(Fiction, reread, romance / mystery)(e-book)

This is one in a loose series of books set in the fictional European country of Lissenberg, written by the sister of Joan Aiken (Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Midnight is a Place etc.) LT lists it as third in the series, but as I remember it, the stories are strung out over a couple of centuries, with only the country they are set in to connect them and a recurring theme of the opera.

Anne, a rising opera star who lost her voice when her husband died is told by her doctor that she is dying, with only a few months left to live. She receives a letter from an old friend begging her to join him in Lissenberg to sing in a newly discovered opera by Beethoven, to be performed in their new, grand opera house at the opening of an important international peace conference. As she is an orphan with nothing and no-one in England that she has ties to, she decides to go. Suddenly she recovers her voice.

Strange things happen to Anne as she travels to Lissenberg by plane and train via Switzerland, but she eventually arrives to start rehearsals and finds the situation unusually tense and mysterious. Will the opera finally go ahead and be the success that Lissenberg needs it to be, to stave off bankruptcy or absorption as part of another country?

I first read this in my teens, way back when, and was thrilled to find it almost contemporary, compared to, say, What Katy Did orBallet Shoes, and the romance was quite sweet. This time, however, those details dated the book as clearly set in the 1970s. I confess that I read the book in two parts; one on holiday, and then had a couple of weeks break after we returned before I managed to get back to it and finish it, so I suspect I wasn't really in the right mood to read the last third of the book, and found the romance a little irritating, although the book did hold my interest well over the first part. It didn't help that, while I didn't remember the details, I remembered the twist which slightly spoiled the suspense.

All in all, an interesting story. Anne, given only a short time left to live, is no wishy-washy heroine, and Hodge gives us some insight into rehearsing for an opera production. I am planning on reading the others in the series (also as e-books), which are set further back in time.

3*** ( )

I'm not generally keen on thrillers, but I do enjoy Jane Aiken Hodge's genre, which tend to be light thrillers - often in a historical setting - with an underlying romance. Her writing style is crisp, her suspense is just scary enough to keep me reading but not unpleasant enough to stop me sleeping at night!

'Last Act' is set in the 1960s, and features Anne Paget, a singer who has just learned that she has an unspecified illness. Her doctor informs her that she has - at most - six months to live. The same day, she receives an invitation to be understudy in a newly-discovered opera in the small European town of Lissenburg.

With nothing to lose, Anne decides to take up the offer, and finds herself rapidly involved in intrigue, scandal, and extreme danger.

It was a pleasant light read. Not my favourite novel by this author, and somehow I didn't find myself deeply involved with any of the characters although they were mostly believable enough. But it certainly kept me interested for a couple of days and I enjoyed reading it. ( )