Who stuck the steel knitting needle through the neck of the frayed canary? If you have ever yearned for the chance to still the notes of a coloratura soprano, your spine will shiver in sympathetic vibration to this tale of how Marina Grazie was tuned out-permanently. Marina had at least one thing in common with the old gray mare-she wasn’t what she used to be in the years B.P. (before Pons) when she was the darling of the Metropolitan. One characteristic, however, she had retained-‘a gift for inspiring impulses to violence.’ These impulses boiled to the surface among her entourage when she came out of a well-deserved retirement to join the Monte Calvo Opera Company on a tour of the Pacific Coast. Each of them jealously guarded the secret of his own past, but all were united by their bitterness toward the aging prima donna who ruled their lives with a whip of fear. On a sentimental pilgrimage to Lucifer’s Pride, a grim, half-finished castle on the banks of the Columbia River, Marina’s last aria was ended with that homely implement of which Hamlet soliloquized-‘a bare bodkin.’ During the next twenty-four storm-tossed hours, Tony Graine, the tenor in her company, uncovered a story of intrigue, jealousy, blackmail and revenge as wild as the blizzard which whined around the ancient castle. No police and no detectives were present to delay his brilliant quest of the solution to the deadly riddle. Murder Ends the Song is more than a fresh and amusing mystery novel. Into its thrill-packed pages is woven the fascinating atmosphere of the operatic stage, with its petty intrigues, its strange artistic quirks, and the spell which music spins about its devotees. Murder Ends the Song was first published in 1941. This reprint edition includes an introduction by Curtis Evans (thepassingtramp.blogspot.com).

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