Death of Jezebel
by Christianna Brand
Buy on Amazon>At Elysian Hall, a grand exhibition space in post-War London, a cast has been assembled for a medieval-themed pageant show replete with knights in coloured armour, real horses, and a damsel in a rickety tower on high. With death threats discovered by members of the troupe before the show, the worst comes to pass when the leading lady is thrown from the tower before the eyes of the audience by an unknown assailant – with all doors backstage also under observation. Faced with a seemingly impossible case, the wizened Inspector Cockrill and the fresh-faced Inspector Charlesworth begrudgingly join forces to uncover the killer hiding in plain sight.
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"That’s right. Death of Jezebel has been unavailable at a sensible cost for decades. People have been talking about it, but not able to find it. Now it’s available as a mass market paperback, which is great in itself. It’s a very interesting story. It’s complex, it’s labyrinthine. It’s set at a pageant post-Second World War. Apparently, that was a big thing at that time, which I didn’t realize before I read the book. It’s got multiple solutions and is very ingenious. It’s also a closed circle mystery, because she gives you a cast of characters at the beginning and says that one of those people is the killer. You’ve also got a fair idea of why. It’s quite tightly written, but she manages to juggle the suspects around in a very ingenious way. That’s perfect. That’s exactly what I dream of people saying!"
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