Erica Miner is a violinist turned award-winning author, screenwriter, journalist and lecturer. Learn more about her and her books at her website.
A Protagonist’s Journey from Misadventure to Misadventure
As an author of a series, I’m always thinking about how the next book can be totally different from the current one, yet continue seamlessly from where we left off. The main character is the crux of this issue, and in Book 3 of the series I put her in a situation that would challenge the most intrepid violinist-cum-sleuth.
In the first book of my Julia Kogan Opera Mystery series, Aria for Murder, the young protagonist, Julia, starts off as a starry-eyed neophyte violinist about to make her debut in the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, the most prestigious company in the world. She’s excited and thrilled. But she has no idea something terrible is about to happen, and before long she finds herself entangled in a murder investigation, with her life in peril.
Julia survives, and in Book 2, Prelude to Murder, Julia heads to Santa Fe to perform at the Opera. Here she finds further in-house violence, this time at an outdoor theatre set between two mysterious mountain ranges, where both ghosts and murder proliferate. Unable to resist becoming involved in an investigation, Julia ends up the target of a ruthless killer and is barely able to defend herself to save her own life and return to the Met.
Now, at the beginning of Book 3, Overture to Murder, five years have passed, during which Julia has managed to stay out of trouble. But San Francisco Opera calls on her in desperation: their concertmaster (first of the first violinists) has suffered serious injuries in a hit and run accident. Would she be able to replace him while he recovers?
Challenge is something Julia is drawn to like a wasp to a piece of prosciutto on the brunch table. She loves the violin, she loves opera, and she has fond memories of when her father showed her the delights of the City by the Bay, even though she was only five years old at the time. San Francisco
Opera is the second most prestigious company in the US, after the Met. Serving in the all-important position of concertmaster, even if only for the summer, would be a life changing experience, too good to pass up. The entire season would be focused on the monumental Ring of the Nibelungen, the masterful but fiendishly difficult four-opera cycle written by the 19th century German giant, Richard Wagner. Being a prominent orchestral leader for this astounding work would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, too good to pass up. There’s just one slight detail that might make her hesitate.
Her five-year-old daughter.
At the end of Prelude to Murder, Julia had been flabbergasted when she discovered she was pregnant. She never had considered having children, least of all at the age of 23. Her career was her primary focus, her obsession in almost every way.
But she cared deeply for Larry, her significant other, and figured it must have been her destiny to have his child, even if she was not quite ready to become a parent. When Rebecca was born, Julia was delighted to have a little girl—a “mini-me,” as Larry insisted on calling his daughter. He took to being a dad as if he had been born to it. Now if only Larry would stop bugging her about getting married, Julia thought, everything would be perfect.
Julia also loved San Francisco. Now Rebecca was the same age as Julia when her father had shown her the entrancing city, and Julia thought it the ideal age to do the same with Rebecca. She would be busy fulfilling her obligations at the opera, not to mention teaching violin to her rebellious five-year-old, but Larry would take up the slack. Surely Julia would find a bit of time here and there to join her family in availing themselves of the joys of the iconic landmarks of San Francisco. Julia gladly accepts the job offer, and she and her loved ones head west.
It turns out her job is not the only challenge that confronts Julia. Despite the expertise she has gained from six years of experience at the Met and Santa Fe, she is not prepared for the unexpected stress from a theatre with more than its share of detestable divas of both the male and female categories, irritable stage directors who have it in for her…and murder.
Once again, Julia succumbs to the lure of a brutal crime needing to be solved. In between the arduous rehearsals and tense performances in the theatre she follows her natural curiosity to the clues that are hidden in the recesses of the eerie basement with its ancient, dangerous looking equipment and the upper reaches of the theatre where, she is told, ghosts have been encountered.
As before, Julia’s sleuthing attracts the ire of a brutal killer. But she could not have anticipated the dreadful surprise that the perpetrator has in store.
A Julia Kogan Opera Mystery, Book 3
After jeopardizing her safety investigating killings at the Metropolitan Opera and Santa Fe Opera, intrepid violinist Julia heads to the San Francisco Opera to replace ailing concertmaster, Ben, who has suffered serious injuries in a hit and run accident. Julia suspects the mishap might not have been accidental, especially when a prominent company member becomes the victim of a grisly murder. As before, Julia cannot resist becoming involved in the investigation. Fiery artistic temperaments and danger lurking in the dark hallways and back stairways of an opera house with its own ghosts provide a chilling backdrop to Julia’s sleuthing. This time, however, it’s not only her own life that is in peril.
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