A fun Golden Age mystery from Alan Melville. I always enjoy Martin Edwards’ informative introductions and this was no exception. I am a bit of sucker for a theatrical setting (see also Ngaio Marsh), so especially enjoyed this one,

This book was a delight. A light and breezy Golden Age mystery with wit and set in the theater. There were some great twists at the end and the father and son detectives were very entertaining

Quick Curtain is another 'forgotten' gem, re-formatted and released by Poisoned Pen press in the British Library Crime Classics series with a release date 5th December, 2017. It was written by Alan Melville and originally published in 1934. There's a lighthearted element to the humor (for which the author was taken to task by Dorothy Sayers). I enjoy so many of the classic golden age mystery writers and find the interwar stories especially engaging and nostalgic, seen through the lens of modern times. This edition features a really interesting introduction and short history by Martin Edwards which adds a lot of background for the narrative.

This is a very light mystery and intended as a fun diversion, not a deep or philosophical examination of the criminal mind. The plot is unusually full of twists and turns and I really enjoyed the interplay between inspector Wilson and his son, Derek, a reporter. They seem to genuinely like one another and their banter adds a lot to the dialogue.
There is a fair bit of authorial intrusion (the author speaking directly to the reader), which may annoy some readers, but I found it teasing and quite fun. The author uses the device relatively sparingly, so it's not overly tiresome.
This is not a procedural in the normal sense. The goings-on included in the book aren't realistic, nor are they intended to be realistic. Realism was intentionally sacrificed for entertainment value.

Incidentally, I really thought I had it figured out until quite literally the penultimate page! Well played, Mr. Melville, well played.

268 pages, available in ebook, paperback and audiobook versions. Worthwhile. In fact, I've enjoyed all the books I've read in the Crime Classics collection.

Four and a half stars. Lighthearted, witty, and entertaining.

Publicist Douglas B. Douglas was a master at convincing theatergoers that his next show would be a sensation. "Blue Music", a musical comedy operetta, played to audiences in Manchester. The public was willing to pay a reduced ticket price to view rehearsals of the upcoming "successful" show. Londoners sat on camp stools for days to obtain tickets for opening night. Leading man Brandon Baker's Galley Fan Club was beyond excited to see their idol. Stage director Herbert, worked behind the scenes cuing actors, calming nerves and making sure the transitions between acts ran smoothly.

All is well until Act II. After the line....."So! You make love to my woman, eh!", a gunshot rang out. Oh,no! A fake gun was unknowingly replaced by a real one. Brandon Baker fell down, lifeless, on stage in front of a dazed audience. Hilary Foster, the actor who fired the fatal shot seems to have committed suicide.

In attendance opening night were Inspector Wilson of Scotland Yard and son, Derek, a journalist. They embarked upon a criminal investigation. Father and son were an oddball team. Inspector Wilson worked from home and did not follow police procedure. The Wilson's banter was witty and humorous. They applied their "theories" to search for the culprit(s).

"Quick Curtain" by Alan Melville was a lighthearted whodunit written in 1934. It was written between the two world wars during the Golden Age of Murder. Lovers of hefty police procedurals or hard boiled crime will not find this read satisfying. Lovers of witty, humorous investigation and vanishing suspects coupled with a theatrical setting will be delighted.

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "Quick Curtain".

Another story told in an old fashioned style, but one that was rather interesting though a bit quirky at times!

Centred around a successful director and a particular set of actors with the famous director Douglas B. Douglas there are actors and actresses who are not all quite what they seem. With judicious and clever publicity stunts, the mediocrity of the play and its actors are not of any importance but our Mr. Douglas has enormous popularity and benefit as a result

The actors are well known and much sought after (opening night has people queuing for three and four days and nights to get first dibs in) and even a murder cleverly executed as part of the play does not dim the popularity of this particular play.

Inspector Wilson who was present whilst the murder took place, takes immediate charge of the investigation and along with his son who is a journalist tackle the whys and wherefores to get to the bottom of this murder. A suicide by the chief suspect immediately following the murder adds to the confusion when no reason or animosity existed between the two.

The suspicion now moves to others in the play and moves far from London to a smaller village where another murder takes place. It is now imperative to get to the bottom of the deaths and our Inspector is stretched to find the evidence he needs to pin the murderer. Assistance from his rather droll son helps and the murder is solved.

