Interrupted Aria  
By Beverle Graves Myers

     1731 Venice. A glittering kaleidoscope of intrigue, romance, music,
politics, and--murder.

       Years away training as a singer have culminated in Tito Amato's return to his Venetian home for a triumphant professional debut. Except it's not quite that simple. The long training exile came as a result of “the cutting”--surgery that turned Tito into a castrato. There are those who may be the superstars of their time onstage, but their lives offstage are an endless round of intrusive fascination or contempt. Tito gets reminded of that before he has a chance to step off the boat onto Venetian soil. While the triumph of his debut quickly turns to disaster when one of his new friends in the opera company is murdered and Felice--an old friend who had accompanied Tito to Venice--is arrested for the crime. Felice's execution within a few days is certain unless Tito can prove him innocent, since no one else has shown any interest in looking for alternative suspects--not that launching a career and finding a murderer is all that Tito has to deal with. He has come home to a slew of family problems, old and new, and the fascinating attentions of a beautiful admirer.

      Don't assume because of its operatic core that this is a slow-paced, esoteric, high-brow tale of interest only to opera fans. It's actually a romp, full of clashing passions and non-stop action, taking you through the vividly depicted many worlds of 18th century Venice, from chilly canals and opera-loving gondoliers to merchant prince's palaces and an island famous for houses of pleasure. All of this is seen through the eyes of an engaging protagonist whose worldview is particularly unique because of the surgery that changed his life and what we learn that means to him.