Prelude to Murder

In this sequel to Aria for Murder, young, prodigious Metropolitan Opera violinist Julia Kogan, having survived her entanglement in an investigation of the murder of an important person in her life, and a subsequent violent, life-threatening attack of a ruthless killer, is called upon for a key musical leadership position at the Santa Fe Opera. But at the spectacular outdoor theatre in the shadows of the mysterious New Mexico Sangre de Cristo Mountains, she witnesses yet other operatic murders, both onstage and off. Dark and painful secrets emerge as, ignoring warnings from her colleagues and from Larry, her significant other, Julia plunges into her own investigation of the killings. Ghostly apparitions combine with some of the most bloody and violent operas in the repertoire to make Julia question her own motives for searching for the killer. But this time the threat to her life originates from a source she never would have imagined.

"She’s a tough one,” Julia said to Marin at the cantina during the rehearsal break.

Marin grimaced. “Emilia? She tries to be. But mostly, she’s paranoid. She thinks everyone’s out to get her. Specifically other singers. Me in particular.”

“She’s a soprano. Why should she feel threatened by you, a mezzo?”

“The size of her ego dictates that she be in the limelight at all times. She’s made it clear. There’s only one ‘I’ in ‘Diva.’ Sometimes, this profession can be really nasty, you know?”

“How do you manage to sing this music, Marin?” Julia asked. “It seems impossible.”

“I learned to connect with these doomed characters. Ironically, mine is the only one in the opera who loves Lulu unconditionally. Me and Emilia. As if.”

After the grueling rehearsal had ended, Julia trudged to the exterior of the theatre for a whiff of fresh air and some solitude. Standing by the fence behind the B-Lift opening to the back of the stage, she gazed into the distance beyond the hillside dotted with brush and chaparral, squinting from the intensity of the New Mexico sunlight. Then she blinked.

Someone was out there, darting among the bushes. Male or female, she couldn’t tell, but
whoever it was wore Bermuda shorts and a wide-brimmed straw hat.

[The ghost of John Crosby? No, no, that’s ridiculous. I must be hallucinating.]

Julia closed her eyes, then opened them. The figure was gone. She shook off a shudder.

“Whoever you are,” she muttered aloud, “Could you please get rid of Blatchley? Or at least get him off my back?”

Sighing, she took one last look at the empty landscape and went to find Larry. One thing she knew for certain: she would never tell him what had just happened.

Violinist turned author ERICA MINER now has a multi-faceted career as an award-winning author, screenwriter, journalist and lecturer. A native of Detroit, she studied violin with Boston Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Joseph Silverstein at Boston University where she graduated cum laude; the New England Conservatory of Music; and the Tanglewood Music Center, summer home of the Boston Symphony, where she performed with such celebrated conductors as Leonard Bernstein and Erich Leinsdorf. Erica went on to perform with the prestigious Metropolitan Opera Company for 21 years, where she worked closely with renowned maestro James Levine.

When injuries from a car accident spelled the end of her musical career, Erica drew upon her lifelong love of writing for inspiration and studied screenwriting in New York and Los Angeles with script gurus Linda Seger and Ken Rotcop. Erica’s screenplays have won awards in a number of recognized competitions such as WinFemme, Santa Fe and the Writer’s Digest.

Inspired by journals she wrote during her travel adventures abroad, Erica penned the novel and screenplay of Travels With My Lovers, winner of the Fiction Prize in the Direct from the Author Book Awards. She also has written the feature screenplay and TV Series Bible for FourEver Friends, the first in her journal-based novel series chronicling four teenage girls' coming of age in Detroit in the volatile 1960s. Subsequent novel in the series are set in Boston and New York. In addition, Erica has written the screenplay of her mystery novel Murder In The Pit, now renamed Aria for Murder, released in Oct., 2022 by Level Best books, which takes place at the Met Opera. The sequel, Prelude to Murder, set at Santa Fe Opera, releases in Sept., 2023. The next sequel, which takes place at San Francisco Opera, will release in Oct., 2024.

Erica's lectures, seminars and workshops on writing and on opera have received kudos in venues worldwide, including: pre-concert lectures for the Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall; the Wagner Societies of New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Diego, Northern California, North Carolina and Sydney, Australia; the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Washington; for the Creative Retirement Institute at Edmonds College near Seattle; and on the High Seas, where Erica was named a top-rated speaker for both Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruise Lines. Her wide-ranging topics range from "The Art of Self Re-Invention" to "Journaling for Writers: Mining the Gold of Your Own Experiences”, "Wagner and Bernstein: Parallels and Contrasts", "Opera Meets Hollywood"; Shakespeare and the Opera Composers Who Loved Him; and numerous others.

Now a well recognized reviewer for Seattle Opera and San Diego Opera, as well as San Diego Symphony, Seattle Symphony and Pacific Northwest Ballet among many others, Erica is a regular contributor of articles, reviews and interviews to:
- BroadwayWorld BroadwayWorld Articles
- Bachtrack Bachtrack Articles
- LAOpus LAOpus Articles
- OperaPulse.com OperaPulse.com Articles

Erica's writings also have appeared in Leitmotive, the magazine of the Wagner Society of Northern California, Italian American Magazine, San Diego Jewish Journal, Del Mar Lifestyle, Opera+ St. Petersburg Music & Art Magazine, Vision Magazine, WORD San Diego, Istanbul Our City, and numerous E-zines.

September 19, 2023: Erica Miner announces the release of her book, Prelude to Murder, the second in her Julia Kogan “Opera Mystery” series. Miner, a former violinist with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, tells the further adventures of young Met Opera violinist Julia Kogan. Having survived her entanglement in a murder investigation at the Met, Julia goes to the Santa Fe Opera, where she witnesses further operatic mayhem and a threat from an unexpected assailant.