Untimely Death: A Shakespeare in the Catskills Mystery (Shakespeare in the Catskills Mystery, #1)

by Elizabeth J Duncan

A Catskills resort's production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet takes a wickedly ironic turn when the leading lady, Lauren Richmond, is first poisoned and then stabbed. Who would extinguish the life of such a beautiful young thespian? Who wouldn't? Seems like just about everyone had a motive to pull the ropes on her final curtain call.

At the center of this Shakespearian tragedy is Charlotte Fairfax, formerly the costume mistress of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Upstate New York is a long way from the royal stage, but Charlotte is always the queen of her domain. As this small production's costume designer, she has stitched her way into everyone's lives, learning more than anyone could possibly imagine about the rise and fall of Lauren Richmond. But curiosity killed the cat. And it might well kill the costume designer.

Witty and wise work, Untimely Death, the first in Elizabeth J. Duncan's charming cozy series, is sure to delight.

• ISBN10: 162953191X
• ISBN13: 9781629531915
• Publish Date: 10 November 2015
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Crooked Lane Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 228
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781629531915

Reviews

[Mystereity Reviews]

I had a bit of trouble getting through this one.

I think a big part of the issue for me is, having read the author's other series, The Penny Brannigan series, I expected a solid read. It's not like this is the first time the author has written a mystery, so I was more than a little disgruntled with how shoddy this book was. Perhaps it's an unfair to compare it to the other series, but it's so well written, I can't help but wonder what went wrong with this.

The plot was okay, but barely. It was largely buried in a lot of filler that I'm guessing was meant to add dimension to the story, but it didn't. The characters were not very easy to relate to and one-dimensional. The main character and a few of the other characters were English but spoke as if they were poorly trained actors putting on an English accent.

Overall, I'm very disappointed with this. Perhaps someone who is unfamiliar with the Penny Brannigan series would enjoy it, but I won't recommend it.