READ: Zift by Vladislav Todorov

Sent to prison for a murder he didn’t commit, Lev Kaludov Zhelyazko is released 20 years later. He entered his Sofia, Bulgaria cell while living under an authoritarian principality regime. He’s set free into a Communist totalitarian regime. Who knew things could have gotten worse.

In 1943, Lev, his wife and a childhood friend robbed a jewelry shop, where the owner is killed. A enormous black diamond disappeared. The three plot with and against each other to find it.

This sardonic novel, which takes place on the single of December 21, 1963, is subtitled, “a socialist noir,” and it lives up to the genre. It’s the longest, darkest night of the year, and the plot sparkles with intrigue, suspense, and humor. And everyone, even the incidental characters, has stories to tell. The novel is reminiscent of the old Edmund O’Brien film from 1950, D.O.A.

The title word describes a black pitch or asphalt used as a bonding material for road surfacing, and as poor person’s chewing gum. It’s also a Turkish slang word for one of the seven words you can’t say on television. Enough said.

Zift was made into a film in 2008. It’s now at the top of my Netflix list.

LISTEN: Berg: Altenberg-Lieder

Welsh soprano Margaret Price died recently, leaving behind a recorded legacy that preserves her elegance, style, wit, and intelligence as a singer and interpreter of opera and lieder. One of my favorite recordings of hers is the Altenberg-Lieder by Alban Berg. Written in 1910-11 and comprised of five short orchestral songs, the text deals with the various states of the human soul.

This recoding, conducted by Claudio Abbado, ranks as the very best performance available. Also included are a frightening rendition of the Lulu Suite and the Three Pieces for Orchestra.

READ: Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer by Wesley Stace

In 1923, on the evening of the dress rehearsal of his new opera, composer Charles Jessold murders his wife and her lover. He then commits suicide in a manner that eerily mirrors his opera’s plot, leaving behind a 2-month-old son. This heinous act is also reminiscent of the story of 16th century nobleman and composer, Carlo Gesualdo. As the scandal fills the newspapers and gossip columns, Jessold’s reputation is ruined, his music buried and forgotten.

Twenty-two years later, music critic Leslie Shepard is commissioned by the composer’s son to write a biography that will restore Jessold’s reputation. Shepard was a friend and the librettist for the opera based on the English folk song, Little Musgrave. The story he writes is not the story everyone expects.

Author Wesley Stace, also known as singer/songwriter John Wesley Harding, has written a murder mystery, a love story, and a history of 20th century English opera. In elegant prose, with a plot that let’s more and more of the story develop by returning to previous events and expanding on them, Stace creates tension and suspense. Just when you think you have it all figured out, a new revelation comes to light. Nothing is as it seems, but it’s only off by a little. Readers will never figure out what really happened that fateful night, and it will come as a shock. But it's great fun and not to be missed.