Norah Lorenz

Deceased opera star from the short story "The Singing Moonbeams" in science fiction magazine Amazing Stories Quarterly vol. 2, no. 3 (Summer 1929).

She sang at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, and died of influenza. Recordings of her singing "Annie Laurie" and "The Rosary" are seemingly playing from moonbeams, tormenting her widower husband Judge Sterling.

Inspector Craven and Dr. Jarvis figure out it's a science trick by crooks wanting to drive Sterling out of the house so they can search there for loot hidden from a robbery.

“Seems to me, Inspector,” he said, “I remember something unusual about this Judge Sterling. What was it?”

“Oh, he’s very rich, for one thing; very cultured. He’s one of the ornaments of the Supreme Court. He stayed a bachelor until he was past forty, then, like most old men who fall in love, he fell deeply. Norah Lorenz was knocking ’em all cold with her voice and her beauty and filled the Metropolitan at her premiere. Judge Sterling sent flowers and began to rush her. She fell just as hard as he did, and at the end of a concert tour they were married. He took a long leave of absence, and they toured Europe. When they returned, their pictures shared the front page of the newspapers with the big Borglum Trust Company robbery. So, it was a big society event to rank on the front page with a million dollar robbery. Two men killed and several of the gang in the pen right now, waiting for their trial.

“Well, that old Gremble mansion on Fifth Avenue had been vacant for two years and what does Sterling do but buy the house, repaper and paint it and load all his fine furniture into it. Five weeks ago Norah took sick in the flu epidemic and died in no time. She’s been dead two weeks now, and the judge has been a wreck ever since.

External Links

• http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=58839
• https://archive.org/details/Amazing_Stories_Quarterly_v02n03_1929-07_slpn