Goodreads and Amazon Reviews posted on 17/3/2018. Review on my blog end April 2018

"He did not like the look on Miss Turner’s face at all. Nor did he like the peculiar dark mark on the stage, just where Mr. Baker had fallen. Mr. Douglas gave another twist to the swivel of his opera-glasses to bring them exactly into focus. He fixed them again on the dark mark. It was blood."

And so murder has been committed on stage, on opening night, and there just happens to be an Inspector in the audience, ready to investigate.

The writing is engaging; the characters slightly over exaggerated; the humour dry and satirical. A book that doesn't take itself too seriously, and neither should the reader. Enjoy it for what it is - classic crime.

Define “witty”... 2 stars

It's the opening night of the new show at the Grosvenor Theatre – Blue Music, produced by the great theatre impresario Douglas B Douglas and starring perennial juvenile lead and heart-throb Brandon Baker, a combination designed to guarantee box office success. The theatre is filled with the great and the good in the dear seats, and the members of the Brandon Baker Gallery Club in the cheap ones. The scene where Brandon Baker is shot takes on an unexpectedly dramatic twist when it turns out the bullet was real, and he collapses onto the stage, dead. Fortunately Inspector Wilson of the Yard is in the audience, along with his journalist son Derek, so the pair are in prime position to investigate the murder.

This is billed as being “witty”. Wit can wear very thin very quickly if it's not done well. It's not done well. The Wilsons must have a claim on the title of most annoying crime fighting duo in history. Perhaps if they spent less time being “funny”, they might have been better detectives. I found myself speculating as to the mysterious lack of a Mrs Wilson – I concluded that if I were married to one of these and the mother of the other, I'd probably have run off to a different continent leaving no forwarding address, but perhaps the poor lady simply died of tedium after having to listen to them do their cross-talk act at breakfast once too often.

Realism simply doesn't exist in this novel. Inspector Wilson acts like an amateur detective, using his son as his sidekick. They don't interview any suspects or do any real investigation. They simply come up with a theory and then mangle the “facts” to fit. “Facts” is a term that must be used loosely in regard to this novel, since there are glaring continuity errors throughout, such as a man having a wife and children at one appearance and then being an unmarried loner next time he's discussed. One feels that some editor at some point in the 80-odd years since it was first published would have picked up on these issues, but perhaps they were all laughing too hysterically to concentrate.

To be fair, it starts out quite well with some gentle lampooning of the whole business of putting on light musicals. Stars, producers, theatre critics and fans all come in for their share of mockery, but it's done quite affectionately. In his introduction, Martin Edwards tells us that Melville was himself a successful playwright and this shows through in his credible, if caricatured, portrayal of the life of theatricals. It's really the arrival of the Wilson duo that brings the whole thing down – in fact, it's the attempt to make it into a crime novel that fails badly. Had Melville written some other kind of theatre based froth, then it may have come off better, but a crime novel really requires at least some pretence at a proper plot and investigation or it becomes nonsensical – and not in a good way. Edwards tells us that Dorothy L Sayers, a regular reviewer of the work of her contemporaries, had similar reservations as my own, saying Inspector Wilson “does all his detecting from his private house with the sole aid of his journalist son. Light entertainment is Mr Melville's aim, and a fig for procedure!”

So I guess it comes down to whether the reader finds this kind of arch humour entertaining. Some will, I'm sure, and will therefore be better able to overlook the major flaws in the plot and structure. Sadly I found myself getting progressively more irritated and bored as it went along and was frankly delighted to make it to the deeply unsatisfactory and rather silly end. Not an author I will be pursuing further, I'm afraid. Sometimes authors become “forgotten” for a reason...

NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press.

A Golden Age gem from Alan Melville and another welcome reprint from the British Library in their series of crime classics. An introduction/foreword from Martin Edwards is always a joy to read and doesn't disappoint. The book itself really is a gem. Revolving around murder at the Theatre, the writing is quick and slick, clever and witty. There is an enormous amount of humour to be had. An excellent read indeed. Recommended for anyone who is a lover of Golden Age crime.

This book is really funny and entertaining. It could be written by Wodehouse even if contains a lot of the classical Golden Age mystery.
The mystery works even if it sometimes takes the back seat and the humorous side is preponderant.
Really recommended.
Many thanks to Poison Pen and Netgalley

Quick Curtain is a British Crime Classics Mystery written in 1934 by Alan Melville and republished in 2017 by Poisoned Pen Press. Melville was more well-known as a playwright and television personality and writer, but he did write a handful of mystery novels early in his career.

