1636: The Devil’s Opera by Eric Flint and David Carrico

Alternate History

What Goodreads says:

"A new addition to the multiple New York Times best-selling Ring of Fire series. After carving a place for itself in
war-torn 17th century Europe, citizens of the modern town of Grantville, West Virginia take on a murderous conspiracy of operatic proportions in Magdeburg, the capital of the United States of Europe.
New York Times Best Selling Series

Eric Flint and David Carrico serve up the latest entry in the best-selling alternate history saga of them all, the Ring of Fire!
It is the year 1636. The United States of Europe, the new nation formed by an alliance between the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus and the West Virginians hurled back in time by a cosmic accident, is on the verge of civil war.  His brain injured in the war with Poland, the USE's emperor Gustavus Adolphus is no longer in command. Enter Swedish chancellor Oxenstierna, a leader of aristocratic reaction against democracy. His goal: to assemble the forces of the hidebound ruling class in Berlin and drown the revolution in a bloodbath.
In Magdeburg, the capital of the USE, Mike Stearns' wife Rebecca Abrabanel is organizing popular resistance to Oxenstierna's plot. As part of the resistance, the American musician Marla Linder and her company of down-time musical partners are staging an opera that will celebrate the struggle against oppression. Princess Kristina, the heir to the USE's throne, is now residing in Magdeburg and is giving them her support and encouragement.
But another plot is underway--this one right in the heart of the capital itself, and with murder as its method. The only people standing in the way are a crippled boy and the boxing champion who befriended him, and an unlikely pair of policemen. Can the American detective Byron Chieske and his down-timer partner Gotthilf Hoch thwart the killers before they succeed in their goal?

The Devil’s Opera is a side story in the series.  It features characters that are secondary in the main line of the series while the original main line characters are side characters here.  Events in The Devil’s Opera are running parallel to the events in The Saxon Uprising. 

There are several mysteries in the story and some new characters.  Music is featured as a way to make a political statement.  The book is extremely well written and held my attention throughout the story. Everything does intersect at the end.  It was a pleasant story and fulfilled my need for more of the series.  However, it is more of a filler and did not seem to move the story line along. 

Pick it up if you are a fan of the series.  It can stand-alone but is better if you have read the previous books.

Baen published 1636: The Devil’s Opera by Eric Flint and David Carrico in 2013.