Customer Reviews

Blood on the Stage, 1925-1950: Milestone Plays of Crime, Mystery and Detection

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I was coaxed to read the reference book Blood on the Stage, 1925-1950 because it was a finalist at the prestigious Agatha Awards. As both a theatre lover and an aficionado of suspense literature, I found this hefty book a treasure chest of information about 150 crime and detection plays, all deserving attention and study, some of which we'll never see on stage in our life time. Arranged in chronological order, each of the plays analyzed is described by a concise yet thorough plot synopsis, performance data, and scholarly critiques. I was intrigued by the fact that alongside such lions of the genre as Agatha Christie and Edgar Wallace, surprisingly, also included are many mainstream authors like Eugene O'Neill, Somerset Maugham, Ayn Rand, Maxwell Anderson, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Bertolt Brecht----all proving to have been blood- thirsty, dabbling in all sorts of villainies. Blood on the Stage, 1925-1950 follows an earlier volume, Blood on the Stage, 1900-1925. While I am familiar with studies of crime in the cinema, television, and radio, to my knowledge, this is the only series of books dedicated to suspense on the legitimate stage. Unique, and immensely readable, I highly recommend this book.