From AudioFile
The theatrical stage is a common setting in Marsh's novels. In this story, read by James Saxon, the blustering actor Arthur Surbonardier is killed when a stage prop pistol--which he personally loaded with blanks--fires a live bullet. There is no shortage of suspects who would want Surbonardier dead, but it's up to Inspector Alleyn to find the guilty player. Saxon's voice is as powerful as it is beautiful, possessing an energy that works alongside Marsh's writing to propel the plot. Classically engaging. S.E.S. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


Review
"It's time to start comparing Christie to Marsh instead of the other way around." --New York magazine



Book Description
Exit an ambitious actor...

The script of the Unicorn Theatre's new play uncannily echoes a quarrel in the star's dressing room. And the stage drama gets all too real when charming Felix Gardener shoots his blustering rival, Arthur Surbonardier, dead-with a gun Arthur himself loaded with blanks. or did he? How the live bullets got there, and why, make for a convoluted case that pits Inspector Roderick Alleyn against someone who rates an Oscar for a murderously clever performance.



From the Publisher
"It's time to start comparing Christine to Marsh instead of the other way around." --New York magazine


About the Author
From her first book in 1934 to her final volume just before her death in 1982, Ngaio Marsh's work has remained legendary, and is often compared to that of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers. During her celebrated fifty-year career, Marsh was made a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, was named Dame Commander, Order of the British Empire, won numerous prestigious awards, and penned 32 mystery novels.

Now St. Martin's Dead Letter Mysteries is thrilled to make all of Marsh's novels available again for old fans to relish and new ones to discover. So sit back, draw the curtains, lock the doors, and put yourself in the hands of Grande Dame of detective novels...

FROM THE PUBLISHER