Review by Booklist Review
When the jealous and bitter Salieri, in the play Amadeus, tries to commit suicide by drawing a sharp razor across his neck, it's curtains for egotistical actor Esslyn Carmichael, who discovers too late that the razor's safety tape has been mysteriously removed. There are precious few mourners for Carmichael among the hardworking cast and crew of the Causton Amateur Dramatic Society. For Inspector Barnaby, husband of an active society member, the search for the killer yields predictable suspects aplenty. In her second Barnaby mystery, Graham tests the waters of the English theatrical mystery--a familiar stream already populated by Simon Brett's Charles Paris novels, Robert Barnard's Death and the Chaste Apprentice [BKL Je 15 89], and many others. This tale is a perhaps unintentionally darker affair, as Graham's examination of English society is unleavened by Brett's or Barnard's wit. Her prose isn't without its own edge, though, and while she misses the charming unreality of the "cozy" by light-years, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. --Peter Robertson
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby, familiar from Graham's The Killings at Badger's Drift , returns here to deal with a very public murder in his quiet English village. The egocentric and widely disliked leading man for the town's amateur theater group has slit his own throat with a ``safe'' prop in front of a full house, including Barnaby and his daughter (Mrs. Barnaby is a member of the theater company). The inspector must sort out the killer from a very traditional cast of suspects: the play's director whose ego matches--if not surpasses--that of his dead star; the leading man's bitter ex-wife; his current wife, whose faithfulness is less than perfect; the young second lead, who nurtures serious ambitions for the ``real theater''; and various crew members. Particularly well drawn are Nicholas, the young actor, Deirdre, the assistant stage manager--whose primary concern is her senile father--and a homosexual pair responsible for design and lighting. A most enjoyable read, right down to the classic gathering of all the suspects at which Barnaby reveals the killer and the motive. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
The Causton Amateur Dramatic Society's production of Amadeus provides ample grist for Graham's delightful rumor mill. Immersed in their roles, various idiosyncratic participants in the play amuse themselves with gossip, posturing, cruel jokes, and, finally, murder. Given an insider's advantage because of his wife's involvement, Detective Inspector Barnaby ( The Killings at Badger's Drift, LJ 1/88), witnesses the staged ``murder'' and thus gains a head start with his investigation. The British author achieves her purpose with a fine cutting edge--detailed, witty, and observant--that slides the action along well-oiled tracks. Don't miss this. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The second appearance for Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby (The Killings at Badger's Drift, 1988), who, while attending opening night of the Causton Amateur Dramatic Society (CADS) production of Amadeus (his wife Joyce has a small bit), is horrified to watch ""Salieri"" actually slit his throat in his death scene. Who switched the prop knife? The amateur actor/full-time accountant had many enemies: the pompous director he was planning to usurp; his spurned first wife, Rosa; his philandering second; her lover, etc. And all were involved in the CADS Amadeus show. Barnaby patiently sorts through a false confession (a father protecting his son); wife Kitty's lovers; a timetable of who was precisely where backstage; assists Deirdre, general CADS dogsbody, when her Alzheimer-afflicted dad must be hospitalized; and, finally, calls the cast together to stage a confrontation scene with the killer, whose dreary motive is somewhat of a letdown after all the preceding show-biz tidbits. Graham surely knows her way around the village mystery, touching on all its earmarks: the gossip, the small-mindedness, the noses in everybody's business. And her theatrics ring true. But familiarity, in her case, does not quite equal originality. A middling cozy, then, that needs a few inspired jolts. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
