Crafts and Life

Wisteria Tearoom owner Ellen Rosings coaxes Detective Tony Aragón to go with her to the Santa Fe Opera, but the magnificent performance of Tosca ends in disaster. In bizarre counterpoint to the opera's plot, the leading man is murdered in his dressing room, and Tony must rush to secure the crime scene. Ellen is left to comfort Vi Benning, a former server at the tearoom who is now an apprentice at the Opera and a protégée of the slain singer.

No opera aficionado, Tony turns to Ellen for help navigating the world in which he must now conduct an investigation. At the same time, Ellen is coping with a sudden, mysterious jump in business at the tearoom. Her problems are eclectic:

…Who killed the famous baritone?

…What do the antique letters she's found have to do with the tearoom's resident ghost?

…And will she and Tony ever find time for a normal date?

Ellen has been given a couple of tickets to the opera to see Tosca and she invites Tony Aragon along as her partner (a friend of her Aunt Nat's is doing a meal before the performance and Ellen and Tony are invited to be part of the party), everything is going well until the curtain call at the end, when the performer playing the part of Baron Scarpia doesn't come on.  The next thing is Tony getting a text and heading backstage where Victor Solano is lying dead.

Ellen ends up getting involved, partly because Tony is using her to find out about the world of opera and partly because Violetta, a protégée of Victor Salono, and previously a waitress at the tearoom is so upset, about the only good thing that seems to have come out of all this is the fact that Solano praised the Wisteria Tearoom and they are therefore booked up solid for the next week or so! Ellen is trying to help solve this puzzle when there is another death at the Opera House, and as well as this her ghost is starting to play the piano and Ellen has found something that belongs to him in the house, so this is keeping her and her staff well and truly busy.

Patrice Greenwood has pulled out all the stops again with another fantastic visit to the tearoom I would love to have near to me, she has written about the wonderful close knit employees and how they pull together at all times, and the "will it work out" romance is a great side to Ellen and Tony. 5 out of 5!