Mood Swings offers the reader a behind the scenes look into the world of jazz through the eyes of nine musicians. Like the music itself, the stories range from humor, joy, and success, to failure, and at times, even danger and darkness, as each musician offers a glimpse into some aspect of the jazz life.

The year is 1968. The liberal reforms of Czechoslovakia's new leader, Alexander Dubcek, have outraged the Kremlin and now, 250,000 Warsaw Pact forces are amassed on the borders. For American intelligence, the situation is worsened when their prime source, Josef Blaha, threatens to cut them off unless one demand is met: a totally safe contact. For CIA veteran, Alan Curtis, jazz musician Gene Williams seems the ideal choice. His invitation to the Prague Jazz festival gives him perfect cover and access to Prague. But Williams is a musician, not a spy and has other ideas that force Curtis to resort to blackmail to get the young musician to accept what Curtis calls a simple pickup and delivery. It starts to go wrong when Williams finds Blaha murdered by the KGB and he's left to unravel the puzzle on his own. What he finds is even more than Curtis bargained for. With the help of Blaha's beautiful granddaughter Lena, Williams races against time to warn Dubcek of the...

When America defector Robert Owens passes a note to his former colleague in Moscow's Red Square saying he wants to come home, American intelligence is faced with a major dilemma. To ensure they are getting the genuine article and not an impostor, they must find someone who can ask questions only the real Owens can answer. CIA veteran Charles Fox's search turns up Christopher Storm, a teacher who served with Owens in Vietnam. Storm accepts the assignment as plans are made to exchange Owens for a Soviet trade official. But Storm isn't told the whole story. When he meets with Owens, he discovers even more deception and the KGB's complicated compartmentalization threatens to unravel the entire affair. Storm is forced into a desperate escape plan which may be the only way out. Praise for THE MAN IN RED SQUARE... "In the grand tradition of unforgettable Cold War spy thrillers, Bill Moody's The Man in Red Square sends you on an exciting...

Evan Horne is playing piano at the Fashion Show Mall as he recovers from an injury to his right hand. His old friend Ace Buffington asks him to look for a few answers about the mysterious death of tenor sax player Wardell Gray. Horne doesn't realize that asking a few questions about this decades old murder can bring a lot of heat, including a confrontation with a mobster. **From Booklist Moody's second Evan Horne mystery brings back jazz piano player and amateur sleuth Horne and sets him the daunting task of solving the 30-year-old murder of saxophonist Wardell Gray, who died in Las Vegas in 1955, the apparent victim of a heroin overdose. Horne is called to Las Vegas by his friend and fellow jazz buff Ace Buffington, who hopes to write an article on Gray's death and its relation to the abrupt closing of Moulin Rouge, the site of Gray's last gig and the first integrated nightclub in the city. Horne's task is twofold: help Ace research the death of a tenor man and try out his injured hand with a comeback gig on the piano. Trouble ensues quickly and rather predictably as Mob types attempt to stop Horne's investigation. This is formulaic mystery fare, but the Vegas setting is nicely realized, and the use of the real-life Gray case proves fascinating, especially to jazz fans, who will also appreciate the author's musings on the jazz player's art. Great music, mediocre story. Bill Ott Review "...Vegas setting is nicely realized, and the use of the real-life Gray case proves fascinating, especially to jazz fans...." BOOKLIST -- Bill Ott, Booklist

For jazz pianist Evan Horne, things couldn't be better: His hand has healed, he's getting gigs at some of the southern California clubs, and he's even been approached about a recording contract. He couldn't have planned it any better. What he never considered, though, was that a murderer was going to add some startling improvisations..... "The dead sax player was someone many in the traditional jazz community wouldn't miss; he was, after all, just another Kenny G clone, someone capitalizing on an uneducated public's willingness to support "smooth jazz" while the heirs to the tradition and music of Charlie Parker - "Bird" to the real fans - were starved for work.. "It is immediately clear to Horne that the murderer must have known that Parker was one of the greatest and most influential men to wet a reed. That's the only reason the words "Bird Lives" were scrawled on the wall above the body, the same words that appeared on walls all over the world after Parker's death...and that soon appear next to a second corpse.. "With a tie-in like that, it is no surprise that the cops turn to Evan; he'd helped them before when death stalked the music community. This time, though, helping could cost him his future...and his life.

