When young clarinetist Lukas Bechmann loses his mother shortly after their move to Cincinnati, grief is soon eclipsed by shock—a stranger appears at the funeral claiming to be the father Lukas thought long dead.

Augusta McKee, professor of voice at The Conservatory, can’t ignore her colleague’s distress. With her husband, Detective Chief Malcolm Mitchell, she begins digging into the past of the mysterious Henry Freeman. But the deeper they search, the murkier the truth becomes.

At the same time, Augusta steps into her role as stage director for Verdi’s I Vespri Siciliani, conducted by the brilliant Leonard Bernstein. Onstage, an opera father discovers a son he never knew; offstage, Lukas faces the same haunting twist of fate.

As secrets unravel, Augusta finds herself caught in a tangle of lies, loyalties, and long-buried connections—until a revelation ties Lukas, Freeman, and Bernstein together in ways no one could have imagined.

THE CASE OF THE SINISTER STRANGER is the 12th book in Susan Moore Jordan‘s mystery series and is available now on Amazon and other retailers. Ask your local book store to order you a copy!