A Fatal Finale
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
On the cusp of the twentieth century, Manhattan is a lively metropolis buzzing with talent. But after a young soprano meets an untimely end on stage, can one go-getting leading lady hit the right notes in a case of murder?
New York City, 1899. When it comes to show business, Gilded Age opera singer Ella Shane wears the pants. The unconventional diva breaks the mold by assuming “trouser roles”—male characters played by women—and captivating audiences far and wide with her travelling theatre company. But Ella’s flair for the dramatic takes a terrifying turn when an overacting Juliet to her Romeo drinks real poison during the final act of Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi.
Weeks after the woman’s death is ruled a tragic accident, a mysterious English duke arrives in Greenwich Village on a mission. He’s certain someone is getting away with murder, and the refined aristocrat won’t travel back across the Atlantic until Ella helps him expose the truth.
As Ella finds herself caught between her craft and a growing infatuation with her dashing new acquaintance, she’s determined to decode the dark secrets surrounding her co-star’s fatale finale—before the lights go dark and the culprit appears for an encore . . .
[Author Photo]
Kathleen Marple Kalb lives with her family in Cheshire, Connecticut. She’s currently a weekend morning anchor at New York's 1010WINS Radio, capping a career she began as a teenage DJ in rural Western Pennsylvania. She’s currently working on the next Ella Shane historical mystery.
Visit us at www.kensingtonbooks.com
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in 1899 Manhattan, Kalb's unfocused debut and series launch introduces Ellen O'Shaughnessy, who runs a traveling opera company under her stage name, Ella Shane. A "trouser diva" whose mezzo-soprano voice suits her to male roles originally written for castrati, Ella is performing as Romeo when the singer playing Juliet, Violette Saint Claire, dies on stage. Ella knows little about Violette, so when the coroner rules the death an accidental nicotine poisoning, Ella considers the matter closed. Then Gilbert Saint Aubyn, Duke of Leith, announces that Violette is his missing cousin, Lady Frances Saint Aubyn, who disappeared from England two years before. Ella agrees to help the attractive duke find out more about the death. The autopsy report reveals handprint-shaped bruising, and Ella narrowly escapes several unlikely accidents in what becomes a murder case. Appealing characters and the well-drawn opera-world setting compensate only in part for the slow, unsuspenseful plot. Kalb displays enough talent to suggest she'll do better in the sequel.
