An opera singer who vanishes at the height of her fame, the American painter who must learn whether she was carried off or ran away, and a chase that ends in Italy, in the brisk manner MacGrath brought over from newspaper work. He was among the first American novelists to write directly for the film studios, and it shows in the pacing. Fifty-seven plates by painters including Jean Béraud and Edvard Munch follow the opera house, the piano, and the parting that shape the chase.











