The place is very attractive. The entry is welcoming and light filled. There are still a lot of stairs, but if you're unable to climb, there's good elevator service to the top floor.
And there's one whole room for mysteries that used to be strung along several rows of tall shelves. I went in searching for a book to take to the cabin for reading during break times as we closed for the season.
Somewhere in the past, I read or heard about Peter Lovesey's mystery novels. His name and a list of his books made it on to my "to read" list. So I went looking for his books in the new "mysteries" room. Since I had no clues about good/better/best, I grabbed Stagestruck from the shelf.
I took it to the lake cabin and began reading it. I liked Lovesey's language and pacing. The setting is contemporary Bath (UK). Lovesey's featured character is Peter Diamond, chief inspector on the local police force. The plot revolves around a former pop star who was recruited to star in a production of I am a Camera. The nervous songster screams in agony as she makes her Act 1 entrance. Something in her stage make up has burned her skin.
Send in Diamond and crew. Just about the time they are figuring out what happened, the woman in charge of the "star's" make up falls from the backstage rigging. Then the makeup woman's colleague dies under even more mysterious circumstances. Lots for the police to sort out.
About that point in the book, the story telling bogged down. Diamond is distracted by a new assistant assigned to my my his boss. He's also distracted by undefined fears of being in the theater. The personnel of the theater are fearful and trying to help solve the murders while being mostly in the way. The narrative became deadly slow. I almost laid the book down and headed back to the library.
But I soldiered on. It turned out I wouldn't have missed much if I hadn't. It seems that British mysteries (and others?) whether in print or on BBC "Masterpiece Mysteries" end with long winded explanations of how the investigator figured things out and what logic led to the guilty party.
The final chapter of Stagestruck consisted of a strained "conversation" between inspector Diamond (center stage of the theater) and the evil bad guy (sort of hiding in one of the box seats). Diamond says things like "I know what you did and how you did it." The evil bad guy (EBG) says things like, "You're not so smart. You don't have any evidence." Diamond says, "Yes, I do." EBG says, "No you don't." This goes on until Diamond's assistant cop sneaks up behind the EBG and wrestles him into a waiting squad car after the inspector has clearly outlined his case. Next thing I read about is a party for one of the theater's old timers.
The beginning of the book was promising. The ending was deflating. What is the rule? Get to 90% of the story told by describing events and the last 10% told in a turgid way so no one misses how clever the author was in constructing the plot?
I might try reading another Lovesey mystery, but I won't guarantee that I'll finish another.
Have you read Stagestruck? What did you think of it? Write. Tell this little bit of the world what you thought of it.
- The author's web site
- Brief reviews from GoodReads
- Anonymous review at MurderByType
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