Erica Miner: On Writing
In 2010, an article on npr.org posited the theory that rabid fans of grisly online series should consider opera as an alternative to feed their bloodlust. To wit, violent shows such as Game of Thrones don’t hold a candle to the operatic carnage in Bartok’s Bluebeard Castle, Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia, Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites, Berg’s Lulu, and Puccini’s Tosca.
I agree.
Not all of these above works are familiar to non-aficionados of opera. But I’m willing to bet Bluebeard and Borgia both evoke cringing for any literate person at the mention of their titles. There’s nothing like the serial murders of one’s parade of spouses or a good poisoning (which, according to Lucrezia, is the secret to being happy) to get an opera lover’s blood boiling.
I’ve always thought of opera stories as some of the bloodiest ever written. I emphasize this point in my lectures and my Julia Kogan Opera Mystery series. Three out of five of the above operas figure prominently in the first two books, Aria For Murder and Prelude to Murder, and all three books in the series have violent opera stories woven into the fabric of their stories.
In Book #2, Prelude to Murder, no fewer than 4 blood-stained operas are featured, all by different composers. In considering my next sequel, I wanted to up the ante. I found the perfect solution: showcase a complete cycle of four bloody operas in one book.
Overture to Murder, the third book in the series, has a unique element in that the mystery revolves around the 4 operas of the famous Der Ring of the Nibelungen by 19th century German opera composing titan Richard Wagner. This monumental cycle is considered by many opera-savvy fans to be the greatest work ever written in the genre; perhaps the greatest artistic work of all time. All 4 operas contain murders, but they also are united with consistent universal themes that continue from the first to the last opera in the cycle: love, jealousy, and power. As in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, to which Wagner’s work is often compared, the violence is perpetrated by power-hungry supernatural characters who all fight and come to no good over who is to possess a magical ring.
The book takes place at the famed San Francisco Opera, the second most prestigious company in the US after the Metropolitan Opera. Since its inception, San Francisco’s venerated operatic institution has become known for multiple productions of The Ring. What better challenge for Julia, the young violinist and protagonist of the series, than to chew on this musical behemoth?
Having survived her entanglement and subsequent targeting by ruthless killers in murder investigations at the Met and Santa Fe Opera in the first two books, in her third adventure Julia is called upon to fill the all-important position of San Francisco’s concertmaster, first of the first violinists, after the current concertmaster has been injured in a serious hit-and-run accident. Julia is not sure it was an accident, and before you can say Valhalla, she finds herself involved in yet another murder investigation.
How does murder go down in Wagner’s Ring?
In opera #1, Das Rheingold, the giant Fafner murders his brother Fasolt over a ring that has been forged from gold stolen from the Rhinemaidens of the Rhine River. Sigmund, the hero of opera #2, Die Walküre, is murdered because of the demands of the wife of the head god—who happens to be Sigmund’s father. Siegfried, the hero of opera #3, murders a vicious dragon, a transformed human in disguise. In opera #4, Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods), Siegfried is murdered by Hagen, son
of a dwarf and a human (I’m not making this up), who of course wants the ring.
Heady stuff. How could I not be inspired by this craziness to create fictional murder and mayhem, in
an opera house with a vast, fascinating history and the creepiest basement ever?
Poor Julia. The challenges of The Ring are minor compared to the grisly murders, one of which takes place onstage, in which she can’t help but get embroiled. Our heroine bravely faces both tasks, but when someone very near and dear to her is placed in jeopardy because of Julia’s sleuthing, she is not prepared to deal with the consequences.
An opera house is the perfect environment for mischief and mayhem, and the opera people who work behind the scenes can be annoying if not enraging: wannabe stars, detestable divas, snarky stagehands and more. I started writing my series to show what happens back there behind that golden curtain.
Let me entertain you.
OVERTURE TO MURDER
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.
BUY HERE
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Award-winning Seattle-based author, lecturer, screenwriter and arts journalist Erica Miner believes opera theatres are perfect places for creating fictional mischief! Drawing on her 21 years as a violinist
at the famed Metropolitan Opera, 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, guiding readers through a dramatized version of the opera world in her Julia Kogan Opera Mystery series.
Erica’s young violinist sleuth, Julia Kogan, investigates high-profile murder and mayhem behind the Met’s “Golden Curtain” in Book 1, Aria for Murder (2022), finalist in the 2023 Eric Hoffer Book Awards and Chanticleer Independent Book Awards. In Book 2, Prelude to Murder (2023) (‘A skillfully written whodunit of operatic proportions’—Kirkus Reviews https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/erica-miner/prelude-to-murder/, Distinguished Favorite, 2024 NYC Big Book Awards, further operatic chaos and ghostly apparitions plague Julia at the Santa Fe Opera. In Overture to Murder, releasing in Oct. 2024, Julia finds herself in jeopardy once again at the San Francisco Opera.
Erica’s debut novel, Travels with My Lovers, won the Fiction Prize in the Direct from the Author Book Awards. Her screenplays have won awards in the Writer’s Digest, Santa Fe, and WinFemme competitions. When she isn’t plumbing the depths of opera houses for murderous mayhem, Erica frequently contributes reviews and interviews for the well-known arts websites www.BroadwayWorld.com, www.bachtrack.com, and www.LAOpus.com.
AUTHOR WEBSITE:
SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES:
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Category: On Writing
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