Murder at the Piccadilly Playhouse

Cleopatra Fox Mysteries, Book 2

By: C.J. Archer

Narrated by: Marian Hussey

She was admired by women and desired by men, until jealousy and past secrets took center stage. Help Cleo and her friends solve the murder of one of London’s leading actresses.

When a hotel guest’s mistress is found dead in the stalls of the Piccadilly Playhouse, a verdict of suicide is given. Convinced his lover didn’t kill herself, Lord Rumford wants the truth uncovered. Against his better judgement, he hires Cleo Fox to find the murderer. Cleo needs to solve this case if she wants to make a living from being a private detective.

But she quickly learns that the truth is buried beneath years of secrets; secrets that powerful people want desperately to keep. With the help of her friends from the Mayfair Hotel, Cleo exposes the bitter rivalry and jealousy of London’s West End.

But can she find the killer before the final curtain closes on the Playhouse?

©2021 C.J. Archer (P)2021 C.J. Archer

Equally enjoyable as Book 1

Great character and story- Cleopatra is a delightful heroine- also enjoy the time period descriptions

Believable

I was a little hesitant at first to start this series because the initial pretense for the main character to land where she did (at the Mayfair Hotel) was a little prosaic to say the least. However, once I did start the series one of the things I found endearing was that the main character, Cleo, was so much more believable than her prosaic predecessors. As a writer and avid reader, I have found character development to follow one of two paths. They are either a Cinderella story or some incredibly brilliant woman who is taking her the world by storm. I don’t feel Cleo is really either of these paths. She is moving into a new century and more forward thinking for sure, but she is still completely unaware of her presence and abilities. She comes off as fumbling her way through a problem. She is neither dazzling or brilliant but ordinary and that is perfectly okay because in reality it that is what most of us are. Many authors like to present their character as so incredibly brilliant and intuitive in the beginning, but then the character will go and do something reckless and inappropriate such as putting themselves in some dangerous situation that completely disassembles one’s previous view of the character’s intelligence. As a reader I find that very frustrating and the character loses credibility in my eyes. I find Cleo comes across as unsure and questioning herself, and doesn’t put herself in unnecessary peril out of pride or stupidity. This is a character I can get behind or even crawl into and become, because this is more in keeping with reality. I sincerely hope that Archer will continue to keep Cleo’s character along this route and not feel the need to grow her into someone who is too clever or in need of saving or rescuing; but rather, allow her to continue to plod along in her way of finding her path in this world by making mistakes and thinking of giving up and then putting her mind back into the problem and pushing her direction of logic to reasonable conclusions.

Lighthearted and enjoyable mystery

I just want to be entertained with a clean cut mystery and a great voice in the reader. That’s what I got! Looking forward to her next book!

Great Mystery with twists and turns.

I loved the characters and how well they are detailed. It was like watching a movie!

Cleo keeps up the searching

It comes natural. She can’t help herself. With her new friends among the Mayfair staff she has willing helpers to both discover new cases and solve them. Mr Armitage is an unwilling associate but he does enjoy it though he frequently declares he doesn’t. Though the Society folk would never approve a woman even working let alone being a Detective her uncle really likes and gives his approval to most of her schemes. Though sometimes she does and then asks his forgiveness. It’s a charming story