THE GOLD CURSE

by Herbert Resnicow ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 28, 1986

Sad to say, the Golds of New York City's Yupper West Side--genius Alexander and shrewd, pushy wife Norma--aren't wearing too well, as amply illustrated in this latest adventure (The Gold Solution, etc.). Here, they're hired, after interminable negotiations, by tycoon Minos Zacharias, to find, in one week, the murderer of diva Thea Malabar, his monster of an ex-mistress, killed, on stage, in a Jan Valezyk production of Rigoletto. Several of Thea's archenemies shared the stage that night--tenor and ex-lover Carlo Cacciare, baritone and cuckolded husband Ettore D'Aguilla, gorgeous soprano rival Salome Auber, to say nothing of general manager Hugo Kreuz and a few others. Aggressive and repetitive interviews with all of them and rerun tapes of the performance get Alex nowhere, until he wakes one morning with a full-blown solution--not only to Thea's murder but to that of Minos' wife Helen, which happened a year before and was called an accident but which Alex insisted from the start was connected to Thea's death. A reenactment is arranged to prove his theory, which almost costs Norma her life, but by now only the most ardent opera aficinados will still be around--most readers will have beaten a retreat from the nitpicking detail, Norma's overbearing personality and the pervading air of high cutesiness.

Pub Date: July 28, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1986

Categories: FICTION