Enter a Wizard, Stage Left by Connie di Marco

Enter a Wizard, Stage Left

The Zodiac Mystery Novella

by Connie di Marco.

(Mystery)

Know More

Julia Bonatti wasn’t always a crime-solving San Francisco astrologer. She was a young woman, engaged to the love of her life, preparing for a teaching career when tragedy struck. Her fiancé was killed in a hit and run accident. As Julia struggles with her loss and attempts to find meaning in her life again, she takes refuge with her grandmother Gloria. But there’s little time for grief or rest because Gloria, a retired seamstress, needs Julia’s help. Gloria’s been hired to create costumes for a production of Agatha Christie’s Appointment with Death at the newly opened Theatre Mars in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood.
Theatre Mars is a stunning jewel, the cast is supremely talented and the script is brilliant. What could go wrong? Julia gets the first hint of trouble when her new friend, the owner of The Mystic Eye bookshop, warns that all might not go well. Opening night will take place during the dark of the moon, the last three days before the new moon, a time that bodes disaster for any new project. The dire prediction comes true when the lead actress is murdered before the final curtain, echoing the play itself. Julia discovers a vital clue to the murder, but a clue that puts Gloria’s life in grave danger. Can Julia rescue her grandmother before it’s too late? And will a black cat play a leading role?

Enter a Wizard, Stage Left, or the play-within-the-play, based upon Agatha Christie’s famed work, Appointment with Death, could not be better plotted than if the renowned mystery author had written it herself. Unless, of course, Connie di Marco has channeled Christie as she penned a prequel for her Zodiac Mysteries with this exciting new novella. Delicately crafted, with just enough suspense to keep readers joyously turning pages, di Marco has delivered a delightful peek behind the scenes of her successful series. Readers will feel like they’ve reunited with old friends and look forward to more.
— Nancy Cole Silverman, author of the Carol Childs Mysteries and the Misti Dawn Mysteries

“A clever plot, with wit and charm! With Connie di Marco’s new prequel, Enter a Wizard, Stage Left, I see a bright future for fans of her stellar Zodiac Mysteries!”
―Molly Macrae, National Bestselling and Award-Winning Author of the Highland Bookshop Mysteries and The Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries

A Word from the Author

I have to give credit to fans of the Zodiac Mysteries for the inspiration for Enter a Wizard, Stage Left. What triggered this little e-book novella were questions from readers. Some wanted to know how Julia first became interested in astrology. Others asked to hear more about Julia’s grandmother Gloria, the feisty widow who raised Julia after her parents’ death. Several cat lovers wanted to know more about Wizard, Julia’s twenty-pound black cat.

At the time these e mails and Facebook comments came to me, I was just starting to write the fourth book in the series, Serpent’s Doom, but those questions kept lingering in my mind. To be perfectly honest, maybe I was just procrastinating all the work that the next book would require, but I decided to procrastinate a bit more and write a novella that takes place before the series begins.

Julia wasn’t always a crime-solving astrologer. She was a grad student planning a teaching career and engaged to the love of her life. All that changed in an instant when her fiancé was killed in a hit and run accident. Her former life was gone. Enter a Wizard, Stage Left begins there, and takes place at a production of an Agatha Christie classic, Appointment with Death. Gloria, Julia’s grandmother, is a seamstress and she’s been hired to create the 1930s costumes for the play. She enlists Julia’s help in an effort to pull her granddaughter out of grief and get her involved in life again.

Writing a novella was a first for me and it was great fun. I hope readers will enjoy having their questions answered and relish this tribute to the Golden Age of classic theater mysteries.

(Connie di Marco, 2023)