Score! (novel)

Score! is a 1999 novel by British author Jilly Cooper, that is part of the Rutshire Chronicles series. It is both a bonkbuster and a murder mystery, set during the filming of the Verdi opera Don Carlos. It focuses on the murder of conductor Roberto Rannaldini during filming, and the subsequent spate of violence. The novel was Cooper's first attempt at crime fiction and as part of her research she visited film sets and spoke to police. It received mixed reviews, especially in terms of its expansive plot that mixed genres, as well as its attitudes to rape and sexual violence, with Tanya Gold describing how they are treated as footnotes to the plot.