Elena Ivanov

Carmen is maybe the most famous heroine in all of opera. She’s a woman of Romani descent living in 19th century Spain, sensual and self-confident, aware of the power she wields over men — and she enjoys it. In her signature aria, popularly known as the “Habanera,” she describes herself as a bird who can’t be captured. True to her own word, Carmen — and what she represents — is hard to pin down. When “Carmen” premiered in Paris in 1875, it was deemed wildly immoral. Carmen becomes intrigued by a soldier, Don José, who initially pays her no attention. She seduces him, Don ...

When her plane is delayed overnight, Gaby Struthers finds herself forced to share a hotel room with a stranger: a terrified young woman named Lauren Cookson - but why is she scared of Gaby in particular? Lauren won't explain. Instead, she blurts out something about an innocent man going to prison for a murder he didn't commit, and Gaby soon suspects that Lauren's presence on her flight can't be a coincidence.

Detective Hercule Poirot is urged out of retirement to solve the murder of Roger Ackroyd, a wealthy widower found stabbed in his study. In the deceptively quiet village of King’s Abbot, potential motives abound - involving blackmail, revenge, legacies, and more - but they are hard to recognize amid so many layers of secrecy and misdirection...or they would be, for anyone but Poirot. Who’s hiding what, and which was the secret that ultimately provoked the crime? You can’t possibly imagine.