A dazzling new production of Carmen is set to open in Chicago, an event destined to drag opera kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century. More "musical extravaganza" than magnum opus, it still retains classic opera's scandalous offstage theatrics: a diva with an oversize ego, clandestine love affairs, philanthropic pussyfooting -- and now murder.

When handsome tenor Riccardo Nuevo, playing Don Jose, literally dies on stage in a moment that is dramatic even by operatic standards, everyone is stunned. But was Riccardo really the intended victim -- or should the swan song have gone to the queen of mean herself, dragon diva Maria Cortez? With the help of his close friend and opera buff septuagenarian Emily Charters, Chicago detective Jeremy Ransom goes backstage to turn the spotlight on a clever killer.