Death Takes the Lead (A Gilded Age Mystery)
In April 1891, young Manhattan lawyer Prudence MacKenzie meets her private investigator friend, Lydia Truitt, for a surprise theatre visit. The Broadway community anxiously awaits the opening of a new play by renowned producer/director Barrett Hughes. Lydia’s handsome and talented cousin, Septimus Ward, is the play’s young male lead. Prudence and Lydia are permitted to sit in a dark corner of the gas-lit theatre during a rehearsal closed to the public. At rehearsal’s end, they overhear a loud argument between Barrett and Septimus. Days later, Septimus dies of whiskey spiked by rat poison. Inept police rule the death an accident, but Lydia and Prudence can’t accept that. They go undercover landing jobs in the play’s short-handed costume department. Another costume girl turns up dead in a locked trunk. The police label this one an accident too. Life threatening mishaps plague both Prudence and Lydia. Suspects include Barrett, the play’s female lead, the play’s wealthy investors, Barrett’s jilted lovers or current rivals, and various production workers.
In this, her ninth Gilded Age Mystery, Simpson expertly takes readers to Broadway productions of that time, their big-name stars, barely surviving theatre employees, and street urchins begging for odd jobs and pennies. Memorable secondary characters add to the mix. The settings, from mansions and rented rooms to streets reeking of horse manure in bustling New York, feel convincing. The main mystery is less effectively developed than Simpson’s portrayal of theatre life. The killer’s motive and brutal methods remain a bit improbable, and the sudden and surprising plot resolution feels rushed. Nonetheless, recommended for anyone seeking to be immersed into theatre life on Broadway over a century ago.
