Death in the Spotlight

by Robin Stevens Book 7 in the A Murder Most Unladylike Mystery series.

First published 2018

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4.5(9,663)

After returning from Hong Kong in 1936, Daisy and Hazel stay with Uncle Felix in London and are sent to the Rue Theatre, where they join a production of Romeo and Juliet. Rehearsals are disturbed by threats, sabotage and rivalries among actors whose public roles conceal private relationships. When the escalating pranks culminate in a death, the detectives must investigate a workplace in which everyone is trained to perform emotion and to move unseen through backstage spaces.

The theatre gives Hazel and Daisy new identities as actors while making observation unusually difficult: costume, gesture and scripted violence can all disguise intention. The case also brings Daisy’s understanding of her own romantic feelings into sharper focus and shows the risks faced by people whose relationships do not fit public convention. The result is both a backstage murder mystery and a turning point in the emotional history of the Detective Society.