Evan Horne is playing piano at the Fashion Show Mall as he recovers from an injury to his right hand. His old friend Ace Buffington asks him to look for a few answers about the mysterious death of tenor sax player Wardell Gray. Horne doesn't realize that asking a few questions about this decades old murder can bring a lot of heat, including a confrontation with a mobster. **From Booklist Moody's second Evan Horne mystery brings back jazz piano player and amateur sleuth Horne and sets him the daunting task of solving the 30-year-old murder of saxophonist Wardell Gray, who died in Las Vegas in 1955, the apparent victim of a heroin overdose. Horne is called to Las Vegas by his friend and fellow jazz buff Ace Buffington, who hopes to write an article on Gray's death and its relation to the abrupt closing of Moulin Rouge, the site of Gray's last gig and the first integrated nightclub in the city. Horne's task is twofold: help Ace research the death of a tenor man and try out his injured hand with a comeback gig on the piano. Trouble ensues quickly and rather predictably as Mob types attempt to stop Horne's investigation. This is formulaic mystery fare, but the Vegas setting is nicely realized, and the use of the real-life Gray case proves fascinating, especially to jazz fans, who will also appreciate the author's musings on the jazz player's art. Great music, mediocre story. Bill Ott Review "...Vegas setting is nicely realized, and the use of the real-life Gray case proves fascinating, especially to jazz fans...." BOOKLIST -- Bill Ott, Booklist

Evan Horne, once a world class pianist, is now a man with a broken hand and a broken career. When former boss, singer Lonnie Cole, asks him to be intermediary in the payment of blackmail, Horne is unable to resist. But trading money for embarrassing photos turns out to be complicated. Pretty soon the money is gone, but the photos haven't turned up. Instead, there's a fresh body on the beach. And Horne is looking more and more like a suspect. 

The sound and the fury... On a dark night in Pennsylvania, a jazz legend met his death.  But now, in the heat and light of Las Vegas, the sound of Clifford Brown's soaring trumpet is coming back to life.  Because a man named Evan Horne, who knows all about jazz and pain, is unraveling a puzzle that reaches back forty years to Brown's last hours--and that has already gotten one person killed. Horne was called to Las Vegas to authenticate some recordings purported to be the lost tapes of Clifford Brown.  But when a murder interrupts his listening session, Horne becomes the key player in a dangerous duet.  Carrying a worn old trumpet that may have belonged to Clifford Brown himself, Horne is pursuing the truth behind an audiotape that may be worth a fortune, may be a hoax, and may be just one haunting melody in a killer's murderous obsession.  .  .  .

The sound and the fury... On a dark night in Pennsylvania, a jazz legend met his death.  But now, in the heat and light of Las Vegas, the sound of Clifford Brown's soaring trumpet is coming back to life.  Because a man named Evan Horne, who knows all about jazz and pain, is unraveling a puzzle that reaches back forty years to Brown's last hours--and that has already gotten one person killed. Horne was called to Las Vegas to authenticate some recordings purported to be the lost tapes of Clifford Brown.  But when a murder interrupts his listening session, Horne becomes the key player in a dangerous duet.  Carrying a worn old trumpet that may have belonged to Clifford Brown himself, Horne is pursuing the truth behind an audiotape that may be worth a fortune, may be a hoax, and may be just one haunting melody in a killer's murderous obsession.  .  .  .

For jazz pianist Evan Horne, things couldn't be better: His hand has healed, he's getting gigs at some of the southern California clubs, and he's even been approached about a recording contract. He couldn't have planned it any better. What he never considered, though, was that a murderer was going to add some startling improvisations..... "The dead sax player was someone many in the traditional jazz community wouldn't miss; he was, after all, just another Kenny G clone, someone capitalizing on an uneducated public's willingness to support "smooth jazz" while the heirs to the tradition and music of Charlie Parker - "Bird" to the real fans - were starved for work.. "It is immediately clear to Horne that the murderer must have known that Parker was one of the greatest and most influential men to wet a reed. That's the only reason the words "Bird Lives" were scrawled on the wall above the body, the same words that appeared on walls all over the world after Parker's death...and that soon appear next to a second corpse.. "With a tie-in like that, it is no surprise that the cops turn to Evan; he'd helped them before when death stalked the music community. This time, though, helping could cost him his future...and his life.