Actor

Stanley Hastings #8

by Parnell Hall

What's this? Stanley Hastings playing the lead in George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man on two days notice? What could possibly go wrong? Well, a backstage murder during dress rehearsal, for starters.“A real romp. Hilarious. Wins our vote for Best Performance by an Actor on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.”—Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review“If you enjoy the backstage backgrounds of writers like Ngaio Marsh and Simon Brett, and if the prospect of an unashamedly old-fashioned whodunit with no apparent concern beyond reader pleasure is attractive, this is your book.”—Jon. L. Breen, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine“Easily one of the best backstage murder mysteries I have read.”—Mystery Review“The standing ovation is well deserved.”—Publishers Weekly

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

273 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 1993

Reviews

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun,entertaining. An actor,writer and now a PI takes a week off to help an old friend.

[Joy · Rating 1 out of 5]

So boring quit before person was killed . .

If there i actually any witty or humorous art. I could not be masochistic enough to keep sloggin through to get there .

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was not my favorite of all the books i've read by this author so far

its about the theater which i dont like which would account for my not liking this book

his friend called him to come fill in at the play with 2 days notice as the lead died.

he was so excited, he left his wife and son (who dont play a big part like the wife did when he went on vacation at the inn or b&b as the case may be) and went to the small town

the man giving him the prompts was so bad he blew up and the man was fired. the man that took over did the prompts really well, but he was killed with a knife in the chest

so he had to help the police figure out who did it as they were thinking he was a suspect (I dont think they really did, they just wanted his inside help)

he solved the murder, plus the first actor that died was also murdered, cyanide, and he found the obnoxious actor is the one who did both. tied in with aids and secrets and affairs

im reading the first of the crossword series now, we'll see how that goes

then i requested more of the hastings ones, i like them the best so far!

[Alannah Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stanley Hastings, private detective for an ambulance-chasing New York lawyer finally gets his chance to be a lead actor on the stage - even if it is just in summer stock at a small playhouse in Connecticut rather than on Broadway. And he's filling in for the original lead, who's been pronounced dead of a heart attack. But Stanley Hastings is a lovable loser, and murder is right there to ruin his chance as an actor. The "Margie-Poo" bit wore very thin after the first couple of times, but otherwise this was an enjoyable read with great twists and turns.

[Shelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, Parnell Hall has delivered a humorous mystery which kept me guessing till the end. With characters dubbed "Margie-poo" and "Herbie," I was hard-pressed not to giggle out loud, and my guess about who done it was way off.

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little different than the prior books in the series, Stanley is away from his job and home performing in a summer stock play. His motivation for solving the murder is a little different and he is working with a detective that actually encouraged him to help solve it.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too cozy for me.