Master of publicity Douglas B Douglas is going to have another hit on his hands as Blue Music opens at the Grosvenor Theatre. As the second act begins, Brandon Baker, the leading man, is to be shot, but when he doesn't get up again, Douglas and others realize that they have a problem on their hands. Fortunately, in the audience is Inspector Wilson, of Scotland Yard, and his son Derek, a young journalist. Inspector Wilson soon takes over the case, with his son assisting him as his "Watson." The case seems cut and dry, except for the evidence which Wilson soon discovers at the scene and ably interprets a la Sherlock Holmes.

The book is a send-up of the theater and also of police procedure. Perhaps in my review, I've drawn too much of a comparison to Sherlock Holmes, this book is not remotely like a Sherlock Holmes story, except where it does poke a little fun at the genre. As Dorothy L Sayers noted in her review at the time, Mr Wilson doesn't follow normal police procedure. In my opinion, the book is better for it as Mr Wilson becomes a more human character as a result. He seems to be able to draw conclusions about the scene of the crime and make deductions as to the outcome of the case, which are born out at the conclusion. As with any good detective novel, at the end, Wilson gets his chance to sum up the case. However, just when you think it has been wrapped up satisfactorily, there is a TWIST!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The witty banter between father and son Wilson was very humorous and I chuckled many times throughout. One such example:
"Isn't he marvellous?" said Derek. "Another five minutes and he'll be sucking a briar and telling us that the whole thing was elementary, my dear Amethyst--elementary."
"Shut up," said Mr. Wilson pleasantly.

Melville has a very pleasant, conversational style - at one point, he even indulges in a little metafiction by talking to the reader. The book was an easy read and the story had a good flow to it. At one point in the story, Derek visits a small town in southern England and the author resorts to writing the dialogue of the postmistress in her accent. This may be offputting and difficult to read for some, but I felt that it added to the atmosphere of setting and could hear the accent in my head as I read. I very much doubt that the reader will guess the identity of the murderer, but I do think that the author played fair with the reader. I thought the twist was great fun and it added to my enjoyment of the book.

I recently read Death of Anton by Melville and while I did not like it as much, it was a solid piece of classic detective fiction.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for a fair review.

If you are looking for a classic whodunit, this may or may not be it. But if you enjoy Golden Age detective fiction with witty humor and a big twist, I think you will enjoy this book.

This was was one of the most intelligently funny crime novels I've read in so long. Not hard-boiled or snarky, just honest with and humor that literally had me laughing out loud several times.

Let's just start with the investigating duo of Inspector Miller of Scotland Yard and his reporter son...what cop in their right mind would allow a reporter, no matter if it was kin, to assist in an investigation and much as Miller Senior did? And their relationship and camaraderie was warm and funny at all times with verbal parries and weak thrusts that showed love and a long time of living together as bachelors. (Mother Miller is never mentioned, but Martha, their housekeeper is even fair game for jokes and witticisms.)

The murder happens on stage and most assume that a prop gun was replaced with a real one, but not Inspector Miller. He thinks that there is more at work here and the investigational hijinx that follow aren't Pink Panther stupid, just downright funny and so refreshing. When Derek goes 'undercover' as a hiker/bicyclist having no idea how to pose as one or in fact just how far he's going to have to ride, I laughed both at his stupidity and enthusiasm.

My one complaint is something that as a reporter, Derek Miller (the character) should have known by heart. They buried the lead...or really the solution in all of their hilarity and desire to emulate, jokingly, the Agatha Christie trick of bringing all into the room and sharing their brain power with the solution. It's a cool trick, and I don't want to spoil it, let's just say I had to go back a few pages when I was done because the actual bad guy(s) were buried in all of the theatricality. Hence four stars.

I wouldn't call it cozy...I'm really not sure how to narrow it down to type. If you like classic clean mysteries with a great sense of humor, grab this one.

This is the third of the series of classic detective mystery books released by the British Library in the U.K. and Poisoned Pen Press here in the U.S. and two of the three have been grand reads. If you enjoy that classic period of English Detective novels, run, don't walk to pick these up or order them while sitting in your jammies at the PC.

