A Black Tie Affair and Other Mystery Stories by Elizabeth Elwood

A Black Tie Affair and Other Mystery Stories by Elizabeth Elwood

A lighthearted mystery collection whose main character is an opera singer and inadvertent sleuth. Philippa Beary, who first debuted in To Catch an Actress and Other Mystery Stories (2005), appears as the protagonist in these nine stories. Aided by her sisters, a city-councilor father and a formidable mother, Philippa finds herself solving several crimes in myriad settings. In The Mephisto Waltz Jump, a skater dies in a pool of blood at the rink where Philippa's niece takes lessons. The Fall of Tosca occurs at one of Philippa's auditions, where she hears a famed soprano fall to her death from a castle tower. In the title story, Philippa's father thwarts the offstage murder of a lovely prima donna in a performance of Die Fledermaus, while Philippa sings and deals with a surplus of suitors. Unlike many mystery writers, Elwood provides relatively sparse physical descriptions of her characters-Philippa has, for example, a diminutive five-foot frame, and her father an ample waistline, but beyond this sort of phrasing, readers are left to imagine the characters' appearances. However, Elwood offers genuine character development through lively dialogue. In addition to puzzling over mysteries, readers get a glimpse into Philippa's relationship with her sisters (she prefers the softhearted animal lover Juliette to the driven lawyer Sylvia) and her parents (her father embarrasses her in his attempts to advance her career, and her mother is demanding and overwhelming). Elwood's settings, whether the coast off Vancouver, refined stage scenes or bustling New York streets, are equally well drawn. Elwood's stories are typically more clever than frightening, and many plot twists depend on a character being in the right spot at the right time, but because she has deftly created a web family of characters and acquaintances, the constellation of murders seems plausible. Well-crafted stories which will delight mystery fans.-Kirkus Discoveries

ELIZABETH ELWOOD: Born in England, Elizabeth came to Canada in 1957. She graduated from West Vancouver High School and went on to get a degree in English at UBC, where she also trained in the Opera Workshop. After graduation, she worked as an English/Drama teacher, sang in the Vancouver Opera Chorus, and performed roles with Lower Mainland musical and theatre groups. In 1992, with husband, Hugh, Elizabeth formed Elwoodettes Marionettes and subsequently created twenty marionette musicals for the company. After mounting the marionette productions, Elizabeth turned her hand to writing for live actors. Her first play, Casting for Murder, was produced in 2000 by the Vagabond Players in New Westminster. Since then, it has been staged all across Canada and will have its US premiere in 2017. Her three subsequent plays, Renovations, Shadow of Murder and Body and Soul, have also enjoyed highly successful productions. Elizabeth began writing The Beary Mystery series after the success of her first play, which introduced the character of Bertram Beary. She has now published five books of mystery stories based around the feisty councillor who was so popular with audiences when Casting for Murder was first produced. The mystery books draw on her varied experiences in theatre, travel, boating, politics and education and have received high praise for their smart plotting, wit and style.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780595428502
ISBN 10	0595428509
Title	A Black Tie Affair and Other Mystery Stories
Author	Elizabeth Elwood
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	iUniverse
Year published	2008-04-09
Number of pages	240
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.