Murder: The Musical

Smith & Wetzon #5

by Annette Meyers

Leslie Wetzon - one-time dancer, some-time amateur detective, and presently the more principled half of the headhunting firm of Smith and Wetzon, chicest partnership on Wall Street - is sitting in on rehearsals for the Broadway-bound production of The Musical to give moral support to her old friend Carlos, the show's embattled choreographer. After Hotshot's stage manager is discovered bludgeoned to death in the theater's mezzanine, Wetzon finds her own name on a lengthening list of suspects. To exonerate herself and her friends, she must wade through a morass of theatrical egos and bitchy intrigue that keeps her consistently off-balance. The reappearance of her old love, Detective Silvestri, just when she has settled into a serious relationship with an influential and affluent older man, adds to her turmoil. Turning the bright lights of Broadway on a real-life story line that includes a few unorthodox entanglements, millions of dollars, and some angels with deadly motives, Wetzon comes up with her own theories about the killer's identity. Then two more murders point suspicion at the one person both Wetzon and Smith are committed to protect at all costs. Now Wetzon has to pit her instinct and nerve against the perpetrator of a trio of murders as she follows a neon-lit, scandal-strewn trail of greed and obsession into the mind of a killer set to strike again.

Genres: Mystery, Mystery Thriller

370 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Annette Meyers spent sixteen years on Wall Street as an executive search consultant, and is currently an arbitrator with the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). She is a past president of Sisters in Crime and is secretary of the International Association of Crime Writers.

With her husband Martin Meyers, using the pseudonym Maan Meyers, she writes historical mysteries set in New York in the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries.

--from her website

Series:
* Smith and Wetzon Mystery
* Olivia Brown Mystery

Reviews

[Jeff Clausen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This whodunnit has a large cast of characters to keep track of, mostly theater folks, which helps by keeping producers separate from dancers, from stage managers. Then there are Wall Street types and ex-lovers and old college pals, all vying for Leslie’s attention and confusing her. Who murdered whom, and why? I was challenged to connect well with her or most people involved, although to be fair, this is one of a series, so having read a previous entry would probably eliminate that complaint. And if you enjoy aspects of the Theater, as the author spells it, this should capture you with all the backstage goings-on.

[Stevie Faye · Rating 2 out of 5]

i tried! could not get into it after 125 pages