Margaret Truman is no George Pelecanos. But if your taste in Washington mysteries runs more to mind candy and name dropping than to guts and grit, Truman’s books may be for you.

The latest in her Capital Crimes series, Murder at the Opera takes place mainly around the Kennedy Center and the Washington National Opera’s rehearsal space in Takoma Park. The central characters, a Nick and Nora Charles–type couple named Mac and Annabel, spend little time at their jobs—law professor and gallery owner, respectively—which is just as well when a promising opera singer is found murdered. Annabel, an opera board member, asks a couple of extras—or supernumeraries—from Tosca to help the investigation, conveniently enough her husband and a music-loving ex-cop who’s a little too dandy to be real.

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