Death of a Soprano: A Joseph Haydn Mystery
by Nupur Tustin
Death of a Soprano: A Joseph Haydn Mystery
Historical Cozy Mystery
5th in Series
Setting – Eighteenth-century Royal Hungary, Habsburg Empire
Foiled Plots Press (May 27, 2023)
Print length : 319 pages
ASIN : B0C3SR4GGW
When murder invades Haydn’s opera stage, scandal isn’t far behind . . .
Charged with ensuring that an imperial wedding transpires without mishap, composer Joseph Haydn has his hands full. Barely seventeen, Archduke Ferdinand Karl, the imperial bridegroom, is reluctant to marry. And the bride, Maria Beatrice, has her reservations as well.
But when an extortion note surfaces—an unpleasant reminder of the bridegroom’s shameful past—the wedding seems truly doomed. Worse still, all the evidence points to Haydn’s prima donna, Lucia Pacelli, being the blackmailer.
Before Haydn can confront her, however, Lucia is fatally poisoned. And Haydn is left to wonder whether his imperial charge had a hand in her death.
Troubled by the dark secrets he might uncover, Haydn is nevertheless compelled to investigate. Will the young Archduke be found innocent? Or must Haydn lead His Imperial Highness to the gallows?
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Enjoy this peek inside:
Is Lucia drunk, ill . . . or worse? Haydn is beside himself with worry.
In the pit, Haydn watched aghast as his prima donna crashed gracelessly to the floor. For a brief moment, he wondered whether Karl had made a spur-of-the-moment change to the libretto. It was not unheard of for a librettist to do such a thing. But surely it was unwise to do it without consulting either the composer or opera director.
Almost simultaneously, another thought flitted through Haydn’s mind. Had Lucia taken her role too far?
But all such considerations instantly fled when his gaze drifted up to Nencio’s face. The panic-stricken expression plastered over the tenor’s features and his wide, staring eyes told the entire tale. This was no spontaneous act. It had certainly not been intended.
Lucia was . . . Haydn’s fingers felt stiff as they depressed, almost of their own accord, the keys of the harpsichord. Whatever afflicted his prima donna, she was clearly in no condition to continue.
Good God, what was to be done?
Raising his hand just high enough for the tenor to see, Haydn let it flutter through the air. A silent signal to Jakob Friberth—the tenor playing Nencio—to carry on as though nothing had happened.
What the man would do—or indeed could do—the Kapellmeister knew not. He could only pray for divine inspiration to fall upon his hapless tenor.
Fortunately, Jakob understood, nodding imperceptibly as he wiped the shock off his features. Deathly pale but smiling broadly, Jakob in his role of Nencio feigned glee at the situation.
“Ah, the drunken servant of a marquis!” Jakob gestured down at the prone Lucia. “If the servant is thus, can the master be any better?” Bending down, Jakob lifted the soprano’s arms and began dragging her offstage.
He snickered at the audience. “What say you, we let that false villain, Filippo, think the marquis has changed his mind?”
Near the wings, Jakob dropped Lucia’s arms to jab his forefinger at his chest. “Then Sandrina—beautiful Sandrina—can be Nencio’s!” Still singing the last few words, Jakob, along with Lucia, disappeared behind the wings.
The loud burst of laughter that greeted the scene was satisfying evidence that the ploy had worked.
And fortunately the curtain fell just as Nencio and Lucia exited the stage. That was thanks to Johann’s quick thinking, Haydn realized with immense gratitude, noticing his brother was no longer at his side.
Karl had written his libretto in two acts, but it did no harm to let the audience think a third was to follow.
Bouncing up from his seat, Haydn quickly turned and acknowledged the thunderous applause with a rushed bow. Then, leaving Luigi to conduct the orchestra as it played the music for the interlude, he hurried backstage—eager to discover what was amiss with his prima donna.
Lucia’s body had been dragged into the area beyond the grooved slots in which the wings sat. It was crowded with a variety of props. But Jakob had managed to find a narrow space where she lay between cooking pots on one side and a large table on the other.
There Haydn found Johann bent over Lucia’s still frame.
“What ails her?” the Kapellmeister asked anxiously. Against all hope, he continued, “Can she be revived?”
“I fear not, brother.” Johann turned around, his features whiter than a meadow of edelweiss in the spring. “She is dead—God rest her soul!” He hastily crossed himself.
“Dead!” Haydn’s eyes were drawn to Lucia’s body, lying unnaturally still on the floorboards. At least she was face up. “B-b-but how?” Had she really been ill? Or—
Resolutely, he pushed the thought away from his mind. Best not to consider it an unnatural death.
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About Nupur Tustin
A former journalist, Nupur Tustin relies upon a Ph.D. in Communication and an M.A. in English to orchestrate murder. She also writes the Celine Skye Psychic Mysteries based on the Gardner Museum theft. Childhood piano lessons and a 1903 Weber Upright share equal blame for her musical works.
Get Two Complimentary Mysteries At: ntustin.com
Music: ntustin.musicaneo.com
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