Overture to Death

Overture to Death is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the eighth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1939. The plot concerns a murder during a village theatrical performance; Sergei Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C-sharp minor plays a prominent part in the story. So does a "Venetian Suite" by Ethelbert Nevin. The murder weapon is a pistol hidden in a piano.