Costume designer Charlotte Fairfax has another murder on her hands as she prepares for the latest performance of the Catskills Shakespeare Theater Company, Much Ado About Nothing. The company’s steady growth enables them to cast star British actress Audrey Ashley, who arrives on scene to play the lead role of Beatrice. But things immediately get more complicated when Audrey insists the company replace the current director with new, up and coming British director Edmund Albright.
Edmund plans to change the popular romantic comedy, which alienates several people associated with the production. And the list of people he upsets only grows: the laid off former director, the hotel owner’s secretary, and even Audrey herself. Just as Edmund’s plans are about to come to fruition, his body is discovered on his sofa, holding a gun in his hand. His death is quickly ruled a suicide but Charlotte thinks otherwise. Why would Edmund, on the brink of greatness, kill himself? And in such an American way?
With a whole cast of characters to investigate, Charlotte is determined to unmask each one before it’s final curtain call on the whole production in award-winning author Elizabeth J. Duncan’s third Shakespeare in the Catskills mystery, Much Ado About Murder.
Can I start by giving you my star rating for this book? Can I? Can I really?
Well, I have given this book ‘3 STARS’.
Now, writing this review, I am thinking, I should have given it… Let’s see
A word that kept coming to my mind while reading this book was ‘too prescriptive’, ‘too descriptive’/
Yes, it is a cozy murder mystery. Yes, the murder is secondary, at least, to the plot. However, the whole book, the whole story is too descriptive. People do not talk like that. People do not act like that…
However, I have to give the book its dues.
The setting is wonderful. It is cozy. It is very nice, mild, comfortable and colourful. Characters are likeable.
The main couple of the story are so very in tune with each other. It is boring, sometimes. But it is so envious most of the time. They understand each other. They complete each other.
The main villain in the story is not the person you would have thought from the beginning. There are more unlikable people in there, trust me.
The plot wraps up neatly and bloodlessly. Everyone is happy. More to come.
All in all, this book is a nice enough read when you have time on your hands and do not mind slow, a very slow read.
Having read this novel, I am back to Ian Rankin and Rebus. I think, I’ve had enough cozies for the time being.
Svetlana Tishchenko 