Dead on Cue

January 7, 2013
Cozy fans will welcome the pseudonymous Lake’s second whodunit set in the quiet Sussex village of Lakehurst (after 2010’s The Mills of God). When the director of a local theatrical production—a sound and light show depicting the history of landmark Fulke Castle—suddenly dies, a replacement appears in the form of a flamboyant African-American film actor, Gerry Harlington, best known for portraying a Hollywood superhero called Wasp Man. Harlington, who has recently moved to Lakehurst with his megawealthy Russian wife, offers ideas for jazzing up the drama—like inserting a hip-hop dance into an Elizabethan fair scene—that grate on those under his direction. A murder on opening night prompts clergyman Nick Lawrence, a participant in the show, once again to apply his skills as an amateur sleuth. Insp. Dominic Tennant, the requisite sympathetic member of the force, lends a hand. Brisk prose and vivid portraits of the villagers more than compensate for the rushed and somewhat lame resolution.

January 15, 2013
A quiet Sussex village plays host to the rich and semifamous. The Rev. Nick Lawrence (The Mills of God, 2010) never imagined he'd be involved in a second murder case. The seeds are sown when the director of the local dramatic society, which has ambitious plans to stage a son et lumiere at Fulke Castle, suffers a fatal heart attack. The new owner of Abbot's Manor may be just the person to save the day. Nick has already met Gerry Harlington, a black American actor and hip-hop fan best known for playing Wasp Man in several B movies. Gerry's wife, Ekaterina, a stunning Russian of great wealth, is fed up with her husband's bad temper and contemplating divorce. Gerry is delighted to lead the drama group, although many of its members are less pleased. Nick, who's attracted to one of the players, agrees to take a nonspeaking role. Despite Gerry's failed attempt to revamp the show as a musical, all goes well until he inserts a hip-hop dance into an Elizabethan Fair scene. Although his idea is beaten back by the enraged actors, he doesn't seem to be giving up. On opening night, the audience is wowed by the stunning visual effects and beautifully spoken narrative. The discovery of Gerry's corpse the next morning brings DI Dominic Tennant and DS Mark Potter to the scene. They find Gerry dressed as one of the performers who enact a fight scene on the top of a tower. The actors usually throw a dummy from the tower, but this time, it was Gerry. Nick's second case is a classic English village mystery with flashes of humor, pleasing characters and enough suspects to keep you guessing.

COPYRIGHT(2013) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 1, 2013
Showy Hollywood actor Gerry Harlington, star of the Wasp Man movies, has recently settled in the village of Lakehurst in Sussex. Hoping to ingratiate himself with the locals, he offers to direct the son et lumiere show, which celebrates the area's eleventh-century Fulke Castle. But when he performs a hip-hop dance in the midst of an Elizabethan fair at dress rehearsal, he's clearly gone too far, and cast members revolt. So when Harlington is found dead after the first performance, there are plenty of suspects, including the victim's wife, who had decided to divorce him. Compounding matters is the death of a young woman who apparently witnessed Harlington's murder. In the second Reverend Nick Lawrence mystery, after The Mills of God (2010), the vicar, who shares his vicarage with a ghost and a cat, helps DI Dominic Tennant find the murderer. The presence of the over-the-top Hollywood figure adds a campy element, but this settles down to a nice cozy with sympathetic characters. A good choice for village-crime fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)