![]() The manhunt that follows is methodical and sometimes ingenious but I didn’t find it engaging. The premise, an unknown man stabbed in a theatre queue by an unknown assailant, gives Grant the double challenge of identifying both parties. The scenes in the theatre, both when Grant meets the star of the show in her dressing room and then sees beyond her glamour in her final performance hum with life and lift the book. The book gets off to a slightly sluggish start, ameliorated by atmospheric descriptions of the rituals and entertainments associated with the process of patiently queuing in the rain in hope of gaining a theatre seat. The plot is a little improbable and the solution is clumsy by the people and places feel real, ![]() but that is more than made up for by the vivid descriptions of 1920’s London, especially its theatreland and by the introduction of a strongly-drawn main character, Inspector Alan Grant. ![]() ![]() That this was a debut mystery shows through a little in some less-than-perfect pacing and a slightly odd storytelling viewpoint. ![]()
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