The Figaro Murders: A Novel
By: Laura Lebow
Rating: 4 of 5
“The Figaro Murders” is the debut murder mystery by Laura Lebow. It is set in the late 1700’s in Vienna. Many of the characters are actual historical figures who made up the opera music scene of the day.
The sleuth is Lorenzo De Ponte, the theater poet of Emperor Joseph II. He is in the midst of writing the libretto with Mozart to their opera “The Marriage of Figaro” when he is suddenly pulled into solving a mystery of birth, a murder mystery, finding a spy, and other assorted unknowns that crop up throughout the book.
The story was a little heavy on information that, once I read the author’s notes afterward, I realized were provided as these were known facts about De Ponte and other figures in the book. I had wondered about their inclusion but figured that it was to set up further mysteries in a series (which, as it turns out, is also the case.)
The protagonist is a little wimpy by today’s standards but probably was properly portrayed for the time in which he lived. There was a lot of anger, tears, and hurt feelings being tossed about. Again, as an artist, there may have been an expectation of more showing of emotion than that of the average individual.
The whodunnit part of the book was able to surprise me though looking back, I could see at least one clue that I missed. The answers came together quickly at the end and they seemed to fit well within the story with very little being sprung at the last moment (though the solution to the birth mystery was one that I could not really trace back to any clues.)
The story was a good read and the series is one that I would like to follow in the future. While I like classical music and have seen a couple of operas, I am not a fan who would know who was who and what was true. I really appreciated the author’s notes following the story which provided me a good grounding on the time and how the story fit within it.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher, Minotaur Books, via Netgalley.
“The Figaro Murders” is the debut murder mystery by Laura Lebow. It is set in the late 1700’s in Vienna. Many of the characters are actual historical figures who made up the opera music scene of the day.