Much Ado About Murder: A Shakespeare in the Catskills Mystery

In Duncan’s sprightly third cozy featuring costume designer Charlotte Fairfax (after 2016’s Ill Met by Murder), Charlotte has happily settled in as the costume director for the Catskills Shakespeare Theater Company. Everyone is pleased that well-known English actress Audrey Ashley has agreed to appear as Beatrice in the company’s upcoming production of Much Ado About Nothing. When the director quits at the last minute, Audrey recommends Royal Shakespeare Company director Edmund Albright as his replacement. Edmund eagerly accepts the position, and his unconventional ideas for mounting the play energize the company. When Edmund is found shot to death in his bungalow before rehearsals even begin, the police rule his death a suicide. Certain that foul play is involved, Charlotte determines to dig up the truth. The mystery unfolds slowly, but the workings of a small regional theater in a charming locale provide interest, and Duncan offers some diverting twists on the way to Charlotte’s climactic confrontation with the killer. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary Agency. (Nov.)