Murder's a pain in the aria! Nothing ruins a night at the opera faster than a duchess falling to her death. Mrs. Ginger Reed, also known by some as Lady Gold, is at the Royal Albert Hall with her husband, Basil Reed, a chief inspector at Scotland Yard, and the two of them are immediately at the scene. Was the Duchess of Worthington's fall accidental? Where was the duke? And what does Ginger's grandmother-in-law, Ambrosia, the Dowager Lady Gold have to do with the sordid affair? Something went terribly wrong with the dowager's "sisterhood" of friends back in the 1860s, and it's all coming home to roost.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Half-way through the matinee at the Theatre Royal, North London, the audience gasp in horror when Hamlet drags the corpse of Polonius on to the stage from behind a curtain. For the head of renowned actor Sir Roger Nutley is lolling at a bizarre angle that can only mean he has REALLY been killed. Two years ago, a jury had failed to convict Sir Roger of alleged sex crimes against young women in the past. Is his murder linked to the trial, or does the motive lie somewhere else? Detective Chief Inspector Keith Warren and Detective Sergeant Philippa Myers learn that the superstar's life had other secret, dark sides, including friendship with a drugs baron and an addiction to expensive prostitutes. WHAT READERS SAY: "Best book that I've read in a long while." "A brilliant read, well researched, with great characters." "Good buildup throughout, unexpected twist at the end." "Very gripping & entertaining. I thoroughly enjoyed it." "It's written at a cracking pace, with great attention to detail." "A good mystery, interesting setting, detailed characters." "Holmes, Dalgliesh and Poirot all rolled into one. A very refreshing cast."
"When a distant relative of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha is killed during an opera performance at the Royal Albert Hall, Ginger and Basil are there to take the case."--
The most iconic concert hall in the world celebrates 150 years with a stunning review of history's finest performances and performers. Opening with a personal letter from Queen Elizabeth II, this beautiful book celebrates 150 moments that have shaped The Royal Albert Hall over the last century and a half. From The Beatles to the Suffragettes, Albert Einstein to Winston Churchill, Mohammed Ali to B.B. King, few other buildings have housed such a stunning variety of era-defining people and events. This gorgeous, illustrated guide takes you behind the scenes of one of the most well-loved concert halls in the world, offering insights into the building’s iconic architecture, as well as its lesser-known quirks such as the reinforced toilets designed for Sumo wrestlers. This book features events ranging from the world's first sci-fi convention in 1891 to the annual Cirque du Soleil, which requires the auditorium to be transformed into a gymnasium. Autographs and candid comments from incredible performers who have appeared on its stage, like Russell Howard, Eric Clapton and Katie Derham, give a unique insider’s perspective on an esteemed and beloved British institution. With never-before-seen images, insights and more, this is the ultimate celebration of a British architectural icon which continues to inspire artists and audiences from around the world.
Trophy Kill: the Shall We Dance Murder. The Trial and Revelations of a Psychopathic Killer On July 1st, 2003 Susan Sarandon called police from the set of the Miramax movie Shall We Dance to report the theft of some of her jewelry, including a gold necklace. The next day Sidney Teerhuis calmly walked into a police station to report waking from a drunken blackout to find his acquantance dead in the bathtub. At the rented room police found the victim dismembered, beheaded, sawn in half, disemboweled and castrated with the chest sliced open and all of the internal organs gone! One eye had been removed and the body posed, crudely reassembled. Susan Sarandon's stolen gold necklace was found a few feet away from the murder-horror spectacle. Obsessed with celebrity, his role models-serial killers, with Susan Sarandon's stolen jewelry, Sidney hatches a diabolical plan to achieve his ultimate fantasy...
"Nothing ruins a night at the opera faster than a duchess falling to her death. Mrs. Ginger Reed, also known by some as Lady Gold, is at the Royal Albert Hall with her husband, Basil Reed, a chief inspector at Scotland Yard, and the two of them are immediately at the scene. Was the Duchess of Worthington's fall accidental? Where was the duke? And what does Ginger's grandmother-in-law, Ambrosia, the Dowager Lady Gold have to do with the sordid affair? Something went terribly wrong with the dowager's "sisterhood" of friends back in the 1860's, and it's all coming home to roost." --Back cover.
When a birthday party for one of their Hampstead neighbors turns deadly, Antonia Darcy and Major Hugh Payne end up investigating the murder of one of Melisande Chevret's other guests. The aging actress becomes a natural suspect, as the victim was her love rival. But after the first murder, a second takes place at the Villa Byzantine. The owner of the house is royal biographer Tancred Vane, who swears he is innocent. And surely Catherine Hope, an elderly lady helping him with his research, can have nothing to do with it. A damning piece of evidence points to the victim's daughter—but why would a teenage girl have a dainty silk handkerchief bearing her monogram? And would she drop it so conveniently beside her mother's body? As the questions mount, Antonia Darcy and Major Payne search desperately for answers.
"Superb... Flanders's convincing and smart synthesis of the evolution of an official police force, fictional detectives, and real-life cause célèbres will appeal to devotees of true crime and detective fiction alike." -Publishers Weekly, starred review In this fascinating exploration of murder in nineteenth century England, Judith Flanders examines some of the most gripping cases that captivated the Victorians and gave rise to the first detective fiction Murder in the nineteenth century was rare. But murder as sensation and entertainment became ubiquitous, with cold-blooded killings transformed into novels, broadsides, ballads, opera, and melodrama-even into puppet shows and performing dog-acts. Detective fiction and the new police force developed in parallel, each imitating the other-the founders of Scotland Yard gave rise to Dickens's Inspector Bucket, the first fictional police detective, who in turn influenced Sherlock Holmes and, ultimately, even P.D. James and Patricia Cornwell. In this meticulously researched and engrossing book, Judith Flanders retells the gruesome stories of many different types of murder in Great Britain, both famous and obscure: from Greenacre, who transported his dismembered fiancée around town by omnibus, to Burke and Hare's bodysnatching business in Edinburgh; from the crimes (and myths) of Sweeney Todd and Jack the Ripper, to the tragedy of the murdered Marr family in London's East End. Through these stories of murder-from the brutal to the pathetic-Flanders builds a rich and multi-faceted portrait of Victorian society in Great Britain. With an irresistible cast of swindlers, forgers, and poisoners, the mad, the bad and the utterly dangerous, The Invention of Murder is both a mesmerizing tale of crime and punishment, and history at its most readable.
It's March 1966: not quite the Summer of Love. When Rennie's best friend, rock singer Prax McKenna, is busted for being at two savage crime scenes---one of them backstage at the newly opened Fillmore Auditorium---despite her own problems (her failed marriage and getting established in the rock biz), Rennie sets out to clear her friend's name. But nobody expects what happens next. Especially not Rennie.
