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4.0 out of 5 stars
AN OLD FASHIONED "WHO DUNNIT", March 21, 2005
In __THE OLD DIE YOUNG__, a murder may or may not have been committed. Only a careful autopsy can tell, and even then, there remains a question of whether the victim's death was a murder or was due to an accidental overdose of medication. It remains for Lieutenant Nathan Shapiro and his sidekick, Tony Cook to come up with a conclusion.
The facts are these:
After a party at his home, Broadway actor Clive Branson is found dead in his bedroom by his butler. At first it looks like a death from natural causes, but an autopsy reveals that he had taken or been given a large dose of a medication to which he had a serious sensitivity. If it was murder, it had to have been committed by someone who was aware of this sensitivity.
As background, Clive, a veteran movie actor, was starring in a new Broadway production, playing a part that he really was too old for. The play had gotten financial backing based on his drawing power, but it had become all too apparent to all concerned that he was too old, and his acting style too stiff for the part. The critics were all in accord about this.
The list of suspects with both motive to kill him and opportunity to administer the lethal dose was long.
First, there was his understudy, who got his big break, and a big salary increase, as a result of Clive's death. Next, there was his valet, who inherited a sizeable portion of Clive's estate. Also, there were a couple of ex-wives, one of whom was in a minor role in the play, who each were left $50,000 in his will -- a goodly amount in the time frame in which this book is set. Even more -- the author of the play, as well as the producer and director all had motives to get rid of him (i.e. his understudy was better suited to the part) but were also at risk as a result of his death (i.e. the play was sold out for months based on Clive's drawing power and they didn't know if audiences would come to see Clive's understudy in the starring role).
In order to find the killer, if, indeed, there really was one, Shapiro and Cook needed to use their intuitions and their analytical skills along with a lot of good old fashioned foot work. To add to their difficulties, as they got closer to a solution, one of their chief suspects was murdered, narrowing the suspect field by one but virtually assuring them that Clive's death really had been murder.
That's the set up. I'm afraid that the only way you'll find out the conclusion is to read the book yourself. There is enough suspense here to keep any mystery fan turning pages.
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