Quick Curtain gives us a jaundiced view behind the curtain when a famed actor is murdered right in the midst of his performance on opening night. I know that plot may seem done to death, but this book was first written in 1934 and would have been fresh and new then. It also draws back the curtain on the Scotland Yard investigation headed by Inspector Wilson ably and saucily assisted by his reporter son Derek Wilson.

Despite a couple murders and an apparent suicide (murder?), everything is very droll. Melville slices and dices every kind of theater habitue and the denizens of small towns. There is no one exempt from his wit except for Inspector Wilson and son who use their wit to score off each other mercilessly. This is a book full of unkind people.



The best thing about this book was the ending of it–and I am not being snarky. There is a surprise ending that really turns things on their heads, though I was also very happy to get to the end of the book, too. I don’t mind wit and banter. I love Peter Wimsey and Tommy and Tuppence and Nick and Nora. This wit, though, seemed mean-spirited and spiteful, as though scores were being settled. Few people escaped it.

I also thought the banter between Inspector Wilson and Derek was off-putting. I ended up disliking them both. They believed a woman was kidnapped, but let her stay in the custody of her abductor for what possible good reason? So she could be murdered? After all, that is what happened. Her death is directly attributable to their decisions and this does not seem to trouble them one whit.

I wanted to like this book. I enjoyed his other recently republished book Death of Anton quite a bit, but this one just rubbed me the wrong way through and through. It is witty, there are several clever sendups of the various theatrical types and of village characters. One by one, they are funny, but when piled on one another and taken as a whole, it’s just too mean for me.

I received an e-galley of Quick Curtain from the publisher through NetGalley.

A very good time - quick-witted and nimble, with enough (deeply time-period specific) humor to keep the just OK mystery bustling along. The sleuths here are a father with his son as a sidekick, and both intelligent and invested in the solving of the crime, which is a nice change from the bland, Watson cut-outs that teem around most detectives in other mysteries of the era. The deaths here are dealt with especially swiftly, and no one involved seems to care AT ALL (readers included) about the second act of violence, which is a plus or minus depending on how much you care about nuts and bolts detecting in your Golden Age novel.

This is a froth of a novel. It is not a satire of a murder mystery bur rather a burlesque of one. The murder isn’t even the most important part of the story. Melville is poking fun at the stars, producers, critics and fanatic fans of the theatre. He manages to lampoon detective fiction in the process. In his introduction to the novel, Martin Edwards discusses the Dorothy L. Sayers’ review of Quick Curtain. She takes issue with the fact that Melville does not adhere to a single rule of writing a police procedural. The Scotland Yard detective is apparently a lone wolf who uses his reporter son, not in any way connected to law enforcement, as his sidekick. Detective Wright is never at the station; he never writes a report; he doesn’t bother with subpoenas. She also suggests, according to Edwards, that there are some personal digs at current writers of detective fiction. These are probably lost on the modern reader, although there is a mention of a French detective whose name resembles the name of a popular Belgium detective with a grand moustache and little grey cells. The author, in his twenties, is not afraid to kick a sacred cow or two.

But, as I said, this is a poke at the pretensions of the theater. The murder victim Brandon Baker played the young and dashing hero. He has played the same type of role for over forty years. The sweet heroine has been married seven times. The producer Douglas B. Douglas gives the audience the razzle-dazzle it wants, from elaborate sets to 110 lovely and handsome dancers who have 90 seconds to change from one elaborate costume to another. And the whole thing is kept together by Herbert the stage manager who fixes everything and wants no place in the spotlight. Add to that the critics who can make or break a play and seem to write reviews based on whims or headaches. Wilson Jr. writes a half column based on a one-line interview with the lead actress.

Finally, the entire mystery proves to be something of a red herring.

Read this novel in the spirit of fun because it is that. The dialogue is genuinely funny. Just don’t expect anything resembling a classic mystery. This is more Monty Python than Ngaio Marsh.

On another note, Quick Curtain was written in 1934 and it was disconcerting to see jokes about Nazis, Hitler, and Mussolini. It gave me a chill to think that in a few years these men the author makes so light of will bring havoc to the world.

