WHICH WITCH?

The curse of the Scottish Play claims new victims.

Actress Diana Hunt’s new production of Macbeth is plagued with so many annoying incidents that some cast members blame them on witchcraft. The group is rehearsing in a decrepit London theater and staying in the hotel next door, both of which the play’s backers own. Richard Sutton, the director who’s set the play in the future, has just come off the fantastically successful run of a musical based on The Swiss Family Robinson, and the entire cast is primed for fame and fortune if his new endeavor succeeds. Since the Holy Terrors—that is, Diana and her boyfriend, Bishop Alistair Kincaid—have a reputation for solving murders with ghostly undertones, Diana calls on Bish to help uncover the human saboteur. Bish slowly meets the cast and crew, many of whom are spooked by misdeeds they fear could turn dangerous. First, King Duncan's throne is sabotaged, though luckily the man himself is not badly hurt. Next, Banquo is wounded when a prop dirk—a kind of knife—is sabotaged. The producers continue to support the play despite a series of ever more nasty and dangerous tricks, including the encirclement of Diana with a ring of fire. Someone knows the backstage area well enough to pull tricks and avoid capture, but when the actor playing Lennox is poisoned right before their eyes, the sabotage turns deadly, and Bish, Diana, and the police, who don’t believe in witchcraft, must dig deeply into possible motives to catch a clever killer.

Theater lore, plenty of suspects, and a soupçon of witchy activity add up to a delightful puzzle.