Spur of the moment, by David Linzee

After many years absence from novel writing, our own David Linzee is back with a new and highly entertaining mystery – the first of a series I look forward to reading.  This book is set in St. Louis, which adds much to the enjoyment for local readers. British born Renata Radleigh is a mezzo soprano who, in her thirties, is “past her sell-by date” according to her obnoxious brother, Don.  Don lives well in Clayton having secured an important fundraising job with the St. Louis Opera, largely through Renata’s connections and on the strength of his posh English accent.  Renata has performed at SLO for ten years and has a small part in an avant-garde version Carmen this season.  She understudies the role of Carmen and is a much better singer than her resume would suggest.  She’s never caught a big break.  Don has just captured a major, and critically-needed, donation from a local research doctor at Adams University, the thinly disguised Wash U.   Helen Stromberg-Brand is on the cusp of making a major breakthrough in the treatment and cure of the all-too-common UTI (urinary tract infection).  If successful, the vaccine will make enormous amounts of money for its discoverer and the drug company that brings it to market.  At the gala celebrating this contribution, Dr. Stromberg-Brand and her husband, Bert, quarrel and he threatens to cancel their gift.  In the chaos that ensues, Helen, Bert, and Don all leave the party.  When Helen turns up dead later that evening, whodunit?  Suspicion falls on Don, who was the last to see her at her home that night, and he is arrested.  Despite their years of sibling rivalry and her actual dislike of her brother, Renata springs to Don’s defense.  The book is cleverly plotted and great fun.  Opera fans will find much to like.   I loved the titles given to various university types, “the Associate Deputy Vice Chancellor for Public Relations,” and the hilarious designations honoring donors – “The Endeavour-Rent-a-Car Endowed Artist” (the lead singer), the “Emerson Electric Picnic Lawn,” etc.  And I loved Renata.  323 pp.