Occupation: Opera Soprano.
A day in which life, I ask? An opera singer has two lives.
I am Liliana Bartholomew, principal soprano for the Lexington Opera Company of New York City. I trained at the Royal College of Music in the UK, and took a position with what is called in English the Cologne Opera Company, in German, the Oper der Stadt Kőln. While there I met and married a colonel in the US Army stationed at Semback Kasern. My son George Bartholomew was born in Germany.
My life – or lives – are wholly taken up with my dual passions, family and opera. When I’m on tour or in the middle of a theater run, my life is opera. I awaken slowly in the morning. My first thoughts are of the evening’s performance. First, an hour or so of meditation and a workout; yoga, then breathing and flexibility exercises. Then a big breakfast; no dairy! Dairy is bad for a singer as it clogs the voice. My meals throughout the day will taper from that big breakfast to nothing substantial in the hours before performance, and a light supper after with the troupe.
But when I’m not on tour? My late husband called me a creature of habit, and he was correct. I crave structure and calm. That’s why George has leased the house at the Wynter Woods community built by Merry Wynter and Pish Lincoln; it was supposed to be a haven where I could de-stress from touring and performing. Perhaps it has not quite turned out that way, if recent events are to be judged. More on that later.
When not on tour, I awaken slowly, meditate and work out, exactly as if I was on tour. By habit I still eat a big breakfast and taper my meals throughout the day, though I do eat dinner. In the afternoon I make time for a couple of hours of vocal exercises. A singer is an athlete who must keep the muscles developed, but my ‘gym’ is the music or rehearsal room. I work the diaphragm and abdominal muscles, as well as the intercostal muscles for expansion of the rib cage, laryngeal muscles, and those for the face and neck for vocal projection and resonance.
But the sweetest hours are those I spend with my family. My son George is the light of my life, my pride and joy. My only concern is that he’s so serious. His father was exactly like that, incapable of relaxing and enjoying life. It led to a fatal heart attack in his forties. I pray that George learns to ‘lighten up’.
I’m feeling the tension myself, right now. This most recent Thanksgiving Weekend stay at Wynter Woods, the grand opening gala of the Wynter Woods Center for the Performing Arts, was not the happy party I’d hoped for. We invited his cousin, my niece Luxe, and George’s protégé Pat Jefferson, thinking we’d be able to spend family time together at the house.
Instead we wound up in the middle of a murder investigation. Terribly distressing! I feel for the victim’s family and his friends, despite the man’s apparent repellent personality. Every one of God’s creatures has someone who loves them and will miss them. I look around at the crowd in the castle dining room and wonder, which of the gathered luminaries is the killer? The Broadway director? The pop singer? The shambling hermit who haunts the assemblage for some obscure reason?
Apparently it must be one of them, but which one? I’m thankful for Merry Wynter, her husband Virgil, his business partner Dewayne and, of course, Pish Lincoln. They appear to be on the job with the local sheriff.
They must catch the killer before someone else is hurt.
THANKS FOR MUFFIN — A Merry Muffin Mystery, Book 8
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: October 2025
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link
When Merry Wynter’s festive gala takes a fatal turn, she’ll have to grill her guests to catch a killer . . .
After years of planning and hard work, Merry Wynter was finally ready to host the grand opening gala of the Wynter Woods Center for the Performing Arts. With musicians, entertainers, members of the media and even influencers on the guest list, the event went off without a hitch—until a particularly nasty journalist posted a criticism of the gala and everything Merry was trying to accomplish. Still reeling from the review days later, Merry wasn’t sure what to feel when she discovered the reporter’s dead body on the grounds of Wynter Castle.
With many of her guests staying on at the castle for the weekend, Merry realizes they’ve got a murderer in their midst. Going from celebrating to sleuthing, she discreetly questions each of them, trying to weed out the culprit. She quickly learns that the victim had heated arguments with several of the people at the gala, and it turns out those people were all connected by a tragedy in the past. Certain the killer is among them, Merry will have to unearth the final clue that nails the killer—before the killer decides she’s getting too close . . .
Includes delicious recipes!
About the author
Victoria Hamilton is the pseudonym of nationally bestselling romance author Donna Lea Simpson. Victoria is the bestselling author of three mystery series, the Lady Anne Addison Mysteries, the Vintage Kitchen Mysteries, and the Merry Muffin Mysteries. She also writes a Regency-set historical mystery series, starting with A Gentlewoman’s Guide to Murder. Visit her website at victoriahamiltonmysteries.com. and sign up for her newsletter for all the latest!