Book Review: Staged 4 Murder by J.C. Eaton (Sophie Kimball #3)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Good characters, mystery, and fun

Cons: A couple here and there, but nothing major

The Bottom Line: 

Theater Murder

Opportunity for fun

And good mystery

Murder is a Catwalk

My problem is, I have too many series I’m trying to read. Some series, I stay on top of, but others wind up being something I don’t get back to as quickly as I would like. J. C. Eaton’s Sophie Kimball series is one of the later, but I did just get to read the third, Staged 4 Murder. 

As usual, it’s Sophie’s mother’s mystery book club that gets Sophie involved in murder. The local retirement community’s theater group has announced that they are going to do Agatha Christie’s famous play The Mousetrap, and the women are all excited to be part of it either in the cast or behind the scenes. However, rehearsals aren’t going well thanks to the star, Miranda Lee. She is behaving like a classic diva, and it is irritating everyone. Still, it is a surprise when the cast and crew show up for rehearsals one day to find Miranda’s body on the catwalk above the theater. Who would want to kill her?

Before I get any further, I want to be clear. There are no spoilers for The Mousetrap here. In fact, the only plot point from the play you get is who is killed. You don’t get even any context for who the victim is or who the other characters are.  Other than that, there is talk of who is playing which character and them having scenes together. So if you still haven’t seen this classic Christie play, you can enjoy this book without worry. 

And enjoy it you will. There is plenty of action here to keep your attention and a few other references to Christie’s work. I didn’t figure out for sure what was going on until Sophie did. The action of the climax was great, although could have been a bit simpler than it was and still been good. 

The women of the Booked 4 Murder book club form a bit of a Greek chorus, at least for me. One or two have distinct personalities, but the rest are part of group scenes without too much to separate them. They also walk a fine line between comedy and annoying. In this book, they are definitely amusing, and I enjoyed their scenes. 

The rest of the cast is good. Sophie is a relatable main character, and I appreciated her attempts at detection. There are some hints at romance in this book, which was fun. I enjoyed spending time with the rest of the characters, as well. 

Fortunately, I already have the next book in this fun series. I just need to make the time to read it. Staged 4 Murder has reminded me just how good this series can be. 

Enjoy the rest of the Sophie Kimball Mysteries.