Happily brief (although still could have cut by 50 pages here and there.) The erstwhile hero -- as are most of the cast of characters -- is an unlikeable cad, which usually does not add to a book's charm (as is the case here.) The mystery isn't that compelling, and some of the dialogue harkens back to the 30's pulp fiction ("Talk!"). The inclusion of the I Ching and it's prophetic ramblings doesn't add to the story, and makes you think poorly of some of the characters who actually believe the nonsense. It is an easy read, but other, better mysteries involving theater people (like Helen McCloy's "Cue For Murder") are out there, so why bother with this?
P.S. Set in the Viet Nam War era, there is this prescient observation made: "Taking a slow hold in the popular mind was a stunned suspicion that gangsters and thugs were in control of the nation."
P.S. Set in the Viet Nam War era, there is this prescient observation made: "Taking a slow hold in the popular mind was a stunned suspicion that gangsters and thugs were in control of the nation."
