Death of a Hollow Man: The 2nd Inspector Barnaby Mystery [Paperback]

Caroline Graham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2006

Actors do love their dramas, and the members of the Causton Amateur Dramatic Society are no exception. Passionate love scenes, fits of ego, jealous rages, operatic reconciliations--put together, they’re better than a paycheck, which is good thing, because no one in this production of Amadeus is getting one. However, even the most theatrically minded have to admit that murdering the leading man in full view of the audience is a bit over the top. Luckily, Inspector Tom Barnaby is in that audience, and while he may lack certain skills as a theater critic, he’s just the man to figure out who removed the tape from the “prop” straight-razor, causing the star to slit his own throat downstage-center. With so many dramas playing out, there’s no shortage of motives or suspects, including the star’s embittered ex-wife and faithless widow, plus secret lovers and jealous understudies galore. Ms. Graham, a former actress, tweaks her collection of community-theater artistes and small-town drama queens with merciless delight, and the reader’s only regret will be that, eventually, the curtain must come down on the final page. The 2nd Inspector Barnaby Mystery

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A theatrical whodunit worthy of a deep bow and as many encores as the English author can muster” – New York Times --The New York Times

“Ms. Graham writes of the hothouse theatrical world with gleeful authority” – Wall Street Journal --The Wall Street Journal

“Hard to praise highly enough” – The Times (London) --The Times (London)

Product Details

• Paperback: 306 pages
• Publisher: Felony & Mayhem (February 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933397268
• ISBN-13: 978-1933397269
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #81,938 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Killer acting--a definitive farewell to Amadeus' Salieri, April 14, 2011

By 

Blue in Washington "Barry Ballow" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Death of a Hollow Man: The 2nd Inspector Barnaby Mystery (Paperback)

"Death of a Hollow Man" shows off author Caroline Graham's wit and snarky sense of humor at their clever best. This being the second of the Inspector Barnaby series, the wise village cop and his semi-clueless sidekick, Sergeant Troy, are part and parcel of the plot as Barnaby moonlights with a local theater production to help out his sometime-thespian wife Joyce. This episode also puts the focus on Barnaby's daughter Cully, another aspiring actor, who provides an ascerbic commentary on the local production of "Amadeus" and meets the man who will star in her own future.

No need to get into plot details other than to observe that the crime that is central to the story (an onstage killing), is secondary to the interaction of wonderful characters that author Graham has assembled here. Drawing on her own experience in the theater, she constructs some terrific dialogues between her string of aspiring actors, theater staffers and secondary characters that provide chuckles and out-and-out belly laughs.

This is a very entertaining little book that is best read straight through in a sitting. Recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 stars for anything RE-published by FELONY & MAYHEM, July 7, 2009

By 

dh4books - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death of a Hollow Man: The 2nd Inspector Barnaby Mystery (Paperback)

Yes, Graham is an enjoyable read, there are certainly similarities to Ngaio Marsh, it is an entertaining, professional mystery -- but what I'm really taken with is the publisher. Felony & Mayhem have gone back to the past and rediscovered/republished a whole list of books & categorized them into "traditional" "hard-boiled" "espionage" etc. -- This is like the good old days when you could just buy ANYTHING with a picture of a dog or a penguin on the spine and it would be a really good read.

(I'm not employed or friends with anyone at this publishing house; I feel the same way about COUNTRYMAN press mysteries; they only bother publishing pros).

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Barnaby "Hollows" Down the Suspects, December 1, 2007

By 

Myra M. Cingolani "just a mystery reader" (McGehee, AR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Death of a Hollow Man: The 2nd Inspector Barnaby Mystery (Paperback)

When are Tom Barnaby and Inspector Troy going to make their appearance?

This is one of those books that is hard to get into at first, page after page of introducing the soon-to-be suspects as actors and stage assistants in the play "Amadeus." I began to consider putting the book down. However, I started getting interested in spite of myself, trying to figure out what was going to happen and whose fault was it going to be! After the murder, on the stage in full view of Barnaby and Troy, the pace really picked up. The intrigue was so strong, I found myself reading until 4:00 a.m. one morning in order to see who the murderer was!

Another Caroline Graham winner!!