The Plain Old Man

By: Charlotte MacLeod

Narrated by: Andi Arndt

Murder upstages a Kelling family theatrical production - and Boston's art sleuths are on the case. "The screwball mystery is Charlotte MacLeod's cup of tea." (Chicago Tribune)

Producing a Gilbert & Sullivan opera requires a special kind of madness, and the Kelling family is large enough and peculiar enough to undertake an entire company by themselves. For years now, Sarah Kelling's aunt Emma has supervised these annual productions - from The Pirates of Penzance to The Mikado - and this year she has invited her cast of relatives to rehearse The Sorcerer in her stately mansion. The show is nearly ready when a team of burglars drugs the cast and crew to make off with a priceless portrait. Theft or no theft, Aunt Emma insists the show must go on. Even when one of the cast dies suddenly, she finds a replacement and continues rehearsal. But when Sarah begins to suspect the actor was murdered, it becomes clear that dear Aunt Emma may be in danger of taking her final bow.

©1988 Charlotte MacLeod (P)2021 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

I love these characters

Charlotte Mac Leod has created a great family of characters, an engaging story and as always I mystery I didn't solve.

good reading.

I enjoy all her books. Good plots humor and so believable. I read them over and over.

Great fun

I really liked this narrator because she actually can sing the bits of song that are in the story.

And as a big fan of Gilbert and Sullivan, I have always enjoyed the way the author threaded the performance of The Sorcerer into the cozy mystery.

A twisty mystery, a cast of wonderful oddballs, and lots of casual quips and references both to G&S and to classics of literature.

Too much fun!

verbal-humor, situational-humor, family-dynamics, cozy-mystery, amateur-sleuth, women-sleuths****
First published in 1988.
The story is interspersed with lines from Gilbert and Sullivan because the play's the core of the plot. Aunt Emma is a grand managing widow known for her generosity and also for producing the operetta populated by Kellings and locals. Then a very valuable painting goes missing right off the dining room wall and a kindly old man gets dead under suspicious circumstances. Sarah has to organize the sleuthing by herself because husband Max is out of the country investigating a different art theft. Almost all comes out well in the end and a lot of laughs had by the reader.
Andi Arndt is the excellent narrator.