A Murder Most Unladylike Mystery, Book 7 - Death in the Spotlight

And so we come to book seven of the Murder Most Unladylike series by Robin Stevens (formerly known here in the States as the Wells & Wong Mystery series).  Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong make an irresistibly fun sleuthing duo, and I have thoroughly enjoyed all of their adventures to date.  As the series has progressed, the two young girls have aged and matured, they have learned and mastered new skills, and they have gained considerable experience in deduction and crime-solving.  Now, with this book, I get a combination of things two things I love - mystery and theater!  Combining these things almost made this into the perfect book!  Of course, as you'll note, I said almost...

Death in the Spotlight picks up not long after that short story (Case of the Missing Treasure), in which Daisy and Hazel, along with their friends George and Alexander, have to find a treasure missing from the British Museum shortly after arriving back from their trip to Hong Kong (which was recounted in book six of this series).  Now, Daisy and Hazel are still with Daisy's Uncle Felix and his new wife, "Aunt Lucy," who are determined to keep the girls from getting into trouble (i.e., becoming involved in solving another murder).  In order to this, the girls are signed up to help a local theater stage its production of Romeo and Juliet, since the aunt of a girl at Aunt Lucy's work owns the theater, which provides an "in" for Aunt Lucy to get the girls bit parts in the play.  Daisy is thrilled, but Hazel not so much.  But from the moment they set foot in the theater, things are off.

First, Daisy seems rather not herself, especially around the actress who was originally slated to play Juliet, but who was replaced by an up-and-coming actress who just came off a successful play at another theater.  Second, none of the actors seem overly happy about the play.  Rose (Juliet) is the pure diva, who got the actor cast as Romeo replaced simply because ... ahem ... of the color of his skin.  Obviously, this made Simon (previously Romeo) upset.  Of course, Marita (formerly Juliet) was upset  well, since she was originally cast as the lead.  Then you have Lysander (Romeo), who has been flirting with Rose, but he becomes almost violently jealous when he thinks she is seeing someone else.  Third, Miss Compton (owner) and Inigo (director) both seem more worried about filling the seats in the theater than any of the actors.  Plus, we can't forget Annie (wardrobe), who talks incessantly about everything and anything, and Jim (stage door) who literally lives at the theater and manages to know every single person and enters and leaves the theater.  As with any real theater, the girls soon discover that the real drama is taking place behind the stage...

Stevens weaves a wonderful whodunnit after a body is discovered in a well deep beneath the stage.  The star of the show, Rose Tree (or, as she is sometimes referred to in the book - Miss Tree - go on, say those two words together and tell me Stevens didn't pick that name on purpose!), has been murdered, and the Detective Society is on the case!  At least, until Uncle Felix finds out, at which point he pulls them out of the theater, forbids them to return, and basically prevents them from doing any further investigating.  Yeah, right - like that's going to stop Daisy Wells!  At this point, the story becomes even more fun, with Hazel actually engaging in some very un-Hazel like activities (with the help of George and Alexander, of course) in order to uncover more clues that will lead them to the truth.  And when a second person turns up dead, Daisy and Hazel face a race against time to unmask a killer at the theater.  Stevens manages to write a perfectly dramatic scene at the climax, where death really does take center stage at the opening night of Romeo and Juliet.  To be honest, I could almost see this entire story being performed as a play onstage - it is perfectly written to be done!

Had this been everything to the story, it would have been darn near perfect.  But, unfortunately, Stevens added certain elements to the story that felt like nothing more than pandering.  I won't go into the details, but let's just say that part of it felt forced upon one character, and for others - well, this takes place in the mid-1930s, and people simple were not as open-minded about these things back then as they are now, so the reactions of people within the story just don't really fit with the time period.  I've seen this with other authors, who try to instill today's "values" in stories set in the past, and for me, that removes me from the fantasy of the story.  For this book, it felt too forced and more like a statement rather than an integral part to the story.  Had this been removed from the story, I would say this would have been my favorite book in the series - definitely the best-crafted mystery to date!

I'm glad we are seeing more of George and Alexander - I really do like these characters, and hope to continue seeing more of them in future books.  The four of them make a really good team of detectives!

RATING:  7 white threads caught on a ladder out of 10 for putting death in the spotlight and giving us a great theatrical murder mystery!