Genre: Mystery
Hardcover; [Audio CD]; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781643853062; [9781662007354]
Crooked Lane Books; [Dreamscape Media]
$26.99; [$19.99]; $12.99 Amazon
July 7, 2020
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Meanwhile, the troupe members are not content to leave the drama upon the stage. Accusations of infidelity and financial malfeasance make a shambles of rehearsals. And then, two days into the troupe's stay, the lead actor is found dead in Nina's formal Shakespeare garden. Natural causes...or murder most foul?
Nina uncovers evidence that something is indeed rotten in the town of Cymbeline. Too bad Harry is the only one who believes that she's not going completely off script. And exposing the truth isn't easy when the remaining troupe members say the show must go on...particularly when all of them seemingly had a motive for wanting their fellow actor to permanently exit stage right. Determined to keep the killer from making a curtain call, Nina and her trusty Australian Shepherd, Matilda, join forces with Harry to sleuth out the murder plot. Will they succeed before somome else shuffles off this mortal coil?
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Nina Fleet owns a B&B in Cymbeline, Georgia. She's expecting a Shakespearean troupe to be staying at her home, since they will be putting on Hamlet during the Shakespeare festival in town. What she's not expecting is that the troupe is headed by her foe Harry Westcott, an actor who insists that her home really belongs to him. She's not looking forward to dealing with him again, but unless she wants to ruin the festival, there's no way to turn him out.
Once everyone is settled in her home, she meets the rest of the troupe and soon realizes that Len Marsh, who is playing the lead, is also a bully toward the rest of the players. But when Len is found dead in her Shakespeare garden, everyone thinks it was natural causes. Everyone, except Nina. And when one of the other actors gets ill becomes ill, she wonders if that person isn't the target of a murderer, too. Once again enlisting Harry to help - once he believes her - Nina knows she has a murderer under her roof, and intends to find out who it is and who the intended next victim might be...
Nina is convinced that Len was murdered, but she obviously doesn't know who the killer is, and when she starts looking, she learns that every member of the troupe might have had reason enough to want him dead. So in between a little sleuthing on her own, she finally enlists Harry, who eventually agrees to help her. In this effort, Nina is conscripted to also work as an actor in the play, although she doesn't have any lines; presumably to keep an eye on the actors during the play and make sure no one harms anyone else.
This is the second book in the series and I have to say that it's quite an improvement over the first. I really didn't like Harry in the first book, but in this one he's a lot more human in the fact that he's not threatening to take Nina's home every two seconds. They actually become friends in this book, and I find that attractive and it made the book more enjoyable to read.
While the mystery is done well, shortly after Len was murdered I discovered who the murderer was and while the rest of the plot followed that, I can only say that I read a lot of mysteries, so I usually have it figured out immediately anyway. But I did like the Shakespeare aspect, and the fact that it was a troupe of actors involved, and that with the Hamlet background it all fell into place. It made for a good mystery with interesting characters, and that's what mysteries are supposed to do. All in all, this was an entertaining book and I will read the next in the series.
https://www.amazon.com/Peachy-Scream-Georgia-Anna-Gerard/dp/1643853066/ref
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3323584908
More on Anna Gerard's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/anna-gerard/
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