Stagestruck / Peter Lovesey / 325 pages/ R. T. Reviewer's Choice Award

Clarion Calhoun is a pop star with a large following.  As she is aware that all popularity eventually wanes, she decides to break into the theatre.  She is given the starring role at the Royal Theatre in Bath and her name sells out performances for weeks.  Unfortunately, on opening night, she begins screaming instead of saying her first lines.  Some believe it might be extreme stage fright, but it is actually caustic soda, drain cleaner, which had been added to her make up.  Who could have done such a thing and why?  Chief Superintendent Peter Diamond is called in to investigate. This is multiple murder who-done-it, rife with British humor.