Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of Mr. Hosokawa, a powerful Japanese businessman. Roxanne Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerized the international guests with her singing. It is a perfect evening -- until a band of gun-wielding terrorists breaks in through the air-conditioning vents and takes the entire party hostage. But what begins as a panicked,...

The phantom in the bone-white mask who has haunted the Ankh-Morpork Opera House for years, is thought to be a benign presence until he starts killing performers backstage. Country girl Perdita X. hides in a chorus and has someone mime her aria solos so she may dodge the killing craze. She also uses this tactic to hide from her witchy relatives Nanny Ogg and old Granny Weatherwax who would rather she join their ranks. It all makes for a crazy and humorous...

"New York Times bestselling author Daisy Goodwin returns with a story of the scandalous love affair between the most celebrated opera singer of all time and one of the richest men in the world. In the glittering and ruthlessly competitive world of opera, Maria Callas was known simply as la divina: the divine one. With her glorious voice, instinctive flair for the dramatic and striking beauty, she was the toast of the grandest opera houses in the world....

"London, 1815. Amateur sleuth Atlas Catesby is about to discover the dark side of the bright lights. His long-awaited night at the opera with Lady Lilliana ends abruptly when a notorious courtesan is shot to death in Covent Garden. The infamous victim was the mistress of the powerful Marquess of Vessey. Atlas believes that the marquess--his former brother in law--is responsible for the long-ago death of Atlas's sister, Phoebe. Atlas seizes the opportunity...

A headstrong young soprano must solve a murder to save her friend
The Metropolitan Opera has no time for illness. So when its principal baritone succumbs to a head cold on the eve of Carmen, house diva Geraldine Farrar doesn’t hesitate to recommend a replacement: the hungry young American Jimmy Freeman. He’s raw, talented, and desperately in love with her—something she doesn’t mind at all. But when Freeman...

One of The Wall Street Journal's Best fiction books of 2011 England, 1923. A gentleman critic named Leslie Shepherd tells the macabre story of a gifted young composer, Charles Jessold. On the eve of his revolutionary new opera's premiere, Jessold murders his wife and her lover, and then commits suicide in a scenario that strangely echoes the plot of his opera---which Shepherd has helped to write. The opera will never be performed. Shepherd first...

The famous soprano, Lottie English, is—unbeknownst to anyone—really the Lady Charlotte Hughes. Colin has been admiring Lottie from afar for almost three years when he finally decides to ask her to be his mistress. Instead, Lady Charlotte suggests they marry so that he can finance a European tour for her, and he can have her legally. Colin agrees, and soon discovers someone at the theater is trying to hurt her. But it's only when her

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After their archaeologist mother fails to return from Mexico and they discover that someone is stalking their Albuquerque house, twelve-year-old Kevin and his opera-singing older sister flee to Venice, California, where they hope that new identities will keep them safe.

A mouse who works as a page turner at the Metropolitan Opera House has only one enemy, a cat; but, during a performance of "The Magic Flute," something magical happens to change their lives.

"In 1786 Vienna, Lorenzo Da Ponte is the court librettist for the Italian Theatre during the height of the enlightened reign of Emperor Joseph II. This exalted position doesn't mean he's particularly well paid, or even out of reach of the endless intrigues of the opera world. In fact, far from it. One morning, Da Ponte stops off at his barber, only to find the man being taken away to debtor's prison. Da Ponte impetuously agrees to carry a message...