MacDeath [Excerpt only]

by Cindy Brown

Ivy Meadows is dying to be an actress. God, she adores the theater. Not just theater, but Theater, with a capital T. And now she's finally scored her big break, cast as an acrobatic witch (complete with flying caldron) in a circus-themed production of "Macbeth" in Phoenix, Arizona. Maybe it's not Broadway, but Ivy is loving her life—especially her backstage romance with the hunky Macbeth—until the actor playing the murdered King Duncan really does die on opening night. His death looks like an alcohol overdose, but Ivy is sure it's "murder most foul." With the help of her uncle, a private investigator, she uncovers a secret marriage, illicit affairs, and backstabbing plots Shakespeare would have envied. When a poisoned Big Gulp lands her uncle in the hospital, Ivy plunges ahead with the investigation on her own. Undeterred by false leads, her new lover's double life, and the threat of being blackballed, Ivy pursues the truth at the risk of her hard-won career—and her life."MacDeath" is a 79,000-word mystery set in the off-off-off Broadway theater world, where the best drama happens offstage.

13 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 20, 2012

About the author

Cindy Brown’s body of work defies genre, yet her serious crime fiction, humorous mysteries, disability news stories, and comedic plays all share themes of justice and community. She has been shortlisted for an Agatha Award, had over a dozen plays produced, and awarded a disability journalism fellowship by Women’s eNews in 2024.

Cindy and her husband live in their favorite city in the world, Portland, Oregon, where she continues to write stories that speak to her, hoping to shine a light on the goodness that surrounds us.