      Thanks so much!</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Anita Sullivan</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV><FONT size=2 Arial></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></BODY></HTML>