A promising opera student is found murdered in an upstairs room at the Kennedy Center during a rehearsal for an upcoming opera. Who would kill her? Was it a lover or a competitor? Why would someone kill her? Had she been in the wrong place at the wrong time or was it a crime of passion? Those questions and many more ran through the minds of the people who were at the Kennedy Center the night her body was discovered. Could one of them be a murderer?

Mac Smith, a Georgetown law professor, and his wife Annabel Reed-Smith just happened to be attending that fateful rehearsal. Annabel, a member of the Washington National Opera's board, persuaded her husband to be an extra in the upcoming production of Tosca. Also in attendance was Raymond Pawkins, an opera lover and a former homicide detective. At the request of the opera board, Raymond and Mac become involved in an internal investigation into the murder.

In addition to a murder at the National Opera, Washington is dealing with some terrorist threats from abroad. The investigation into the threats leads to increased security around the president and any place that he may go. He intends to attend the opening night of Tosca and the Opera Ball the next evening. Whatever is going to happen will make this production of Tosca unforgettable.

Margaret Truman has written another fantastic mystery. Even though she has written twenty-one previous Capital Crimes novels, MURDER AT THE OPERA is the first one I have read. I found the story to provide an interesting perspective into the life in Washington D.C., and in particular life at the Washington National Opera. She has an entertaining cast of supporting characters that add to the depth and intrigue of the tale. MURDER AT THE OPERA is a novel that both mystery and opera lovers will enjoy.

Book Summary

Margaret Truman, who knows where all the bodies are buried inside the Beltway, has written her most thrilling novel of suspense yet. Murder at the Opera features the popular crime-fighting couple Mac Smith and his wife, Annabel Reed-Smith, as they navigate the glitz, glamour, and grime that is Washington, D.C.

It ain’t over till the fat lady sings . . . but the show hasn’t even started yet when a diva is found dead. The soprano in question, a petite young Asian Canadian named Charise Lee, was scarcely a star at the Washington National Opera. But when the aspiring singer is stabbed in the heart backstage during rehearsals, she suddenly takes center stage.

Georgetown law professor Mac Smith thought he’d just be carrying a rapier in Tosca as a favor for his beloved Annabel, but now they’re both being pressured by the panicked theater board to unmask a killer. Providing accompaniment will be former homicide detective, current P.I., and eternal opera fan Raymond Pawkins.

Soon the Smiths find themselves dangerously improvising among an expanding cast of suspects with all sorts of scores to settle. What they uncover is an increasingly complex case reaching far beyond Washington to a dark world of informers and terror alerts in Iraq, and climaxing on a fateful night at the opera attended by none other than the President himself.