Mask For A Diva (Stonewall Inn Mysteries) [Paperback]

Grant Michaels (Author)

Book Description

Series: Stonewall Inn Mysteries | Publication Date: January 15, 1996

Stan Kraychik, Boston hair-dresser extraordinaire, has been hired as the wig master's assistant for the upcoming season of a local opera company. For the main event, Italian opera diva and aging soprano Marcella Ostinata will perform the lead. As the company heads unsteadily towards opening night, murder threatens the entire festival and Stan finds himself playing a crucial role in a deadly grand opera, performed without music, and with real weapons and killers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Michaels's fourth starring vehicle for Boston hairdresser and sometime sleuth Stan Kraychik (last seen in Dead on Your Feet), the gay redhead forsakes his tony Back Bay salon for an opera festival at a Massachusetts resort. There Stan is to help dress wigs, while Marcella Ostinata, "an aging dramatic soprano whose past glories were dubious," will take center stage in Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera. The diva's high notes are silenced for good, however, as a murderous phantom of the opera stalks the Sidney Blaustein Center for the Performing Arts. Enter Boston cop, Lt. Vito Branco, a supposedly hetero hunk whom Stan has assisted (and drooled over) in earlier crime-busting adventures. Part Agatha Christie melodrama, part Murder, She Wrote episode, this campy caper proceeds with an endearing predictability: readers may know what's coming next, but that's part of the fun. Michaels includes just enough opera tidbits (including qualche Italian phrases) to entertain but not overwhelm, and Stan's wisecracks continue to tickle fey funnybones.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Gay hairdresser and flighty amateur sleuth Stanley Kraychik (Love You to Death, LJ 3/1/92) takes a temporary job as wig assistant at a new opera facility near Boston. An aging, viciously rude soprano of dubious talent heads the cast, so no one expresses remorse-or surprise-at her murder. Deputized by his favorite straight Boston policeman, Kraychik manages to question and alienate most of an artistically and sexually diverse cast. Michaels beats some of his clues to death with conjecture and repetition, but the strange characterizations may keep the pages turning for some.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (January 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312141203
• ISBN-13: 978-0312141202
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,231,467 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stan at the opera!, November 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Mask For A Diva (Stonewall Inn Mysteries) (Paperback)

Grant Michael's Stan Kraychek (Nancy Drew with a curling iron) sets off for a summer opera fest with a wild cast of characters, some of them charming and some darker and more disagreeable. Three deaths later, and of course our Stan gets embroiled in solving the mystery. Actually, the mystery isn't that complicated, but Michaels brings his unique point of view and superb style of descriptive writing to the effort and the result is a very enjoyable read. While not as gripping as some of the earlier stories in terms or pure who-done-it, you'll enjoy this one, whether you like opera or not.

5.0 out of 5 stars Take a vacation full of laughs!, December 9, 2009

By 

barbarylane6 (Texas) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mask For A Diva (Stonewall Inn Mysteries) (Paperback)

This entire series is a must for anyone with a sense of humor. They are light and fun and easy to fly through. If you read at night, what a better way to end the day than smiling?

4.0 out of 5 stars Stan as the wig hairstylist for the Opera, September 14, 2009

By 

jmore865 (Tennessee) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mask For A Diva (Stonewall Inn Mysteries) (Paperback)

Grant Michaels continues to write some of the most interesting murder mysteries. Even though this is my least favorite of the series so far it is still better than most out there. Notice I gave this one four star instead of five and that is because it took longer than normal to get the action rolling. Once it was rolling it did not stop even when the book was over.

The starts with Stan on a passenger train headed for a new opera festival to do style the wigs. He was doing this on the urging of his boyfriend, Rafik. Rafik was in Paris visiting his family to prepare them to meet the great Stan. Stan due to mistaken identity got in the car with a future friend. Most of the next several chapters is meeting the interesting array of characters. Stan is missing his man and his best friend but before you know it he is involved again with another murder. He knew it was a murder before the cops did but then another murder happened. Stan was always involved with the Boston Police when he was helping with a murder case but now he was in the suburbs but before Stan could think the local police call in the Boston PD. His old pal Branco shows up and this time makes Stan a deputy to assist in the murder. Leave it to Stan to solve the murder but to be honest this was the most transparent case of the series. However when you know at the end of the book it is time for Stan to fly to France to meet Rafik's parent a telegram arrives but you do not know what it says as Stan boards a plane but it does not seem like great news. I can not wait until the next one to see what happens as I know Grant Michaels will amaze me.