Death on the High C's - Softcover

Barnard, Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0440119006 ISBN 13: 9780440119005

Publisher: Dell Pub Co, 1985

Synopsis

Opera singers are often described as being larger than life, and certainly this is true of Gaylene Ffrench. Her appetites – for men, for booze, for attention – are gargantuan, and her ability to irritate is similarly outsized. So when someone electrocutes the bombastic Australian contralto, few tears are shed at the Northern Opera Company (though it’s a pity her understudy’s so lousy). In fact, most of the company members are dancing a jig, and it falls on Superintendent Nichols to determine which of them might have helped Gaylene along to her just reward. The black tenor tired of being the butt of Gaylene’s bigotry? The soprano weary of jealous whispers in her ears? Gaylene’s many bedroom conquests, all anxious to avoid a repeat performance? With so many potential suspects, Nichols has his hands full, but Barnard and his readers have a deliciously malicious good time.

About this title

About the Author:

Barnard has won nearly every mystery award on offer, including an Anthony, an Agatha, a Macavity, a Dagger In the Library, the Golden Handcuffs, and Britain's prestigious Cartier Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement in mystery fiction; he has also been nominated for a record eight Edgar Awards.

Review:

"One of the deftest stylists in the field . . .goes about it with a quietly malicious sense of humor." --New York Times

"The wryest wit and most scathing satire in today's mystery" --Chicago Sun-Times

"With an eye for the hypocrisy and self-delusion in us all, Barnard's mysteries are funny and acutely observant." --Boston Globe

About this edition

• Publisher: Dell Pub Co
• Publication date: 1985
• ISBN 10: 0440119006
• ISBN 13: 9780440119005
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 256