Murder at the Orpheus Theatre by Irina Shapiro

 

Second time around for me with Inspector Sebastian Bell and Nurse Gemma. A rare night out at the theatre ends with macabre results. Shakespeare’s lovers Romeo and Juliet are actually murdered in front of a live audience by an audacious murderer. The vials which they drank contained a swift acting poison.

Gemma knows she can get as much information or even more than the police detectives assigned to the case but she knows she is not popular when she does that and she can even put the Inspector in jeopardy where his job is concerned. Gemma working behind the scenes and the Inspector try to bring the strands of the story together. 

The workings and setting of theatre in Victorian times was not very welcoming to the artists themselves, though people flocked to see the plays. The artists knew their popularity was short lived and they had to find a protector as in the case of the women, or salt away as much money as possible. Not a very pleasant future to look forward to.

A well planned and set out detective mystery story. Very enjoyable reading.

Sent by Storm publishing for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.