This book was great! I haven't read many mystery books but this one pulled me in right from the start!

Marta is an opera singer whose life falls apart onstage when she learns that her husband has been killed in a house fire. Fast forward two years later, she's finally ready to get her career back on track, however while she's in Paris starring in a show she thinks she's seen a ghost; surely she didn't just see her dead husband? That sighting leads to questions she doesn't have the answers to and takes Marta from her home in Toronto to Montreal and back to Paris in her search for answers.

This book drew me in right from the start, there was never a dull moment. I will definitely be checking out more of Rick Blechta's books! ( )

I can't say i overly enjoyed this book. A mystery taking place with a character who's an opera singer. She lost her husband suddenly in a fire 2 years ago and after a breakdown, she's ready to sing again. While in Paris she thinks she sees her dead husband on a rainy street and again a few days later outside the opera house. Is he really dead? Is she losing her mind?

SPOILERS BELOW

Well of course he's not dead. You can predict this story very easily as it uses all the cliches and really obvious clues along the way that he had something to hide even when alive.

Burned in a fire and unidentifiable except for his wedding ring. It's only 2 years ago. Didn't anyone do a DNA test? And considering how the death occurred, which we find out later in the book, there would have been metallic evidence that should have been suspicious. Marta didn't really know anything about her husband's past, he never told her, she didn't ask much. Almost none of her friends met him because he avoided the post-performance parties and other gala events she'd be invited to, thus avoiding paparazzi. Yes, I get it.

Marta involves the journalist boyfriend of an old friend who just happens to be well versed in the Montreal biker crime scene in which she's discovered her husband was involved. That's a coincidence! So of course the minute he starts asking questions, (cliche) he (in Montreal) and a colleague in Vancouver both get murdered, hours apart and her friend is later beaten up. There's a dirty cop somewhere in the mix. Didn't see that coming. Her condo is ransacked, another obligiatory cliche. She finds a perfect new boyfriend with a big, loving family who all love opera. The boyfriend is a bit over protective of her but ends up saving her life. The previously dead husband has a new wife and child, also predictable. Her voice coach of seven years also happened to be a psychiatrist and helped her through her breakdown. How perfectly coincidental was that? The villain has to have the scene where he spills a full confession while he's about to assassinate everyone. Oh, he did NOT name one of the bad guys "Mad Dog"! Please! And the climax of the book stretched credibility a little.

The book is by a Canadian author and there are multiple references to streets and neighbourhoods in Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal, most of which are not going to mean anything if you've not been to those cities yet not once is the CN Tower mentioned or the Parliament buildings, not even in a drive by scene or a view out the window. I found that odd. But having been to those cities, I could picture the locations well. The writing was clean and very easy to read but it also felt a little bland. The story itself, while predictable, wasn't too bad. I did like the main character, Marta, and I actually liked her voice coach cum psychiatrist. You might like the book, it really wasn't too bad but I prefer my mysteries to have a bit more mystery about them and a little less obvious. ( )