Something Wicked

By 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jun 16, 2010
• ISBN: 9780307575166

Carolyn Hart

An accomplished master of mystery, Carolyn Hart is the author of twenty previous Death on Demand novels. Her books have won multiple Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Awards. She is also the creator of the Henrie O series, featuring a retired reporter, and the Bailey Ruth series, starring an impetuous, redheaded ghost. One of the founders of Sisters in Crime, Hart lives in Oklahoma City.

Reviews for Something Wicked

[dcarlin-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I persevered with this book, to the end, however it was under sufferance. Just could not get into it. The storyline was difficult to follow and listening to the character's "thoughts" being read in the middle of a conversation was off putting, to say the least. Two stars for an Australian author and setting.

[gypsysmom_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I did very much enjoy this mystery set somewhere outside of Sydney in a small community that is popular with tourists and weekend visitors. One such visitor is Jonathon who bought a small cottage on an acreage to spend weekends in. The fact that the family next door in Haven is "different" is obvious but it is only when the younger sister, Astral, starts speaking to him from the Haven side of the fence that he becomes curious about them. He learns that there are 3 sisters and a mother, Rachel, who have lived there for a number of years. Recently failed rock star Adam Quinn has started to live with them. Quinn sometimes goes into town but Rachel and the three girls are very seldom seen. When Jonathon is invited by Astral to come over to the Haven side of the fence he realizes it is unusual but he doesn't expect to find the badly decomposed body of Adam Quinn in the chicken shed. It looks like Quinn shot himself but Rachel is missing and the house was set on fire while the girls were sleeping so it looks suspicious. Tessa Vance and Steve Hayden and other members of the Sydney Homicide Squad are called in to investigate. Soon there is another suspicious death, this time of the schoolteacher Fiona Klein that the girls were staying with. Tessa feels that she knows something that will solve the mystery but she can't quite put her finger on it. When she does all the pieces fall in place. This was a well written mystery but I also enjoyed the descriptions of the flora and fauna. I can't quite get my head around living in a place where parrots and other (to me) exotic birds fly free but it certainly added to the appeal of the book.

[jalenv_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

'Arsenic and Old Lace' is one of Annie's favorites, and she's happy to be a part of the local summer production, despite little acts of sabotage and Shane the pain, who can't be bothered to learn his lines. They even have an ex-Broadway director, anxious to make a comeback. The tricks take an ugly turn, ending in a murder.Enter Posey, the kind of attorney who gives the profession a bad name. He hates persons of inherited wealth, so of course he's happy to pick Max Darling for the killer. Worse, he's not interested in pursuing any leads that lead away from Max. Max isn't worried, but Annie is. She's being driven crazy.There are two running subplots. One is the ideas Laurel, Max's eccentric mother, has for Max and Annie's wedding in September. Annie wants a simple wedding. Laurel wants an New Age extravaganza. You know Annie must love Max very much since she's willing to accept Laurel as her mother-in-law. (Unlike Annie, I wouldn't have minded the unusual wedding cake -- so long as it tasted okay.)The other subplot is Henny dressing up and taking on the mannerisms of female fictional sleuths as she does her own investigation of the murder. Don't worry if you don't know them all (I don't), because Annie identifies them for the reader.There's plenty of suspense in the scene where Annie is trying to get the killer to admit to the crimes. It was a bit in the spirit of 'Arsenic and Old Lace,' come to think of it.As for the usual five paintings of mystery books contest, I've read them all and figured out only one painting, and it wasn't the one for the book I'd read not six months ago. Drat!The narration is good. It added to the suspense and to my instant loathing of Posey, who will return.

[victorianrose869 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

May 30, 1999Something WickedCarolyn HartI’ve read that Carolyn Hart is often compared to Agatha Christie. I don’t really see it, since to me Agatha Christie represents all that is English and quaint and sneaky, whereas Carolyn Hart is nothing like that. Her books are entertaining, though. Annie irritates me a little with her perfect life: owns a mystery bookstore, is married to a rich, good-looking guy with whom she’s thoroughly infatuated, and the sexual references are just corny and stupid. The South Carolina setting turns me off, as do all Southern locales. Still, I really do enjoy the series. Anyway, a “summer stock” cast is putting on a presentation of Arsenic & Old Lace. There’s a murder or two, an aging star who’s laying pipe all over town, including a mother and daughter team…. This time Max is a suspect (it’s usually Annie), so Annie has to prove his innocence.