The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Slocumb, Brendan. The Violin Conspiracy. Penguin Random House LLC., 2022.

Brendan Slocumb's novel The Violin Conspiracy is written from the third person point of view and in the past tense. The novel embraces structural and temporal distortions, in order to enact the ways in which protagonist Ray McMillian's life in the present is impacted by his complicated past. The following summary relies upon a more streamlined, linear mode of explanation.

Ray McMillian grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina with his family. Ever since he was little, Ray loved to play the violin. Despite his investment in music, his mother discouraged him, insisting that he was wasting his time. By the time Ray reached high school, he was desperate to make a life and career out of music.

Then one Thanksgiving, Ray's grandmother, Grandma Nora, told Ray about her grandfather, PopPop. PopPop, Leon Marks, was enslaved to the Marks family prior to the end of the Civil War. As a young man, Leon became close with the plantation master, Thomas Marks. Thomas taught Leon to play the violin, and constantly begged Leon to perform for him. Grandma Nora believed that Thomas was Leon's biological father. Years later, after the end of the Civil War, Thomas freed the Black individuals he had enslaved, including Leon. When Leon left, Thomas gave him the violin on which he had learned to play.

Ray was enamored by this story, and particularly excited when Grandma Nora said she still had the fiddle upstairs in her attic. No matter how hard Ray searched, however, he could not find the elusive instrument. Then, on Christmas Day, Grandma Nora gifted Ray the fiddle. Ray was moved. He felt connected to Grandma Nora, to PopPop, to his musical ancestry, and to the future he planned on creating for himself.

In Ray's senior year of high school, he met a Markham University violin teacher named Janice Stevens while trying out for regionals. After hearing Ray play, Janice offered Ray a scholarship to study with her at Markham. Although Ray's mother forbade him to take the scholarship, Ray defied her and went to school anyway.

Over the following four years, Ray devoted all of his time, energy, and heart to the violin. The more he played, the more connected he became to his instrument. He also began discovering music as a form of communication and connection with others.

The year Ray decided to apply to the prestigious Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, he had his violin appraised and authenticated. He discovered that the instrument was a Stradivarius, and was worth $10 million. Ray felt suddenly empowered, convinced that he would do well in the competition after all.

After stories about Ray's violin and budding musical career surfaced in the media, ancestors of the Marks family who had enslaved Ray's PopPop surfaced in Ray's life. They claimed the violin had been stolen from them and demanded Ray return it. Not long later, both the Markses and Ray's family sued him over the violin. Around the same time, Ray's violin suddenly went missing. He was convinced that someone close to him had taken it for the insurance money.

Meanwhile, Ray continued preparing for the competition. He struggled to remain focused, as his violin still had not resurfaced. He did, however, find encouragement from Janice, and from his new girlfriend, Nicole. Nicole was a violist Ray had recently met while playing with the Erie, Philharmonic. She was with Ray at the time the violin went missing, and therefore understood how emotional Ray was feeling.

Ray ended up competing and winning second prize in the Tchaikovsky Competition. He was proud of himself, believing that making it to Moscow was an accomplishment in and of itself.

Not long later, Ray discovered paperwork proving that his violin belonged to his family. Shortly after this discovery, Ray had a revelation about who stole his violin. Because of inconsistencies in her storytelling, Ray believed Nicole was to blame. After searching her home, Ray found a key to a storage unit, in which he found the missing instrument.