Used book – Death at La Fenice, Donna Leon

Opera lovers gather at La Fenice in Venice where, that evening, Wellauer, the celebrated German conductor, is conducting La Traviata. The bell announcing the end of the intermission rings, spectators return to their seats, musicians settle in, the murmuring stops, everyone awaits the maestro's return. Minutes pass, the silence becomes heavy, Wellauer is still not there... he lies dead in his dressing room. Commissioner Guido Brunetti, immediately dispatched to the scene, quickly concludes it was cyanide poisoning. Did the highly respected musician have enemies? Backstage at the opera, Guido Brunetti discovers what lies beneath the surface.