The Plain Old Man

by Charlotte MacLeod

Hardcover, 2003

Status

Available

Call number

813.54

Collection

Publication

I Books (2003), Mass Market Paperback, 224 pages

Description

A thief targets an amateur theatrical group, and murder follows in his wake Producing a Gilbert & Sullivan opera requires a special kind of madness, and the Kelling family is large enough and peculiar enough to undertake an entire company by themselves. For years now, Sarah Kelling's Aunt Emma has supervised these annual productionsfrom The Pirates of Penzance to The Mikadoand this year she has invited her cast of relatives to rehearse The Sorcerer in her stately mansion. The show is nearly ready when a team of burglars drugs the cast and crew to make off with a priceless portrait. Theft or no theft, Aunt Emma insists the show must go on. Even when one of the cast dies suddenly, she finds a replacement and continues rehearsal. But when Sarah begins to suspect the actor was murdered, it becomes clear that dear Aunt Emma may be in danger of taking her final bow.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member jetangen4571
verbal-humor, situational-humor, family-dynamics, cozy-mystery, amateur-sleuth, women-sleuths

The story is interspersed with lines from Gilbert and Sullivan because the play's the core of the plot. Aunt Emma is a grand managing widow known for her generosity and also for producing the operetta
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populated by Kellings and locals. Then a very valuable painting goes missing right off the dining room wall and a kindly old man gets dead under suspicious circumstances. Sarah has to organize the sleuthing by herself because husband Max is out of the country investigating a different art theft. Almost all comes out well in the end and a lot of laughs had by the reader.
Andi Arndt is the excellent narrator.
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LibraryThing member ritaer
an amateur operetta becomes the scene for murder and art theft with Sarah Kelling as Sleuth
LibraryThing member mirihawk
I wish more of these books were available on Audible. The reader is good, and I have gotten over my initial disappointment that she wasn't told to use a Boston accent. (There are too many rrrr's in her speech!) I blame the director.

I'd forgotten how good these little mysteries are. It's so nice
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that they are finally available on Kindle, too!

I recommend that you read them in order, of course....
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Awards

Anthony Award (Nominee — Novel — 1986)

Language

Original publication date

1985

Physical description

224 p.; 6.6 inches

ISBN

0743474791 / 9780743474795
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