Ebook307 pages5 hours
A Chorus of Detectives
By Barbara Paul
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
3/5
()
About this ebook
The stars of the Metropolitan Opera search for a crazed killer who plans to bring the company down.
They find the tenor dangling from a water pipe, hanging by his own suspenders. His corpse is still warm. Naturally, the opera’s manager doesn’t stop the production. A dead chorus tenor isn’t enough to close them down, and the show must go on. But there are 139 singers left in the chorus—and someone intends to kill them all.
Poisoning, strangling, and rigged trapdoors are just a few of the methods at the killer’s disposal. The opera posts guards backstage, but the slayings continue, forcing the Met’s two fading stars, Enrico Caruso and Geraldine Farrar, to band together and save the opera they love so much.
A Chorus of Detectives is the 3rd book in the Opera Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
They find the tenor dangling from a water pipe, hanging by his own suspenders. His corpse is still warm. Naturally, the opera’s manager doesn’t stop the production. A dead chorus tenor isn’t enough to close them down, and the show must go on. But there are 139 singers left in the chorus—and someone intends to kill them all.
Poisoning, strangling, and rigged trapdoors are just a few of the methods at the killer’s disposal. The opera posts guards backstage, but the slayings continue, forcing the Met’s two fading stars, Enrico Caruso and Geraldine Farrar, to band together and save the opera they love so much.
A Chorus of Detectives is the 3rd book in the Opera Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Author
Barbara Paul
Barbara Paul is the author of numerous science fiction and mystery novels, including Full Frontal Murder, Fare Play, and The Apostrophe Thief.
Read more from Barbara Paul
The Fourth Wall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Liars and Tyrants and People Who Turn Blue Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In-Laws and Outlaws Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5But He Was Already Dead When I Got There Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Chicago Heights Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYour Eyelids Are Growing Heavy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5First Gravedigger Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Kill Fee Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related to A Chorus of Detectives
Titles in the series (3)
Prima Donna at Large Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Cadenza for Caruso Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Chorus of Detectives Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related ebooks
A Cadenza for Caruso Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Aria for Murder: A Julia Kogan Opera Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPrima Donna at Large Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Breaking Up Is Hard to Do Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fools Rush In Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mongoose Deception Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Simple Shaker Murder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Moon Rising Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sentinel One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5True Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gift of Magic: Archers Beach, #5 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeath in a Tenured Position Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWaiting Game: John Pickett Mysteries, #4.5 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Murder at an Exhibition: The Tommy Jones Mysteries, #2 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Captain Paul Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Knowledge of Water: Reisden & Perdita Mysteries, #2 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Smugglers Daughter: Regency Romance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTainted Angel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reggiecide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fibonacci Murders Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Catalina Ghost Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMr. Wong Rights a Wrong: A Victorian San Francisco Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hope and Glory: A Life of Dame Clara Butt Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFirewall: An Emma Streat Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Kiss-Off of 1944 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Soft Detective Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTubby Meets Katrina: A Tubby Dubonnet Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lady Rample and the Lady in the Lake: Lady Rample Mysteries, #12 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHorror on the Ruby X Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMurder in the Queen's Wardrobe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Historical Mystery For You
