An opera singer drops dead onstage in a pitch-perfect puzzler from the Edgar Award–winning author of the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael. A plane crash kills the lead actor of the Leander Theatre's production of The Marriage of Figaro, in the middle of their rehearsals. The crew, based on the outskirts of London, is shaken. Luckily—or not—owner Jimmy Clash has found a replacement in world-class baritone Marc Chatrier, a notorious womanizer, liar, and all-around cad. Chatrier's presence immediately causes tensions to rise dramatically among a close-knit opera "family," especially when he starts paying too much attention to Jimmy's star-struck teenage daughter. Then, without warning, the despised singer drops dead in the middle of a performance. That's the cue for audience member Detective Inspector Musgrave to make his grand entrance. But the able police investigator is unprepared for the complex drama awaiting him backstage, and a tragically twisted plot that includes dark secrets, jealousies, old grudges, and murder most foul. As always, the Edgar, Agatha, and Gold Dagger Award–winning author of the Brother Cadfael Mysteries "writes with undiminished skill" ( The Times, London).