Murder at the Piccadilly Playhouse

Cleopatra Fox Mysteries, Book 2

By: C.J. Archer

Narrated by: Marian Hussey

She was admired by women and desired by men, until jealousy and past secrets took center stage. Help Cleo and her friends solve the murder of one of London’s leading actresses.

When a hotel guest’s mistress is found dead in the stalls of the Piccadilly Playhouse, a verdict of suicide is given. Convinced his lover didn’t kill herself, Lord Rumford wants the truth uncovered. Against his better judgement, he hires Cleo Fox to find the murderer. Cleo needs to solve this case if she wants to make a living from being a private detective.

But she quickly learns that the truth is buried beneath years of secrets; secrets that powerful people want desperately to keep. With the help of her friends from the Mayfair Hotel, Cleo exposes the bitter rivalry and jealousy of London’s West End.

But can she find the killer before the final curtain closes on the Playhouse?

©2021 C.J. Archer (P)2021 C.J. Archer

Equally enjoyable as Book 1

Great character and story- Cleopatra is a delightful heroine- also enjoy the time period descriptions

Just when I thought the first book was the best

This book is a more serious murder mystery. It calls for the main protagonist to move outside of their comfort zone into other genres of the time. It helps by showing the other strata that existed not just the wealthy but how the wealthy interact with the poor. This book covers more real-life situations that would have occurred at this time. Personally I cannot wait for another book to come out later this year. Thank you CJ Archer for creating a wonderful journey in your books.

Love the cast of characters

This story was a lot of fun and the narration brought the characters to life.

So fun

This is a great story line. Full of sass and some suspense. Keeps you guessing

Enjoyable story

I always enjoy C J Archer's books and Marian Hussey does a great job narrating. Highly recommend for a fun read.

Excellent

Another fun mystery set at the beginning of the twentieth century. Social mores are slowly changing and Cleopatra Fox is definitely a forward thinking young woman. As an amateur sleuth she is a delight, her quick and clever mind sifts through the clues as she collects them. My only complaint is that Harry is becoming somewhat two dimensional. I would love to have more of Cleo and Harry working together.

Excellent

Cleo is really coming into her own. But she still jumps to conclusions too quickly. I do love her sharp mind when it comes to Harry

Excellent narration and mystery!

Believable

I was a little hesitant at first to start this series because the initial pretense for the main character to land where she did (at the Mayfair Hotel) was a little prosaic to say the least. However, once I did start the series one of the things I found endearing was that the main character, Cleo, was so much more believable than her prosaic predecessors. As a writer and avid reader, I have found character development to follow one of two paths. They are either a Cinderella story or some incredibly brilliant woman who is taking her the world by storm. I don’t feel Cleo is really either of these paths. She is moving into a new century and more forward thinking for sure, but she is still completely unaware of her presence and abilities. She comes off as fumbling her way through a problem. She is neither dazzling or brilliant but ordinary and that is perfectly okay because in reality it that is what most of us are. Many authors like to present their character as so incredibly brilliant and intuitive in the beginning, but then the character will go and do something reckless and inappropriate such as putting themselves in some dangerous situation that completely disassembles one’s previous view of the character’s intelligence. As a reader I find that very frustrating and the character loses credibility in my eyes. I find Cleo comes across as unsure and questioning herself, and doesn’t put herself in unnecessary peril out of pride or stupidity. This is a character I can get behind or even crawl into and become, because this is more in keeping with reality. I sincerely hope that Archer will continue to keep Cleo’s character along this route and not feel the need to grow her into someone who is too clever or in need of saving or rescuing; but rather, allow her to continue to plod along in her way of finding her path in this world by making mistakes and thinking of giving up and then putting her mind back into the problem and pushing her direction of logic to reasonable conclusions.

Lighthearted and enjoyable mystery

I just want to be entertained with a clean cut mystery and a great voice in the reader. That’s what I got! Looking forward to her next book!

Great Mystery with twists and turns.

I loved the characters and how well they are detailed. It was like watching a movie!