Find You First: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lady of Ashes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untitled Books Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Sentence Is Death: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Watchmaker's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories: A Miss Marple Collection Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eight Perfect Murders: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stranger in the Lifeboat Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Have Always Lived in the Castle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spider's Web Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Sidney Chambers and The Shadow of Death: Grantchester Mysteries 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Line to Kill: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Universal Harvester: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Word Is Murder: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The ABC Murders: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Librarian of Crooked Lane Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Marple: Twelve New Mysteries Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Pale Blue Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Apothecary's Poison Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Last Jew in Prague Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder Under a Red Moon: A 1920s Bangalore Mystery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Supreme Justice: A Novel of Suspense Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anatomy of a Murder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Things in Jars: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Speaks the Nightbird Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Woman on Fire: A Mystery Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Herb of Death: A Miss Marple Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries Volume One: Whose Body?, Clouds of Witness, and Unnatural Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for A Chorus of Detectives
Rating: 2.9000001 out of 5 stars
3/5
10 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is the third in a set of three books set in the Metropolitan Opera in the "Golden Age," but you won't miss anything if you haven't read the prior two books--this can stand alone. The books aren't standouts stylistically nor are they a whodunnit with a jaw-dropping solution worthy of a Christie. In those respects the books are quite ordinary, and it wouldn't occur to me to list Paul's Opera Mysteries as the best of mystery fiction. But they are fun, and have a secure place on my bookshelves. I'm sure a great deal of the reason I love them is that I am an Opera fan, and can't help but be greatly entertained by a mystery set in the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in the early 20th century that so vividly renders its time and place. The first book, which I haven't read, was centered on Caruso as detective, and the second was told by American opera soprano Geraldine Farrar. In this mystery, where members of the Metropolitan Opera chorus are being murdered one by one, the young Rosa Ponselle is added to the mix of characters. I liked this novel less than the previous book, which was told first person, while this is third person with multiple perspectives. Even though she's present and prominent as a character, I missed Farrar's gossipy voice which leant so much humor to Prima Donna at Large. This is also not as light-hearted as the previous book. Set in 1920, the first World War has been over for two years, but "resentments and hard feelings" from it still linger in the international company and the careers of Caruso and Farrar are close to their end--this outing has a more melancholy tone as a result. But this is still a very entertaining mystery, particularly if you're an opera fan.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This takes place during the so-called "Golden Era" of the Metropolitan Opera House, when stars like Enrico Caruso and Geraldine Ferrar were singing. Tensions are running high among the multinational member of the cast after World War I. Members of the chorus die in apparent accidents and a suicide, which is upsetting enough, but then a death occurs that can only be a murder. I find it fascinating as a look at the era, but somewhat mediocre as a mystery. It is intended as a rather comic mystery, with the opera stars earnestly bumbling around playing at being detectives, but I got a bit tired of them. It is quite well done as a historical novel, and I recommend it to those who would be interested in it for that reason, rather than as a mystery.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Read all the way through, but was a bit disappointed.
Hesitate to give anything a 1 star, but this is not one I would read again.
Read in 2005. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This takes place during the so-called "Golden Era" of the Metropolitan Opera House, when stars like Enrico Caruso and Geraldine Ferrar were singing. Tensions are running high among the multinational member of the cast after World War I. Members of the chorus die in apparent accidents and a suicide, which is upsetting enough, but then a death occurs that can only be a murder. I find it fascinating as a look at the era, but somewhat mediocre as a mystery. It is intended as a rather comic mystery, with the opera stars earnestly bumbling around playing at being detectives, but I got a bit tired of them. It is quite well done as a historical novel, and I recommend it to those who would be interested in it for that reason, rather than as a mystery.
Book preview
A Chorus of Detectives - Barbara Paul
ɧd book_preview_excerpt.html }|˒F寀\SӵiHKUi;Gxd0r>ӻYM|D_2{HV-Jy˿>ySwxu<_U~8s3Mym簩}hS!UW1V"^>BWG6%KCtz͠CױվO*qۆfB9ᵈp{]m0`SxVv<4A_K]:g_U>rIزtiEoU܁Tpsf8Vۄ$~XSUC6X; MSu[lʦ=$nky{6Z^aSi{GBvlJfzc j1K)txDZ=חxE
)v_;~Uǜ>A>=oHlt8dsޏ'NVn:jo<"@HV]Eܜ?M &U}m
۰{~!pq#An=`fpta&udbWԪg8#<\JD%wՇc=-N0pДpCh
tѤ&M%4Db.pl 9
aA ?^@35ʔ^KۼY3 m9)՟sCӶ?.ƚD8sAr]r!=]}58z67ꑛc$̕h{J]tn
؝a?r8C5Xfc"K|fb!) @kcP>Դڠ8
Q¢ `#"L(Nê04ajcT̠_!T1ʐ$9S0ddor&_C$ByַoǖQU>NEyq m{WNWm}7E2a6vGc=?rdc|VM*|` Qzq?ŎܺLľ[Ғj=O
j#BA$ @*D.ڴm
a
t{|qG%q/27MȀS=M}Ӳ bĖXStN4
?{ "yq);sV`O"-OĬxxfhG#;Rf*odLa u01^HqwT%#ֹ7] c!h