A Shakespeare in the Catskills Mystery

Elizabeth Duncan's Untimely Death is the first in the Shakespeare in the Catskills Mysteries.  I loved the concept of Shakespeare plays in the resort area, so I was looking forward to reading this book.

Charlotte Fairfax is a one-woman wardrobe and costume department at the Jacobs Grand Hotel in the Catskills. She's a wizard with generating costumes on a small budget and loves what she does. Hotel owner Harry Jacobs sends his nephew Aaron to work part-time with Charlotte. He seems flighty and uninterested at first, but turns out to be an excellent assistant.

With Romeo and Juliet as their current performance. Charlotte must deal with the demanding Juliet - Lauren Richmond and an over age troublesome actor Brian Prentice. Charlotte is sure there will be fireworks with these lead characters.

When Charlotte finds Lauren in her bedroom in physical distress, Lauren is rushed to the hospital.

While she recovers, Charlotte and Aaron continue trying to fit the remaining cast in the hopes that Lauren will recover. She does recover, and returns to the cast only to be be found stabbed to death back stage shortly after her return to the cast.

There is no shortage of suspects: Aaron was out of sight for a long period of time, Harry Jacobs had a special interest in Lauren and Brian Prentice seemed to know Lauren from some other meeting. Charlotte fears the death with derail the much-needed season at the Jacobs Grand Hotel and seeks to solve the mystery herself.

I enjoyed this book although I felt the murderer was pretty obvious. I still look forward to the next in the series Ill Met by Murder. Click here it find it.