A Fatal Finale

Book excerpt: Kathleen Marple Kalb debuts with the first book in a new historical mystery series set in Gilded Age New York and following the adventures of swashbuckling opera singer Ella Shane, an Irish-Jewish Lower East Side orphan who finds fame and fortune singing male "trouser roles." 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...