The Fallen Architect

August 1, 2018
A disgraced architect struggles to clear his name in Belfoure's third architecture-based thriller.In 1900, Londoners flock to the gala opening of the new Britannia Empire Theatre. During a comedian's routine, a balcony collapses, killing 14 and maiming countless others. Douglas Layton, a prominent architect who rose from humble roots to marry into the aristocracy, designed the Britannia and is blamed for the carnage. After serving five years in prison, Layton, divorced and barred from seeing his son, is adrift and a drunk. When he lands a job as scene painter for the Grand Imperial Theatre in Nottingham, he seizes this opportunity to reinvent himself. Under an assumed name, he wins the affections of the "artistes" whose backdrops he paints and the love of Cissie Mapes, who runs the theaters of the powerful MacMillan Empire syndicate, which turns out to have included the ill-fated Britannia. With trepidation, he soon accepts a transfer to MacMillan's London circuit. Despite his new identity, his reputation as "The Butcher of the West End" has preceded him; he's bedeviled by a builder whose career also ended with the Britannia job, a blackmailer, and at least two unseen attackers. But Layton's architect's eye is ever attuned to minor details, and when he notices plaster and mortar anomalies in two MacMillan venues, his digging unearths skeletons in each location. Telling clues point to the fact that those interred were his two former associates. Could they have been murdered because they realized the balcony defects were deliberately engineered? Layton sets about trying to learn who stood to gain from the Britannia collapse by researching possible ties linking the 14 casualties to the likeliest culprits--the MacMillan owners, the head of a rival syndicate, and the aggrieved builder. Once Belfoure embarks on this expansive fishing expedition, another structural failure looms: Since the suspects' imputed motives conflict, a few of the deaths have to be coincidental--but which ones? It is a cul de sac from which Belfoure, himself an architect, cannot design a convincing exit.The music hall décor and atmosphere help distract from the flawed whodunit.

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Starred review from October 29, 2018
Architect Douglas Layton, the hero of this exceptional mystery from Belfoure (House of Thieves) set in early-20th-century England, emerges from prison with his career and reputation destroyed, clueless as to his future. Douglas was convicted of killing 14 people and injuring scores more when a balcony of London’s Britannia Empire Theatre, which he designed, collapsed during a show. With help from his brother, Douglas gets a job as a theater scene painter, changes his name to Frank Owen, and alters his appearance as best he can. In his new job, Douglas discovers that one of the theaters where he works hides a skeleton. A second such finding fuels his suspicions that the balcony collapse that changed his life was not an accident but deliberate, murderous sabotage. Douglas has to suss out suspects and avoid detection as he sets out to prove his innocence. Along the way, Belfoure offers the reader glimpses of early motion pictures, variety hall jokes that are still funny, and a description of Edward VII consuming a 10-course meal. This wonderfully realized background coupled with insights into British society make this a standout. Agent: Susan Ginsburg, Writers House.