BELLADONNA Bitter Conduct, a 1935 Mystery Voyage

  An Italian opera star spouts strange verses and collapses during the final act of Romeo and Juliet. Dr. Josephine Reva is in the audience and rushes to render aid. She believes the soprano was poisoned by Belladonna, a plant with deadly black berries, but her botanical expertise tells her there’s something more.

  Meanwhile, the Chief Detective uncovers fascist plots to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Could these events spark another World War? Josephine enlists her friends to follow the opera stars and investigate on the high seas.

  Who's the killer aboard the luxurious SS Rex? A shocking surreal artist, an avant-garde fashionista, a cardinal and priest carrying the relics of an American saint, a mysterious Mussolini official, a British lord, a Nazi doctor, or any of the narcissistic opera divas and dons? Also along is a handsome paramour—is romance on the horizon for Josephine, if she can survive the trip?

  Josephine must hurry to solve these Belladonna crimes with deeper roots, before the ship docks in Fascist Italy and it's too late.