Some weeks ago I read an early mystery by local author David Linzee (Death in Connecticut) and at the suggestion of a colleague, I've read this later one. Renata Radleigh is a British-born opera singer who is in St. Louis to perform a minor role in an unusual take on Carmen. Her brother works as a fundraiser for the St. Louis Opera, and he is ecstatic to have convinced Helen Stromberg-Brand, an Adams University researcher, to make a huge donation that will help the ailing opera company. Renata and her brother Don have a history of antagonism for each other, and she is as surprised as anyone when she attacks officers who come to arrest her brother for Helen's murder. Renata is luckily not charged in the attack, and she begins to make her own inquiries into possible murder suspects, to the annoyance of the detective. The solution to the murder is not at all obvious, not matter what the detective thinks. Helen's marriage was floundering and she had some issues regarding her research into a much-needed drug. She had garnered a named professorship at the university, beating out Ransome Chase, a now-bitter colleague who was working for the eradication of a different disease. And what's going on with Keith Bryson, a hugely rich venture-capitalist who had partnered in Helen's research?I found this book an enjoyable read, not only for twists and turns in the solution, but also for the local flavor of the St. Louis area.
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