Phoenix of the Opera

Inspector Leroux had witnessed the execution of the Phantom of the Opera. Justice had been served. So he thinks, until letters in a feminine hand arrive, hinting at the curious coincidence of a masked composer, Erik Costanzi, thriving in an Italian opera house and married to the former Parisian Diva, Meg Giry. Driven by outrage and a desire for revenge, the inspector tracks the Phantom to his new home. But there is another ghost from Erik's past, one who dogs the Phantom's steps, who sabotages the production of his newest opera, and who threatens the peace he has found with Meg and his family. Book IV, Phantom Death, is the last in the Phoenix of the Opera series. It continues and closes the story begun in The Phoenix of the Opera, and continued in Out of the Darkness: The Phantom's Journey and The Phantom's Opera.

On sabbatical in Rome, Dr. Richmond meets the volatile genius of the opera, Erik Costanzi. The chance to study the connections between madness and genius seem to converge in the exaggerated stories of Costanzi's eccentric life. When an accident strikes one of his children, Erik's emotional and violent reaction confirms the doubts that Dr. Richmond has planted in Meg's mind about her husband's sanity. Although she agrees to permit Dr. Richmond to treat Erik, she has no idea that the physician intends to take him out of the country to an undisclosed location to study him for an indeterminate period of time. Taken by force from his home, believing that Meg has betrayed him, Erik is compelled to reveal his past as the Phantom of the Opera. But there are other memories and revelations that Erik has been unable to face that Dr. Richmond's sessions bring to the surface. How will Erik confront these secrets? How can he forgive Meg's complicity with the man who makes him face his darkest night? A fifth book in the Phoenix of the Opera series, Phantom Madness returns to the same characters and continues the story of the Phantom of the Opera.