Black Dagger Crime S.
3 total works
The year is 1921. A passionate affair between voracious romance reader Alma Webster and her dentist, Walter Baranov, has led to his wife’s murder. The lovers take flight aboard the Mauretania and the dentist takes the name of Inspector Dew, the detective who arrested the notorious wifekiller Dr. Crippen. But, in a disquieting twist, a murder occurs aboard ship and the captain invites “Inspector Dew” to investigate.
A sadistic practical joker is haunting the popular music halls of London, interfering with the actors and interrupting their acts by orchestrating humiliating disasters that take place in view of the audience. A trapeze artist misses her timing when the trapeze ropes are shortened. A comedian who invites the audience to sing along with him finds the words of his song “shamefully” altered. Mustard has been applied to a sword swallower’s blade. A singer’s costume has been rigged. The girl in a magician’s box is trapped. Then the mischief escalates to murder. Or was murder intended all along? That indomitable detective team, Sergeant Cribb and Constable Thackeray of Scotland Yard, must track down the elusive criminal.
A murder mystery set in the world of silent movies, from the award-winning author, Peter Lovesey.
Warwick Easton is a cop - a movie cop, that is. Landing in the crazy world of Keystone Film Studios, California, in 1916, a chance meeting with a silent comedy star lands him a job as Keystone the cop. Little does he realise some very real danger is on its way.
Terrible events begin to occur: a horrific death on a rollercoaster, a body in a bungalow, a shooting on a beach, and the disappearance of Amber Honeybee - the adorable and much-abused young actress. Keystone takes his cop duties seriously and gets on the trail, before it is far too late.
Mayhem and mystery abound in this offbeat, charming caper set in the world of silent movies.