Stage Fright

Formidable early feminist Nell Bray returns in her third adventure, after Hanging on a Wire , to help George Bernard Shaw in his efforts to protect his latest star. Isabella Flanagan, an American heiress married to Lord Penwardine, has left her husband to star in Shaw's reworking of the Cinderella story, which bears some obvious parallels to Bella's sorry marriage. The playwright believes that Penwardine, known as Guggles, may retaliate. After a censor from the Lord Chamberlain's office is found murdered backstage, dressed in Bella's costume, the leading lady returns to her husband's home without a word of explanation. Nell struggles to determine whether she's been kidnapped and why the censor was killed. Linscott infuses the lively tale with details and mores of the century's first decade, including an exciting flight in a Wright model aeroplane. Nell is a delight. (Dec.)