Margaret Truman, Murder at the Opera

Murder at the Opera

Margaret Truman

Ballantine, Nov 2006, $24.95

ISBN 0345478214

At the Kennedy Center's Washington National Opera, everyone is shocked when the corpse of the young Canadian Soprano is found there; the victim was killed by a prop going to be used in the upcoming production of Puccini's Tosca; horrifying the purists perhaps even more than the body. Amongst those in attendance are Georgetown gallery owner Annabel Reed-Smith, who was to be an extra in the performance; her spouse former criminal lawyer turned Georgetown professor Mackensie Smith and retired cop Ray Pawkins.

Annabel begs Mac to investigate the homicide. Though he pleads that he is a professor he loses this argument. He and Ray begin investigating while the police conduct a parallel official inquiry. Soon the two opera lovers find a strange connection between avaricious talent agents and terrorists though which side is more dangerous is a tossup as opening night may need to be canceled as the threat to destroy more than just the performance is real with the tuxedo crowd including President Montgomery.

Murder At The Opera is a superb Capital Crimes entry due to a deep secondary cast mostly those associated with WNO. The storyline is action packed as Mac and Ray realize that a simple murder is much more as something nasty is coming soon, but nobody is sure what. References to Tosca add a high note to a strong Capital Crimes whodunit.

Harriet Klausner