In Death at La Fenice, Donna Leon’s first novel in the Commissario Brunetti series, readers were introduced to the glamorous and cut-throat world of opera and to one of Italy’s finest living sopranos, Flavia Petrelli. Now, many years later, Flavia has returned to the illustrious La Fenice to sing the lead in Tosca.

As an opera superstar, Flavia is well acquainted with attention from adoring fans and aspiring singers. But when one anonymous fan inundates her with bouquets of yellow roses – on stage, in her dressing room and even inside her locked apartment – it becomes clear that this admirer has become a dangerous stalker.

Distraught and horrified, Flavia turns to an old friend for help. In steps Commissario Brunetti. Familiar with Flavia’s melodramatic temperament, he is at first unperturbed by her story, only realising the situation is more threatening when another young opera singer is attacked. Desperate to keep Flavia out of danger, Brunetti is determined to find the culprit before more harm is done.