Murder Off Stage (A Roaring Twenties Mystery, 5)
Jessie Beckett is sure she heard two gunshots when Allen Crenshaw crumpled to the stage. She and her best friend, singer-dancer Adele Astaire, had second-row tickets for the hottest show on Broadway, Rules of Engagement, so after he is shot, her amateur detective skills kick in. They assist Detective Ben Quinn because not only do they know the backstage life of show business, but also that the script calls for a single shot to the leg.
In October 1926, the play has won Edward Ricks a Pulitzer for its vivid portrayal of a soldier’s life in the Great War. The stage manager swears he loaded the gun with blanks, but he is known to get a little tipsy even in the midst of Prohibition. The actress who fired the shot didn’t notice a different recoil from any other performance, though she and Crenshaw had just broken up. Jessie has helped Los Angeles police before in the course of her job as an assistant movie script girl, and an encounter at Crenshaw’s funeral with a shy girl who saw another side of the womanizing actor uncovers a significant clue.
Miley is adept at name-dropping, as Jessie works for Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford and Adele sups with royalty and co-stars with her brother Fred. The plot is ingenious and true to the time period, but Jessie’s love life distracts both her and the reader from solving the crime. Although the title gives away a part of the solution, there are enough red herrings to satisfy many a historical mystery buff.
