Carolyn Hart

Everyone—including mystery bookstore owner Annie Laurance—loves Arsenic and Old Lace.  But something wicked is poisoned a local summer stock production as cast members stab each other in the back and props are sabotaged.  Worst of all, the star, aging Hollywood beach-blanket hunk Shane Petree, butchers his lines—while getting top billing in bed with wives and teenage daughters around town.  No wonder somebody wants to draw his final curtain.  With a little help from Miss Marple, Poirot, and Agatha the Bookstore Cat, a pompous prosecutor tries to pin a murder on Max, Annie's own leading man.  Unless Annie can prove her darling's innocence, their wedding date's off!  Invoking the tried-and-true methods of her favorite literary sleuths, Annie snoops around the greasepaint and glitter of the show-stopper scene if she doesn't watch it, because theatrical murderers never play fair.