Murder Fortissimo — Nicola Slade

When a terrible, awful woman dies by suspicious means, is there any reason not to let sleeping killers lie? Christiane Marchant met her bloody end when a large, heavy euphonium plunged off a balcony and onto her head. Everyone at the Firstone Grange residential home agreed it was a terrible accident. But nobody was going to miss the hateful Mrs. Marchant. Not her beleaguered daughter, not the exasperated staff, nor fellow guests at the home -- and especially not those she was blackmailing.

But retired headmistress Harriet Quigley, a new resident at the luxury lodgings, believes in getting to the truth, no matter how terrible. As she begins to ask questions, her sympathetic nature elicits more than a few confessions from the others -- all involving shameful secrets and long-buried dark deeds that Christiane had threatened to expose. But who among them was forced to resort to murder?