Murder Offstage

A Posie Parker Mystery Series, Book 1

By: L.B. Hathaway

Narrated by: Clare Wille

Meet Posie ‘Nosey’ Parker: hopeless romantic, war survivor, girl about town, and now… Detective?

London, February, 1921.

Posie Parker always dreamt of becoming a Private Detective. So with nothing to lose, and the tiniest scrap of an inheritance and her haughty cat, Mr Minks, in tow, she sets up her own Detective Agency in Bloomsbury.

But clients are hard to come by, and all seems in vain, until Posie receives an urgent call from her childhood friend, Lord Rufus Cardigeon, who is up to his neck in bother. He’s been robbed of a family heirloom—the priceless Maharajah diamond—by his showgirl fiancée, Lucky Lucy Gibson, and he’s become the Number One suspect in the shooting of a mysterious man in the lobby of the Ritz Hotel. Rufus swears he’s innocent, and it’s up to Posie to investigate, all with Scotland Yard breathing down her neck.

Aided by her seriously gorgeous assistant Len Irving, and a new friend, ex-suffragette Dolly Price, Posie starts to hunt for the missing fiancée, Lucky Lucy Gibson, the key to all the mayhem. But the darkly-glamorous world of London’s theatre proves a hornet’s nest of danger.

Just who exactly was the murdered man at the Ritz Hotel? Why has Mr Minks, Posie’s cat, been stolen? And when Dolly Price suddenly vanishes, Posie has to face up to a far greater enemy than she could ever have imagined. A daring enemy who has already lined Posie up as the next victim…

Murder Offstage is the first book in the Posie Parker Mystery Series. If you love cozy golden age intrigue-packed mysteries, you won’t be able to stop listening to this! For fans of Agatha Christie, Downton Abbey and Lee Strauss.

©2014 L.B. Hathaway (P)2020 L.B. Hathaway

Critic reviews

“This novel is a first class cozy worthy of Agatha Christie.” (Sweet Mystery Books)

Decent understanding of the English language

First off, the narrator is quite good so you can ignore some of the weaker writing. But the plot, narrator and characters are better than most in this genre. I wish these cosies would have better editors but I guess that would eat into the profits.

Enjoyable narration and story- clean content

Very pleasant listen. Enjoyed narrator and clean story. Cozy mystery for sure. Recommended for mystery lovers.

Sweet

An enjoyable story. A tiny bit too simple for my taste. The ending was agonizingly prolonged. It took too long to wrap things up. But I did enjoy the book. Not sure that I would listen to this author a second time however

exciting twist at the end

a bit slow to start - the performance was very good. I'm so used to Barbara Rosenblatt that it's hard trying not to compare every reader to her. This was a very good performance and the end of the book had an exciting unexpected twist. When in the mood for another cozy mystery, I'll choose another Hathaway book.

Well written story with surprises and twists

I enjoyed the story and the narration. Nice way to spend the day while crafting.