SAMPLE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR
1. How did you go from being a violinist at the Met Opera to writing opera mysteries?
2. What was your inspiration for writing Death by Opera, the sequel to Murder in the Pit?
3. What is so unique about the novel’s setting?
4. Why do you think both mystery lovers and opera lovers will identify with the book?
MY ARTICLES ON-LINE
BWW Interview: Marina Costa-Jackson of EUGENE ONEGIN at McCaw Hall
Marina Costa-Jackson was born to sing.
Christina Scheppelmann, Part 2: On New Operas, Cultural Exchange -- and Wagner
Do you have any thoughts of commissioning a new opera?
Women Artists Create New Seattle Theatre Company
Excitement is in the air north of Seattle
FAN CLUB/QUOTES/KUDOS
"I finished Death by Opera. Enjoyed that one too. Every bit as enjoyable as Murder in the Pit. You have an easy style of writing and I like it. Lulu is one of my favorites. Quite interesting characters."
Jack Firestone
"I’ve enjoyed Death by Opera. Foregone conclusion; I mean, I’m the target audience for these characters and this milieu. There were many twists that provided nifty frissons. I’ve never been to Santa Fe Opera. I like the way you captured the place. It feels like we’re really there. "
Robert Hecker, musician
"I’ve enjoyed Death by Opera...many twists that provided nifty frissons. I’ve never been to Santa Fe Opera, but I like the way you captured the place. It feels like we’re really there."
Robert Hecker, singer
"Just finished Death by Opera! I loved the novel, Erica! You give such a clear picture of the landscape of New Mexico as well as the Santa Fe Opera stage and setting. It really is a page turner! Thanks for giving wonderful background to many the operas which I love. Keep up your writing. I am anxious to learn what predicament Julia and Larry get into next! Also, keep the list of characters! By the way we toured the Santa Fe Opera a couple years ago. It really is spectacular!"
Anne Hunnewell
"I really enjoyed this mystery! Even more than Murder in the Pit. I am ready to visit Santa Fe tomorrow! The author of this book is a music fraternity sister and played violin for theMetropolitan Opera in NYC. The book is so rich in opera history, plots, staging, etc. I just loved it Erica Miner. Congratulations. Looking forward to the next book when it comes out in book form, Staged for Murder. The Santa Fe tourist bureau should be promoting your book! I am ready to go when COVID IS OVER! "
Terry Crowley Morgan
"...my mind is reeling with what you have done. It is a literary unique. You blend the beauty of Santa Fe, NM with the Opera stories to ghosts to murders. We readers fall in. We learn about Opera. We love and learn about the beauty of the area. But we feel fear first from ghosts, then to murders. Amazing “blend”...I was surprised/shocked/overwhelmed!!!! A work of art---literally!'"
Patricia Daly-Lipe, author
"'Grand Opera and a murder mystery? Who could ask for more?!'"
Michael Irish
"'Drama, music, and danger, in a single art form.'"
Riva Freifeld, Documentary Filmmaker
"Back stage, on stage and in the pit, the drama continues to build.
'Death By Opera has a lot of powerful pleasures going for it. It starts from a very real and very beautiful location, the Santa Fe Opera and the Santa Fe region, takes you through a very possible repertoire of a major opera company, and adds in the adventures and misadventures of an imaginary but almost real young violinist who is joining the company for the first time. Erica Miner, the author, was a violinist with the Metropolitan Opera for many years, and chose each of the operas she imagines were to be performed this season for their violently dramatic librettos. She knows the lives of people back stage, on stage and in the pit as well as she knows the operas: the passion they feel for their work, but also their friendships, ambitions, jealousies, flirtations and romances, and constructs her novel (this is the second in a series) as all of these intermingling themes play out, while each new production is being readied for opening night.'"
Elle S
"This opera mystery by Erica Miner will have you on the edge of your seat. Opera can be deadly."
Wendy Kendall, mystery author
"'I just finished your book. Heart pounding ending!!! Bravo!'"
Elle Schorr
"I finished reading DBO on my travels. Congratulations and bravo on a wonderful book. You give the reader such a special insight into the world of opera!"
