The Metropolitan Opera Murders

When the prompter falls dead during the second act of Richard Wagner's Die Walküre during a matinee performance at the Metropolitan Opera, as one can imagine, it causes quite a stir, especially when it is discovered that the deceased, a one time world famous Heldentenor has been poisoned. The detective assigned to the case, Lt. Quentin, finds himself immersed in the back stage drama of professional opera. His task is made more difficult when he decides that it had really been the star soprano who had been the intended victim, and not the prompter. Will he be able to solve the case before there is another Metropolitan Opera Murder?

October, 1929: The Metropolitan Opera Company in New York City is opening its golden curtain on Puccini's masterpiece, La Boh me, starring the internationally acclaimed diva Vivienne du Lac as Mimi. The role of Rodolfo will be sung by Sergei Andreyi. Maestro Massimo Orsini is conducting. Young, beautiful and talented Antonina Sabatino will sing a minor role in the production. October, 1929: Three weeks before the Stock Market Crash on Wall Street, follow the machinations of The New York Stock Exchange as fortunes are made and fortunes disappear. Attend the rehearsals, suffer the temper tantrums of the stars, peek at the lives of the cast and the back-stage employees as they perform a magnificent opera in one of the great opera houses of the world. Gasp at the horrific murders committed behind the golden curtain. Help the New York City Police solve the crimes. Enjoy. About the Author: J. Tracksler has garnered many literary awards for her mystery romances. She lives in Kittery Point, Maine. Tracksler loves her family, her friends, opera, gardening, wine, cooking simple Italian foods and writing about the exploits of the Sabatino Cousins.

Based on the exclusive accounts of Detectives Mike Struk and Jerry Giorgio of how they solved the Phantom of the Opera Case.

Opera is a unique expression of the human mind and spirit--a play that communicates plot, characterization and story almost entirely through music. Unfortunately, because of restraints of time, location and income, few people have the opportunity to see operas performed on a regular basis. Public libraries are an easily accessible alternative for gaining operatic knowledge and exposure, offering the public a chance to hear, see, and develop an appreciation of opera. This work is a two-part guide for libraries that want to assemble a comprehensive collection of operatic materials. Part I is a list of recommended operas ranging over four hundred years of operatic history and including a variety of different styles and languages. The goal of Part I is to provide recommendations for a comprehensive library collection of video and sound operatic recordings. Part II suggest books, periodicals, and online resources that could be an integral and important part of a library's opera collection. This section also discusses the care and maintenance of sound and video recordings, offers suggestions for locating hard-to-find operatic material, and explores the library's role in sparking patron interest in opera.

Walter Tinner, who considers himself the world's greatest tenor (even if no one else does) comes to visit his cousin, Amber, and discovers to his horror that she wants him to throw in his two cents regarding the amateur opera society's production of Mascagni's "L'amico Fritz." Not only does Walter have to argue with the rather strange members of the society -- all of whom have "operatic" names and some of whom impugn his singing ability -- but it's the last straw when one of them turns up murdered. And then another .. and another. Will Walter be able to solve these ghastly killings before somebody else bites the dust -- even Walter himself? With the help of detective Wilma Banky, Tinner gets his man -- or woman! Author Enrico Arrivederci once sang on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House - when he was not supposed to - and was nearly banned for life. Little Enrico was one of the crowd of urchins in Giordano's "Andrea Chenier", and was never supposed to sing, but the cute little fellow decided to join in during the climax anyway. Renata Tebaldi gave him a good spanking, and Mario Del Monaco chased him around backstage hoping to give him a thrashing for ruining that beautiful climactic duet. On the other hand, Placido Domingo once gave Enrico a pat on the head, while Luciano Pavarotti pinched his cheeks - which was strange as this was years later and Enrico was in his forties at the time.

Rediscover Gladys Mitchell – one of the 'Big Three' female crime fiction writers alongside Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers. Hillmaston School has chosen The Mikado for their next school performance and, in recognition of her generous offer to finance the production, their meek and self-effacing arithmetic mistress is offered a key role. But when she disappears mid-way through the opening night performance and is later found dead, unconventional psychoanalyst and sleuth Mrs Bradley is called in to investigate. To her surprise she soon discovers that the hapless teacher had quite a number of enemies - all with a motive for murder... Opinionated, unconventional, unafraid... If you like Poirot and Miss Marple, you’ll love Mrs Bradley.

DIVDIVA frightening confession leads a priest to hunt down a murderer in Grand Master of crime fiction Dorothy Salisbury Davis’s bestselling novel, which critic Anthony Boucher called “one of the best detective stories of modern times”/div On a hot Saturday night in Manhattan, Father Duffy sits in a confessional, growing alarmed as he listens to the voice of a distraught young man who speaks of bloody hair and a dead woman and a compulsion to do things with a hammer that he does not understand. Before the priest can persuade the man to confess to the police, the killer flees, still clutching the hammer.DIV The next day, Father Duffy learns that a high-class call girl on the East Side has been savagely murdered, and no suspect has been found. As he searches for the disturbed young man who he fears will kill again, cerebral New York Police detective Sergeant Ben Goldsmith takes the lead in the investigation of the call-girl murder, racing against the clock to catch a very clever killer who, when enraged, cannot control his need to swing a hammer./divDIV/div/div

Ambitious, but ill-educated, naïve, and immature, Clyde Griffiths is raised by poor and devoutly religious parents to help in their street missionary work. As a young adult, Clyde must, to help support his family, take menial jobs as a soda jerk, then a bellhop at a prestigious Kansas City hotel. There, his more sophisticated colleagues introduce him to bouts of social drinking and sex with prostitutes. Enjoying his new lifestyle, Clyde becomes infatuated with manipulative Hortense Briggs, who takes advantage of him. After being in a car accident in which a young girl loses her life, Clyde is forced to run away from the town in search for the new life.