I knew it didn’t feel right when I heard about Ben’s accident. Something about it sounded suspicious. At least to me. Being suspicious is in my nature, as my closest friends have told me.

Let me back up. I’m Julia Kogan, a member of the first violin section of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York. Yes. That Met, the most prestigious opera company in the world. I’ve always considered myself lucky to be playing there, since I started out at the ripe old age of 22. Sadly, on my opening night, my mentor, the great conductor Abel Trudeau, was assassinated on the podium right in front of my eyes. Then my closest colleague in the orchestra, Sidney, was accused of the murder. That’s how I first became involved in murder investigations at the opera.

Obviously Sid was framed. How could I not clear his name? I got Sid off the hook and practically got killed in the process. But after that I couldn’t resist poking my nose into the nefarious goings on behind the scenes. It continued when I spent a summer playing at Santa Fe Opera and became entangled in the investigation into the murder of a detestable diva soprano, who I didn’t think deserved to be stabbed in the middle of a performance. Though other opera singers disagreed with me.

Now I’m in San Francisco, the legendary City by the Bay, filling in for Ben, the concertmaster (first of the first violinists) of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. He’s in bad shape after that hit-and-run accident right outside the stage door of the War Memorial Opera House. It sounded to me like it was no accident. But when I asked him about it, he dodged my questions. Seemed like something—or someone—was spooking him. He advised me to spend my energy fulfilling the daunting requirements of the job.

He was right, of course. That beast of an operatic cycle, The Ring of the Nibelungen by 19th century German composing giant Richard Wagner, is one hell of a way to start out in such a prestigious position, aptly called “the hot seat.”

But today, I had my doubts about my ability to do this bear of a job in the orchestra pit. Specifically when the stage director, Yves Chauvet, chewed me out in front of the entire company for no apparent reason. Said I was sabotaging him.

What? Far as I knew, I was leading the orchestra, helping the conductor do her job (how great is it to have a woman running that show?) keeping pit and stage together. Then all of a sudden, I hear this grating French-accented voice shouting through the “God” mike (that’s the equivalent of a bullhorn for a stage director).“The concertmaster. She is making the orchestra lag behind on purpose.”

To say I was stunned is the understatement of the year. I could think of any number of derogatory terms to describe this guy, but it would be beneath my exalted position. In any case, everyone in the company defended me: the conductor, the general director (also a woman), and all my colleagues in the orchestra. Nerissa, my stand partner who sits next to me in the pit, called him a number of names I wouldn’t want to repeat here.

Nonetheless, I’m still smarting from the injustice. And on my first day in the job. Who does that?

I can only hope my second day will be better. Did you hear that, Monsieur Chauvet?

Overture to Murder, A Julia Kogan Opera Mystery Book 3
Genre: Traditional Mystery
Release: October 2024
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link

The curtain comes down on murder in OVERTURE TO MURDER, the third novel of the Julia Kogan Opera Mystery series.

Julia heads to the San Francisco Opera, this time with her significant other, former NYPD detective Larry Somers, and their five-year-old daughter Rebecca. Julia is under inordinate amounts of pressure as she replaces the ailing concertmaster, Ben, who has suffered serious injuries in a suspicious hit-and-run accident, which Julia suspects might not have been accidental. Then, one prominent company member becomes the victim of a grisly murder, and Julia cannot resist becoming involved in the investigation. As in her previous sleuthing at the Metropolitan Opera and Santa Fe Opera, Julia once again discovers that fiery artistic temperaments and danger lurking in the dark hallways and back stairways of an opera house provide a chilling backdrop for murder.

This time, however, it’s not only her own life that is in peril.

About the author
Former Metropolitan Opera violinist Erica Miner is now an award-winning Seattle-based author, lecturer, arts journalist and screenwriter. Erica balances her reviews and interviews of real-world musical artists with fanciful plot fabrications that reveal the dark side of the fascinating world of opera in her Julia Kogan Opera Mystery series. The first, Aria for Murder, was a finalist in the 2023 Eric Hoffer Book Awards and Chanticleer Independent Book Awards; the second, Prelude to Murder, was a Distinguished Favorite in the 2024 NYC Big Book Awards. Book 3, Overture to Murder, was released in Oct. 2024. Erica has presented a solo Author Spotlight at Bouchercon 2023 and seminars at other well-known writers conferences and libraries on the west coast. She lectures on music and opera for the Seattle Symphony, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, and Wagner Societies on both coasts and in Australia.