I am doubly a stranger to the setting for this story - I have no experience of the theater so the terms are very foreign to me and, what is an even larger stumbling block, their speech is pre-war and British to boot so it's often difficult to figure out what is being said but I thought the story was well-plotted and true to its heritage of 'cozy' mysteries. It was an enjoyable story; well worth 4 1/2 stars.

Funny to think that back in 1930s, that the head inspector of the police department would have control over the print-media and even more surprisingly, that the journalist-friend would allow the police to oversee and edit his material before it goes to print. As a cozy-mystery, Marsh was an expert controlling the complexities involving relationships while throwing in enough description for the reader to feel the seriousness of a heinous crime.

Nigel Bathgate invites Inspector Alleyn to the theatre. Backstage there's considerable tension. Onstage the audience witnesses a real murder instead of the staged murder with blank bullets. With all the actors and backstage crew as suspects for switching real bullets for blanks, how can Inspector Alleyn find out who is the murderer? Bathgate and several other characters have their theories. Who is correct?