Michael Jinsoo Lim, concertmaster, PNB Orchestra
"Just finished ‘Death by Opera’. Wow! A real tour de force. Very well constructed. My heart was beating wildly at the climax. A real cliffhanger!! I loved it!"
Craig Sheppard, professor of piano, U of Washington
"I just finished your book, Death by Opera, and I loved it! I so enjoyed the way you weaved music with the plot. I looked forward to the beginning of every chapter to read the opera quote and try to sleuth what was to come. I had given my mother a copy, and she liked it so much, she sent hers to my sister. Thank you, Erica, and many congratulations!!"
Melia Watras, UW professor of viola
"Erica the book was wonderful!! And the ending... I get it now. What a surprise!
It has to feel amazing to have conjured all this up, and of course I now want to read the first book and all of the Met intrigue. How fun that in both cases I am so familiar with the surroundings and your descriptions are so visible to me. Congratulations my dear!!"
Martha Caplin, violinist
"Enjoyed both your books. Just finished the one about Santa Fe opera. Kudos to you for the books you have written!"
Ruth Borst Punt
"Death by Opera and Murder in the Pit are two of my favorite reads this year! Waiting anxiously for the next adventure!"
Sieglinde Walse
"Congratulations! I just got my book, Saturday, from David Zimmerman! I love your inscription to me. You are a wonderful writer! May the book do well and go far!"
David Holloway, Director Emeritus, Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program
"‘Death by Opera is a peek behind the curtain of a world-renowned opera company, with plenty of mayhem on the bill. Rich spirituality, sumptuous history, and metaphysical frights give Erica Miner’s new novel many layers to enjoy. But it’s the music that steals the show. Amateur sleuth Julia Kogan, now summer concertmaster at Santa Fe’s famous opera company, returns (after Murder in the Pit), and finds herself smack in the middle of a veritable killing spree backstage. An engaging, clever mystery set against bloody arias and deadly recitativo."
James Ziskin, Award-winning author
"Erica Miner is the Agatha Christie of the opera world. More than a romp for opera buffs, Death by Opera is a wickedly wonderful, fast-paced thriller: a historically informative and illuminating “whodunit” interweaving ancient legends, ghost stories and present-day jealousies into a murder mystery of taut suspense playing out at Santa Fe’s world-renowned summer opera festival."
Richard Stilwell, Metropolitan Opera star
"WOW-You need to change your name to Erica Major! 'Death by Opera' is amazing, chilling, fascinating, inspiring, and reflects so much knowledge and research. Thank you, Erica. Keep writing!!"
Patricia Daly-Lipe, author
"Santa Fe... I love what you've done with the place!!! "
Larry Rose, writer
"Can’t wait for the next book!"
Esthere Tolbert
"DEATH BY OPERA is even better than death by chocolate!"
Gary Kendall, singer & writer
"Read both 'Death by Opera' and 'Murder in the Pit'! Lots of fun and loved the accurate ‘behind-the-scenes’ details!"
Preston Trombly, composer
"Finished reading Death By Opera, Erica. It is a terrific book. You are, indeed, the Agatha Christie of opera. Looking forward to the next installment of Julia's mystery-solving, wherever it may be. Brava Diva!"
Arthur Makar
"Just finished both of your opera whodunits ...Want to congratulate you and say "thanks for a couple of really fun and good reads.'"
Bill Neill, opera singer
"Quite a fun trip through Santa Fe and backstage at the Opera with a sweet interlude and subplot at Radiance. Many cool moments to go with rich characters and clever dialogue. Wonderful. You deserve big success with Death by Opera and mysteries to come."
Rob Dean, Searchlight New Mexico
"Just finished reading Death By Opera, By member Erica Miner. I found myself very entertained, and really enjoyed learning more history, of the Santa Fe Opera. If you love opera and/or mysteries, give this a read!"
Wickie Bowman
"Brava, Erica! This is a great read, lots of twists and turns, and especially enjoyed the quotes from the various operas!"
Daryl Goldberg, cellist
