Alan Melville did not spend much of his life writing mysteries, but those he did are clever and fun - albeit a not particularly accurate representation of police procedure.  His books have an element of showmanship and his detectives, albeit earnest and determined are not geniuses.  Melville’s subtle humor and dry wit is clear with each turned page.  He leaves complex machinations to other authors.  What you see is what you get - almost.

In Quick Curtain, the star of a dazzling music extravaganza is murdered onstage.  Soon after, another member of the cast is found hanged, an apparent suicide.  But is this simply a matter of a remorseful killer committing suicide?  Or is there a more complex conspiracy behind the surprising murder?  Inspector Wilson and his son Derek (a young journalist who readily joins the investigation) tackle the case, but will their solution be the right one?

Quick Curtain has many humorous scenes, but it is understated compared to more modern comic mysteries.  Though it hasn’t stood the test of time quite as well as other mysteries from the Golden Age, Quick Curtain is not formulaic and definitely has surprises in store for readers.

4 / 5

I received a copy of Quick Curtain from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

--Crittermom

This book was a little slow to start, but it developed into a very fine read. Reminisce of the Ellery Queen father and son combo, even down to the endings. I just loved it and will certainly keep an eye out for more from Alan Meville.
That is what a love from this publisher, it bring back gems from the past for us to discover - thank you

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for a digital galley of this novel.

I have read many short stories written to satirize the detective story but never a full length novel attempting that feat. As I began to read this one I wondered if I could continue since Alan Melville is taking on the detective story and the theatre world with this single novel. Those are two of my great loves and I didn't know if I would get enjoyment out of watching someone poking fun at them both. I will admit to having to encourage myself to continue reading at first, but quite soon I found that I was enjoying the silliness.

What saves this novel for me is the fact that there is actually a good mystery involved. A murder takes place on stage of an opening night performance. The Scotland Yard police inspector and his journalist son are in the audience so are right on the spot to begin investigating. The conversations between the father and son make for some of the best reading in the novel. Nothing is entirely serious, no clue is ever set in concrete, no motive is ever investigated fully enough. There are mistakes made by the inspector (gasp!) and by his son (another gasp!) and they don't exactly get much of anything right. When one theory proves to be wrong they just move on to another theory and whittle away at it. There is more than one death so the intrepid duo has their hands full throughout the novel trying to tie up all the motives and alibies.

If you are a serious reader of these older re-issued detective stories, give this one a try. I was surprised by how involved I became in the story in spite of not particularly enjoying satire. If Alan Melville ever wrote a serious detective story, I'll bet it was a pip.

"Quick Curtain" is a humorous mystery set in England and was originally published in 1934. It's a clue-based mystery, but it's also a spoof on "clever detective" murder mysteries. The detective and his journalist son exchanged witty banter as they worked together to uncover clues. I was a little surprised at the assumptions they made, though I grant that "clever detectives" do tend to make flashy assumptions. The story wasn't really about guessing whodunit, though technically you can.

While I enjoy this author's humor and his interesting characters, I liked "Death of Anton" better. I guess I felt a little tricked, thinking it was a real mystery and not learning it was a full-fledged spoof until the end. And the ending left a few loose ends lying around, which was a little unsatisfying. There was no sex. There was a fair amount of bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this humorous mystery.

Excellent! Engaging,entertaining full of atmosphere.