Ransom at the Opera

Opera fans will welcome this seventh book in Hunter's witty series featuring police detective Jeremy Ransom and sidekick Emily Charters (Ransom Unpaid, etc.), set on opening night at Chicago's brand-new Sheridan Center for the Performing Arts. Riccardo Nuevo and Maria Cortez, two brilliant but relatively unknown singers, are playing Don Jose and Carmen in a controversial and innovative production of Carmen. Riccardo's being hopelessly in love with Maria adds verisimilitude to their performance, for she has eyes only for her manager--and anyone else who can further her career. In the last act, Don Jose raises his knife to strike Carmen, drops it and falls dead at her feet. That's not the way it's supposed to happen! Emily, who's in the audience, knows immediately that Riccardo has been murdered, probably poisoned. When the engaging, low-key Jeremy gets assigned the case, he's dismayed to find that, besides the principals of the cast, there are 30 members of the chorus and another 20 extras, as well as stagehands and crew. It's obvious that this is an ""inside job,"" but where could the poison have come from? Riccardo hadn't anything to drink on stage, and the two coffee cups in his dressing room contained--just coffee. The plot has enough twists to keep the reader guessing, with just about every major character a suspect at some point. Writing in a suitably ""operatic"" style, Hunter delivers a dramatic and fully satisfying denouement. (Oct.)