The Metropolitan Opera Murders

First published in 1951, this slightly above average mystery from Traubel (1899–1972), the leading soprano at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in her day, opens onstage during a performance of Die Walküre. Elsa Vaughn, a celebrated Wagnerian soprano who’s performing the role of Brünnehilde, watches in horror as Rudolf Salz, who’s filling in as prompter, convulses and dies. It soon becomes apparent that Salz was poisoned, and Elsa may have been the intended victim. Elsa teams up with Lt. Sam Quentin, a police detective, to discover the murderer among a colorful cast that includes an opera manager named Aaron Van Cleff (as in the musical notation) and members of a prominent family named DeBrett (as in the guide to the English peerage). Meanwhile, enormous egos collide over Wagnerian interpretation amid bawdy backstage doings. Series editor Leslie Klinger provides his usual enlightening annotations. While by no means a classic, this entry in the Library of Congress Classics series is good fun for opera lovers. (Feb.)