When the male lead of Douglas B. Douglas's new musical gets shot for real during a supposedly fake shooting scene in front of the opening night's audience, Scotland Yard Inspector Wilson is in the house and immediately on the case. Dealing with theater people will take all of Inspector Wilson's patience (and his journalist son/unofficial assistant Derek's too). It looks like an open and shut case, but after the funeral and inquest, several people come to Inspector Wilson with doubts and further information. Can he puzzle out the truth in a world that makes money off of lies?

Anyone who can make readers bust out in laughter with a scene in which the characters do nothing but ring a doorbell has some serious comical writing skill. And Melville managed to do so. How to best summarize what Melville's writing is like? Imagine that Jerome K. Jerome had turned the wit he employed in <i>Three Men in a Boat</i> to write a murder mystery starring a father/son version of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore who solve crimes in mid-1900s England, and this just might be what you get. It was hilarious! I laughed out loud several times. Melville writes a cunning mystery that will keep readers guessing and satisfy the sleuthing itch, but he's not above taking some little pokes of fun at the genre (and musical theater) all along the way. And then that ending! <spoiler>Let's just say the red herrings abound.</spoiler> This was lots of fun. I'm so glad that it is being rereleased. I’m definitely purchasing a copy for our library, and I'm going to have to hunt around and see if I can get my hands on any of other mysteries too.

Notes on content: A handful of minor swear words. No sex scenes. There’s some kissing in the play, and as the inspector starts investigating it comes out that some of the actors are a bit loose in their lifestyles (implied sleeping around and having affairs, but given the time frame this was written, nothing is exactly spelled out, lots of euphemisms are used, and there are no details.) Three deaths, none of them described much at all.

Almost nothing puts me off faster than opening a book and finding a list of characters. If the author/publisher doesn't think I'm going to be able to recognize, understand, and keep characters apart in the story, why should I bother reading it? It feels like a giant notice-board, warning me that the way ahead is going to be (very) difficult--are you sure you want to go to the trouble of reading this anyway? Usually that's enough to convince me that I'm NOT.
If the book is so poorly written that you're worried that I won't be able to keep track of, or differentiate the characters, maybe this list could be put at the back?
As is, it's put me off, at least for now. Too bad--I was looking forward to this new author.
Maybe another time.
Thanks, anyway.

The first chapter of "Quick Curtain" is interesting with an unusual commencement, a prelude before the deaths occur. A thoroughly well-written mystery taken as a whole; the unique slow beginning, though, did take me me few attempts to get through.

The plot is very simple- Two stage actors are found dead on the night of a premier performance. One is shot dead by a prop revolver and the "killer" committed suicide because of the unfortunate accident of killing his peer. Among the audience are our detectives, a father-and-son-duo from Scotland Yard and from the press. Something sinister and evil is behind the case, or is it really?

"Quick Curtain" is full of humor that makes it a fun, leisure read. It is an one of a kind mystery literature from the golden age detective fiction era. There are few unexpected humorous twists and the author's supreme writing skill holds my curiosity throughout. The plot itself is far from an exceptional one but the author's wittiness and his unconventional style help to establish "Quick Curtain" an unique mystery read, something turns out to be extraordinary out from a plain, simple plot.

The cover arts of the British Library Crime Classic series are always something to-die-for, and this one is no exception. The cover does capture the essence of such a witty and fine crime story. Thank you, Poisoned Pen Press, for bringing another old school but a real gem back on the market. I appreciate the publisher's generosity for letting me to preview "Quick Curtain" for my opinion via Netgallery.

The play was going well until the scheduled shooting ending up being too real...

Poisoned Pen Press and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you). It will be published December 5th.

Inspector Wilson of Scotland is in the audience and he's quick to take action. When they go to find the actor who fired the shot, he's hung himself in his dressing room. Everyone is sure the case is already over. One actor shoots another and then commits suicide. But Inspector Wilson is not so sure.

I enjoyed reading about the relationship of Wilson and his son. It was entertaining for him to see a bullet hole in the curtain and the location of the bullet and watch him create a totally different solution to the murder.

It was also fun at the end that the crime he and his son had pieced together was all pure fiction. It's not often you see a Scotland Yard lad have to admit he was wrong.

This is an amusing read that shows you just how imaginative authors can be.

On the opening night of a new musical entitled the Blue Music one of the actors is killed. But Inspector Wilson does not believe in the coroner's verdict and carries on the investigation with the help of his son.
Although I finished the book I did find the writing style quite irritating.

A classic crime novel with humor. A real gem to enjoy.