Coached in the act

An actress who scorned men onstage has 12 angry suspects when she's killed during intermission. Getting last-minute seats for the Hamptons' hottest ticket, the one-woman production of Twelve Angry Men, is no big deal for Cat Cooper, whose nearest and dearest, Gilley, needs a little pick-me-up. Cat's got connections, after all, and her boyfriend Shep's sister, Sunny, is more than willing to grease the wheels. Sunny is a longtime friend of the play's author and star, Yelena Galanis, and since Sunny's stuck at home with baby Finley while her husband is in LA yet again, it's a favor to her that Cat and Gilley can be at the show and support Yelena's creative work. By the intermission, though, Cat's not sure that she wants to support Yelena. Scorned-women stories may be hot, but hearing Yelena poke fun at 12 of her exes seems mean-spirited. On her way out, Cat runs into a man who's very nervous, perhaps because he's covered in blood. That's weird enough, but it's even worse when she finds out that the second act has been canceled because Yelena's just been killed. It's obviously not a coincidence, but one could argue that there are 12 very obvious people who want Yelena dead. Some questionable overlap between Yelena's death and Cat's flagging life-coaching business puts her at odds with Shep in his role as the local detective. But the emergence of a new suspect close to Cat and Shep offers hope that their shared interests will finally get them to work together. Heroine and author both shine in a tale that offers a good time to everyone but the victim. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.