I'm happy to share an excerpt from Murder Backstage by Nupur Tustin. This book is the fourth in the Joseph Haydn Mystery series and was released last month.
Excerpt:
There’s an upstairs-downstairs dynamic in the Joseph Haydn Mysteries that I’m sure you’ll enjoy. Palace maids Rosalie and Greta are privy to gossip and have their own sources of information. Although, Haydn has a flair for putting together disparate bits of information, he would be severely limited in his investigation were it not for the clues Rosalie and Greta bring him. Here the maids receive a visit from their friend, Steffi:
Steffi, the Archbishop of Salzburg’s temporary maid in Vienna, shrugged out of her cape and shook her blond curls. “I wish His Grace would make up his mind whether he means to go or stay,” she complained.
She gave Rosalie her cape to hang up and seated herself at the capacious table in the Esterházy servants’ hall. “Count Kohary’s establishment is in need of a permanent kitchen maid, and the position would be mine if only I can confirm I can start in the next few days.”
“I thought His Grace meant to stay until he’d brought his musician to heel.” Greta placed a chilled glass of lemonade and a plate of Zitronenkeks—lemon cookies—before her friend. Their morning chores were done, and it had been a pleasant, if unexpected surprise, to see Steffi at the door.
“Has the man been found?” Rosalie carefully draped Steffi’s cape on one of the hooks by the door and returned to the table.
“Found and lost,” Steffi sighed, biting hungrily into a buttery cookie.
“You’re speaking in riddles, Steffi,” Greta admonished her. She helped herself to a cookie—the sweet treats with a thin layer of icing were her favorite. But fond as she was of Steffi, Greta couldn’t help reflecting that her friend had always been one to make much ado over nothing. “What exactly has happened?”
Most likely nothing much, she thought to herself.
“Well,” Steffi began, wiping the crumbs from her mouth, “he came on Saturday morning, his tail between his legs, begging to be taken back. Said he’d return to Salzburg as soon as His Grace ordered it.”
“And what did His Grace say?” Rosalie leaned forward, resting her elbows on the vast table. “That he wouldn’t?”
“Oh no, His Grace was quite willing to take him back.” Steffi took a sip of her chilled lemonade. “But the man—can you believe his temerity?—demanded His Grace pay him for all those months for which his salary had been withheld.”
“Good heavens!” Greta gasped. “I hope His Grace tossed him out with a flea in his ear.”
“Oh, he put his foot down, of course. Even so, we all thought the matter settled. That Herr Mozart—that is his name—would return to Salzburg and that His Grace would follow suit. If I’d known that wasn’t to be the case, I wouldn’t have applied for the position at Count Kohary’s.” Steffi pushed out her pretty red lips into a pout.
“And now he has gotten himself arrested.” Steffi’s emerald-green eyes flashed with anger. “And His Grace—well, I have no notion what His Grace means to do.”
“Arrested!” Rosalie’s violet eyes widened and collided with Greta’s.
“Didn’t I say it was him?” Greta folded her arms and jutted her chin out. She turned to Steffi. “He’s been arrested for murder, has he not? This—what did you say his name was?”
“Mozart,” Steffi replied. “Leopold Mozart.” She frowned. “But how did you two find out about that?”
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Murder Backstage: A Joseph Haydn Mystery by Nupur Tustin
About Murder Backstage
Historical Cozy Mystery
4th in Series
Setting - In Vienna’s Burgtheater in the eighteenth century.
Foiled Plots Press (July 6, 2022)
Print length: 348 pages
When murder propels him backstage, Haydn is forced to confront a deadly killer. . .
When the Burgtheater’s impresario unexpectedly meets his maker, Joseph Haydn is relieved to learn no one expects him to look into the matter. The impresario was murdered—and the Salzburger believed to be the killer is already behind bars.But the impresario’s untimely death is not without consequences. Haydn’s employer insists he take over the dead man’s duties. Handling the tedious technical details of putting on an opera is bad enough. Confronting the suspicious behavior backstage is even worse.
Is an innocent man being sent to the gallows? Haydn is plagued by the question when his brother Michael confirms his worst fears. The Salzburger arrested for the murder is none other than Leopold Mozart—father of the well-known child prodigy currently in Vienna.
Now, egged on by Michael—a close friend of the Mozarts—Haydn must prove Leopold innocent. Or risk his brother’s ire forever!
Praise for the Joseph Haydn Mysteries: “Tustin orchestrates a concerto of intrigue and deception . . .” – Anna Lee Huber, Lady Darby Mysteries
“A standout in the genre of historical mysteries . . .” – Midwest Book Reviews
About Nupur Tustin
A former journalist, Nupur Tustin misuses a Ph.D. in Communication and an M.A. in English to orchestrate mayhem in Joseph Haydn’s Austria and to paint intrigue in her Celine Skye Psychic Mysteries about a psychic who takes on the outrageous and still unsolved Gardner Museum theft! In addition to being a storyteller and avid mystery fan, Nupur is a wife and homeschooling Mom who’s recently become a Christian.
Author Links:
Website: https://ntustin.com Get Two Complimentary Mystery Anthologies and two 50% Off Coupons When You Sign Up!
Blog: https://ntustin.com/blog
GoodReads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61229641-murder-backstage
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/ntustinauthor
Purchase Links: NTUSTIN/SHOP: https://ntustin.com/product/murder-backstage Amazon Barnes & Noble Apple iBooks Kobo
Thanks for featuring Murder Backstage on your blog, Kathy!
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