Murder at the Opera
A Capital Crimes Novel
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Margaret Truman, who knows where all the bodies are buried inside the Beltway, has written her most thrilling novel of suspense yet. Murder at the Opera features the popular crime-fighting couple Mac Smith and his wife, Annabel Reed-Smith, as they navigate the glitz, glamour, and grime that is Washington, D.C.
It ain’t over till the fat lady sings . . . but the show hasn’t even started yet when a diva is found dead. The soprano in question, a petite young Asian Canadian named Charise Lee, was scarcely a star at the Washington National Opera. But when the aspiring singer is stabbed in the heart backstage during rehearsals, she suddenly takes center stage.
Georgetown law professor Mac Smith thought he’d just be carrying a rapier in Tosca as a favor for his beloved Annabel, but now they’re both being pressured by the panicked theater board to unmask a killer. Providing accompaniment will be former homicide detective, current P.I., and eternal opera fan Raymond Pawkins.
Soon the Smiths find themselves dangerously improvising among an expanding cast of suspects with all sorts of scores to settle. What they uncover is an increasingly complex case reaching far beyond Washington to a dark world of informers and terror alerts in Iraq, and climaxing on a fateful night at the opera attended by none other than the President himself.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Truman's 22nd D.C. mystery (after 2005's Murder at the Washington Tribune), one of her strongest, opens with what looks like a simple crime of passion: a promising young Canadian opera singer found dead at the Kennedy Center's Washington National Opera. Criminal lawyer turned law professor Mackensie Smith and retired cop Ray Pawkins both happen to be at the theater when the body is discovered, both there as extras in an upcoming production of Puccini's Tosca Mac pressed into service by his wife, Annabel, and Ray involved because of his love of opera. While the two put their talents to solving the case which turns out to involve corrupt talent agents and international terrorism Truman widens her scope to reveal a charming supporting cast including fictitious U.S. president Arthur Montgomery. Opera buffs will enjoy the Tosca anecdotes and occasional glimpses of intelligence gathering in the Middle East lend a timely feel.