Meyers: Murder Ends the Song

‘Caro Nome’ has been murdered by so many would-be coloratura sopranos that cynics might find a sinister delight in a story motivated by the murder of a has-been coloratura of the Metropolitan. Marina Grazie has been likened, rather inelegantly, to the old gray mare. Not only was her voice (Marina’s, not the mare’s) ‘wasn’t what it used to be,’ but she possessed a huge gift for inspiring animosity among the members of her entourage. When Marina was hailed from retirement for a tour of the Pacific Coast with the Monte Calvo Opera Company, little did Tony Graine, the tenor, realize that he would be called upon to solve the murder of the great diva. The curtain fell for Marina at Lucifer’s Pride, a barny museum of an abandoned mansion built for her by an admirer during her salad days. The plot is not only something different from the usual run of mysteries, but shows plainly the fine craftmanship of an author who majored in English at Notre Dame, and, incidentally, has also done quite well for himself in the musical world. (Nashville Tennessean, 1941)

Additional

First published in 1941.