An excellent, entertaining and well plotted cozy mystery featuring a theatre director and a cast of interesting characters. Good storytelling,
solid plot
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A fun, theatre filled cosy with a great cast of characters. Set out like the programme of a stage play, in acts, and with each chapter beginning with notes concerning the job of the stage manager, this cosy places Hattie, a stage manager for a small theatre, in charge of finding out who killed their lead actress and also, who stole the mask kept in the theatre owner's locked cupboard?

There are plenty of red herrings in this fun mystery, and Hattie is a great MC. Calm, curious and exceptionally organised, she peels away the layers until she discovers the culprit. It did, however, take me a very (very) long time to read it as I was in a reading slump and ended up reading something else in the meantime, as this one had started a bit slowly. Ultimately satisfying, however, and I'm very glad I persisted.

An enjoyable start to a new series and I look forward to the next one. This is another book dragged up from the bottom of my aging ARC pile.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this novel but I like a bit of cosy murder mystery and that's what I got. I also got a bit of theatre knowledge thrown in which I wasn't expecting and totally baffled me at times.

The story itself involves a death that may.pr may not be murder and the theft of a valuable piece of theatre history. It seems straightforward right? But you're dealing with theatre folk and they appear to be a whole different kettle of fish. If the ghost of Larry Olivier had appeared I wouldn't have batted an eyelid after a while.

I did learn quite a bit about stage management that I'll probably never need to use but did find interesting.

I think it could have done with a bit of good editing at times but on the whole I kept up with what was going on and I'd no idea who did it so I'm still 0 for umpteen in my detecting endeavours.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Bedford Square Publishers for the advance review copy.

Sprinkled With Drama..
A brand new production at London’s Tavistock pub theatre means that stage manager Hattie has her hands full - things are about to get much worse when an actress is discovered dead and a valuable mask goes missing. Hattie juggles the mysteries whilst diving into lies, secrets and dirty dealings backstage. With a unique and unconventional amateur sleuth in Hattie, an authentic glimpse into the world of the theatre and an enjoyable plotline this is an engaging and entertaining mystery sprinkled with drama aplenty.

An easy and enjoyable read. The second of two murder mysteries set backstage of a theatre that I've read this week.
Having previously worked backstage myself, this appealed and mainly felt authentic.
I feel that Hattie may reappear in a new story, but I'm quite happy with this as a standalone.
Thanks to Netgalley.