Maskerade

First published on 25 October 1995 by Victor Gollancz. It is the eighteenth Discworld novel and the fifth Witches book.

'Maskerade' is a deliberately misspelled version of 'masquerade' — a nod to the masked phantom of the opera, to the novel's themes of false faces and hidden identities, and to Pratchett's habit of misspelling titles for comic effect (compare Sourcery, Guards! Guards!).

Yes, explicitly. The Opera House's Ghost is a deliberate Phantom figure, and the novel draws on both Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel and Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical. Pratchett inverts many of the original's romantic conventions.

Yes. Maskerade establishes Agnes as the replacement for Magrat, who has married King Verence and left the coven. Agnes (and her internal alter-ego Perdita) becomes the new junior witch for the remaining Witches books.

Maskerade examines how the arts reward presentation over talent — how a beautiful but mediocre singer can become a star while an extraordinary but plain-looking one does the real work behind the scenes. Pratchett writes this with genuine anger alongside the comedy.