R E K. (bigstone) - , reviewed on 9/11/2021 + 1436 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

The Malloys are key characters in many of this author's cozy mysteries. In this one they plan to legally adopt Catherine, a little girl they have cared for since her motherâs death. However, their attorney informs them that her stepfather, Vaughn Parnell, must give up legal rights to the child. He has no interest in her even though she was born to his wife during their marriage. Catherine is not his daughter yet the law legally views Parnell as her father. He will sign but his fiance wants to be paid for the signature. Frank and Sarah agree yet when Frank returns with the money he finds the actor dead. The fiance screams that he has killed Parnell. The police believe that Frank killed him and he is arrested. To clear his name and save his reputation, the Malloys work with their friends, Gino and Maeve, to investigate the crime and find the killer.

Centered around the theatre, actors and actresses, with love triangles, jealousy, and backstage politics, it is difficult to find who might have committed the murder. Perhaps it is the numerous interviews by the four with suspects and potential witnesses that drag the story. and bore the reader with repetition. The author emphasizes several times that it is difficult to interview those involved in the theater. How does one decide what is truth?

The novel has an interesting plot but the editors and/or the author became too involved in many portions, pondering on what might have happened and how to discover the truth. There are many suspects, including the fiancee, an aging actress who insists on playing the young roles she loves and her producer husband. As the novel progressed it was easy to determine the murderer.

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