Haila Rogers is looking forward to the opening night of Green Apples, debuting on Broadway. Not entirely sure what the pull of a British comedy of manners would be, but I’m no historian of the American theatre. Anyway, Carol Blanton, the star of the show, is staying with Haila but has had an attack of laryngitis and can’t go on. Her understudy is all ready to go, but then Carol has a miraculous recovery and goes on as planned. And then someone poisons her…

Carol survives that attempt, but soon someone does lie dead while wearing Carol’s cloak. Luckily (?) Haila’s fiancé, Jeff Troy, has aspirations of being a detective and soon he and Haile are careering around New York trying to find a murderer – and stop them before they strike again.

Curse Of Book Club? What Curse would that be?

This is the first of the Jeff and Haila Troy series (not that they’re married here – spoilers), a series which is, to be honest, a right pain in the arse to get hold of. I was lucky enough to nab the last affordable copy of this one from Abebooks once we decided to do it for Book Club and I’m torn about whether it was a good idea. To be clear, this is a marvellous mystery, loads of fun, but now I want to read the rest of the series and that’s next to impossible. Paging Dean Street Press? Managed to snag a copy of the fourth book based on this read, but the rest? Far too rich for my blood…

Anyway, back to this one. I’ll be honest, I’m more of a fan of British Golden Age writing than that from the US. It sometimes feels a little too detached from reality – or at least my version of reality – especially when it’s trying to be funny. Still haven’t quite got a handle on Craig Rice, for example, and it took me a little while here. Wisecracks – that’s the problem, I suppose.

Anyway, some of these are actually funny, and the whole book has a fun feel to it. Even when Jeff slaps Haila (because she’s in shock), it has a literal punchline when she reacts by punching him in the stomach, giving as good as she gets. All in all, Haila and Jeff are a fun couple, playing well off each other.

As for the mystery, well, as you might think from the blurb, it’s not a rehash of Peril At End House. I was assuming that for the majority of the book, so I missed completely what was going on, much to my delight. There’s some good misdirection here, plus more than one level of plot going on.

All in all, this was a real treat. Hopefully the rest of the series will be as well, once I eventually track it down…