Quick curtain

This entertaining romp, first published in 1934 and written by then-well-known playwright and producer Melville, focuses on a musical-comedy operetta staged by a George M. Cohan-like impresario. Before moving to the London stage, the operetta opens in Manchester, only to close quickly when the leading man is shot onstage (the script called for him to be shot, but this time a real bullet is used, and the leading man dies). Another cast member is found later in his dressing room, hanging by the neck. This murder onstage is a clever device, but Melville's work upends all expectations of a conventional murder-suicide investigation in two ways. First, the suave, Shakespeare-quoting Inspector Wilson of Scotland Yard and his journalist son quickly dismiss the easy murder-suicide wrap-up, moving into a viper's nest of suspects. Second, Melville's jaunty, chatty tone (he frequently reminds readers where they are in the plot) gives us an insider's look at everyone connected to the theater world, including critics who recycle their reviews. A wonderfully fun British Library Crime Classics revival.--Fletcher, Connie Copyright 2017 Booklist

Originally published in 1934, this satisfying entry in the British Library Crime Classics series from Melville (1910-1983) presents a vivid picture of London's theater world. On the opening night of a musical comedy operetta called Blue Music, the show's producer, Douglas B. Douglas, pulls out all the stops to ensure its success, but the leading man, Brandon Baker, is shot dead, and it looks as if the show will fail. Scotland Yard Inspector Wilson-who happens to be in the audience-takes up the case with his journalist son, Derek. Melville (the pseudonym of scriptwriter and radio producer William Caverhill) uses his inside knowledge of the theater to skewer just about everyone in the business, from the actors to the critics, and satirizes popular detective fiction. The interplay between Wilson and Derek is reminiscent of that between Holmes and Watson, and a journey into a country village finds the place filled with gossips and inept policemen. The ending is a bit of a letdown, but overall the comedy holds up. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

The latest archaeological find from Poisoned Pen's British Library of Crime Classics is a 1934 theatrical whodunit by the pseudonymous playwright and TV producer (1910-83) that's definitely worth a second look, if not necessarily a full-scale resurrection.Ivor Watcyns's book for Douglas B. Douglas' production of Blue Music calls for eternal juvenile Brandon Baker to get shot in Act 2, Scene 1, and that's exactly what happens on opening night in a West End theater. The twist is that Baker really does get shot, onstage in front of hundreds of spectators, and really does die. When J. Hilary Foster, who plays the rebel leader who shot Baker's character, is found obligingly hanged in his dressing room, the coroner's court promptly closes the case. But Inspector Wilson, of Scotland Yard, is no more satisfied than his son, reporter Derek Wilson. Breaking every law, written and unwritten, concerning the confidentiality of evidence in an ongoing case, the pair banter back and forth ferociously, discussing alternative scenarios (could someone have switched the harmless gun Foster was supposed to discharge with a more lethal firearm? Could someone else have fired a shot from offstage at exactly the same time?) with gay abandon. At length their inquiries take them to the village of Craile, where parties to one secret affair and another secret marriage have gone to roost, before Wilson Senior makes an arrest that sets the stage for an epilogue strongly reminiscent of Trent's Last Case 20 years earlier. Full marks to Melville for his Pagliacci-like premise, which predates Michael Innes' better-known use of onstage homicide in Hamlet, Revenge! by three years, and for a confident, waspish wit perfectly suited to his theatrical milieueven if the working out of the puzzle manages to be both overingenious and humdrum. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.