It’s Not Always a Mystery: Following a Series Protagonist’s Journey by Erica Miner

 It’s been said that San Francisco considers its opera only slightly less sacred than the Holy Grail. The city is totally an opera town. That’s one major reason why I chose to set Overture to Murder, Book 3 in my Julia Kogan Opera Mystery series, at San Francisco Opera. The City by the Bay and its opera are the perfect milieu for this new episode in the investigative journey of Julia, young violinist turned amateur sleuth and protagonist in my Julia Kogan Opera Mystery series.

Not only is San Francisco Opera the second most prestigious company in the US after the Met Opera,  which makes for a high-stakes environment for our protagonist, but as the writer I have a deep personal connection with the company. Numerous family members and close friends have lived in the city and worked at the famed War Memorial Opera House, whose history forms a key part of the book’s plot. I’ve spent immense amounts of time in the city and its opera house over the decades.

San Francisco is also home to some of the most iconic landmarks in the world. Nob Hill, the legendary crooked Lombard Street, Pier 39, Fisherman’s Wharf, Chinatown, Ghirardelli Square, the Presidio, Lands End, Golden Gate Park, the Golden Gate Bridge, and many others come to mind. Julia explores all of these in great detail, and they figure prominently in the mystery she attempts to solve. 

In the world of opera, aficionados who are hooked on the works of 19th century German operatic giant Richard Wagner have been known to travel the world in search of the next best production of his famous 4-opera Ring of the Nibelungen. Two zealous members of the New York Wagner Society recently admitted to having witnessed more than 35 productions of the cycle. As a former violinist with the Met, and a frequent lecturer on opera, I’m exceedingly familiar with this special breed of fanaticism.

Wagner’s Ring forms the core of the mystery in Overture to Murder. This ups the ante for Julia. Having survived murder investigations and subsequent targeting by ruthless killers in Books 1 and 2 of the series, Aria for Murder and Prelude to Murder, in Book 3 Julia finds herself in a new type of high-pressure situation when she is called upon by San Francisco Opera to fill in for Ben, their all-important concertmaster (first of the first violinists), in the fiendishly difficult Ring. Ben has been seriously injured in a hit-and-run accident, which Julia senses was anything but accidental. And we’re off and running.  

Opera stories are among the most violent ever written. All the books in my series have one or more of these bloody tales woven into their mystery plots. Each opera in the challenging 4-part Ring contains at least one murder if not more, creating the perfect background for the grisly homicides that take place onstage and off in Overture to Murder. 

The pressure mounts as Julia becomes entangled in the investigations. As one reader wrote, “There is nothing like a heroine violinist capable of practicing a tricky passage from a Wagnerian opera score while simultaneously pondering the clues she has collected during a murder investigation.” 

That’s exactly how I envision Julia. She has evolved immensely since Book 1, in which she was a starry-eyed, unsuspecting neophyte excited to make her debut in the orchestra of the world’s most prestigious opera house. By the time we catch up with her in Overture to Murder, her experiences have transformed her into a savvy, keenly intuitive amateur sleuth who manages to solve operatic murders the Police can’t unravel. This is the kind of character journey that hopefully will keep readers eager to follow Julia into whatever series adventure might follow. 

What will she be up to next? Stay tuned.

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

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’s fanciful plot fabrications reveal the dark side of the fascinating world of opera in her Julia Kogan Opera Mystery series (Level Best Books): Aria for Murder (2022), finalist in the 2023 CIBA and Eric Hoffer Book Awards; Prelude to Murder (2023), a Distinguished Favorite in the NYC Big Book Awards (https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/erica-miner/prelude-to-murder/ -‘A skillfully written whodunit of operatic proportions’--Kirkus Reviews); and Book 3, Overture to Murder, released in Oct. 2024. 

 

Erica’s debut novel, Travels with My Lovers, won the Fiction Prize in the Direct from the Author Book Awards. https://www.ericaminer.com. 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:
https://www.ericaminer.com

 

SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES:
https://www.facebook.com/erica.miner1   

https://twitter.com/EmwrtrErica          

https://www.instagram.com/emwriter3/

 

BUY LINKS:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Overture-Murder-Julia-Kogan-Mystery/dp/1685127819/ 

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/overture-to-murder-erica-miner/1146432661?ean=9781685127817 

Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/overture-to-murder-a-julia-kogan-opera-mystery-erica-miner/21899693?ean=9781685127817

9 thoughts on “It’s Not Always a Mystery: Following a Series Protagonist’s Journey by Erica Miner”

  1. Erica makes an amazing point that hit me with an internal ‘of course’ — “Opera stories are among the most violent ever written..”
    Of course, that adds to the perfection of her blend of murder mysteries within the opera world. The connection brought a writer-smile of glee to my face ( ;

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