Ransom at the Opera: A Ransom/Charters Mystery (Ransom/Charters Series) - Hardcover

Hunter, Fred

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312262574 ISBN 13: 9780312262570

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 2000

Synopsis

While attending the opening night of a controversial production of Carmen at Chicago's new performing arts center, Emily Charters witnesses the onstage death of the actor playing Don Jose and joins forces with police detective Jeremy Ransom to uncover the truth about the killing.

About this title

About the Author

Fred Hunter is the author of six previous novels in the Ransom/Charters series, most recently Ransom Unpaid, as well as four novels in the Alex Reynolds series. He lives in Chicago.

Reviews

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 managerAand 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 containedAjust 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.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Hunter's latest in the series featuring Chicago Detective Jeremy Ransom revolves around the death of a tenor. Apparently dead from respiratory arrest but probably poisoned, Riccardo Nuevo may not even be the intended victim, since cast and crew liked him as opposed to the titanically-egoed diva, tempestuous mezzo-soprano Maria Cortez. With virtually all cast and crew members eager to throttle her, as well as a gay couple secretly administering the funding and operations of the theater, the suspects for both murderer and victim must take a number and stand in line in this vibrant and colorful brainteaser. Whitney Scott
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Edition details

• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312262574
• ISBN 13: 9780312262570
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 244