Cincinnati, March 1970 Augusta McKee-professor, voice teacher, and opera director at the Conservatory-is realizing a lifelong dream as she directs a production of Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann in Cincinnati's magnificent Music Hall. Former student and now colleague Allan Meissner, recently returned from a tour of duty in Vietnam, is set to perform one of the leading roles in the Offenbach opera, starring as the villain, a character with four distinctly different personalities-and a true tour-de-force for a basso.

Two weeks before Allan's opera performance, Augusta receives a shocking phone call from her husband, Malcolm Mitchell, Chief of Detectives for the Cincinnati Police Department, informing her that a friend of Allan's has been found murdered. The news becomes even more startling when Allan is arrested and charged with the murder, throwing Augusta's upcoming opera production-not to mention Allan's entire future- into jeopardy. Solving this crime of passion becomes a race against the clock, a race with unexpected twists and collateral damage.

As the pursuit to identify and apprehend the murderer intensifies, life imitates art when Augusta, determined to restore Allan's good name and reputation, joins the detectives to bring an elusive and dangerous villain to justice.