Murder Takes the Stage is book 4 in the Phyllida Bright Mystery series by Colleen Cambridge, featuring Agatha Christie’s (fictional) housekeeper, Phyllida.
Title: Murder Takes the Stage
Author: Colleen Cambridge
Series: Phyllida Bright Mysteries #4
First Published: October 22, 2024
Publisher: Kensington Publishing
Genres: Mystery
Acquired: from the publisher via Netgalley
*** Thank you to the publisher, Kensington Publishing, for providing me with an e-copy of this book via Netgalley for review purposes. ***
Housekeeper Phyllida Bright is quite in her element at Mallowan Hall, the charming English manor that she keeps in tip-top shape. By contrast, the bustling metropolis of London, where her famed employer Agatha Christie has temporarily relocated, leaves Phyllida a bit out of her depth. Not only must she grapple with a limited staff, but Phyllida also has to rein in a temperamental French cook who has the looks of Hercule Poirot, but none of the charm.
When a man named Archibald Allston is found dead in an armchair onstage at the Adelphi Theater, first impressions are that he died of natural causes. But the very next day, the unlucky actor playing Benvolio at the Belmont Theater is found with his head bashed in. And when a third victim turns up, this time with double-C initials, the fatal pattern is impossible to ignore.
With panic erupting among theater folk—a superstitious bunch at the best of times—Phyllida steps up to help with the investigation. The murderer’s MO may be easy to read, but can Phyllida uncover the killer’s identity before the final curtain falls on another victim?
A nice twist in The ABC Murders
Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders is a fantastic story (if you haven’t read it yet, you definitely should add it to you TBR), and Murder Takes the Stage is a great story that has shades of The ABC Murders woven into it.
Now that the Phyllida Bright Mysteries is firmly established as one of my favourite series, it was really nice to get a change of pace (the vibrant theatre world) and a new location (London). It gave things a fresh new feel and made for some very interesting looks into Phyllida’s past life, one that we have only been given small hints to in past books.
And while we left most of the large cast of regular characters from the series there were a TON of new characters introduced in this one, from theatre producers, to critics, to actors and actresses, to police detectives. It may sounds intimidating, but it was actually fun to get to know so many new faces (and it wasn’t really hard to keep track of them all).
The mystery moved along at a pretty good pace. The first half of the book was a bit slower as we met all the characters and set up the murders and then things started to happen pretty quickly the pacing never let up until the final reveal.
Lots of character background and development
The lack of familiar faces from past books is more than made up for by the amount of background information we get about Phyllida Bright. As I mentioned earlier, we have only had small hints at what may have happened to her husband but in this book we get most, if not all, of the story. It’s quite an eye-opener and I loved that we finally get to know what happened, but also that these revelations change the relationship between Phyllida and her will they-won’t they dance partner Bradford.
For readers who have been with this series from the start, there are so many satisfying elements that make this book a joy – from the homage to Agatha Christie’s work, to learning about Phyllida’s past, to (no spoilers!) much more, it’s definitely a great cozy mystery to sink your teeth into. I enjoyed this one a lot and can’t wait for the next installment!
Quote from Murder Takes the Stage
