"A Blanche Hampton mystery".

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font size="+1"'Simply the best detective writer since Agatha Christie' The Sunday Times/font size A book that will glue you from beginning to end. If you love Agatha Christie, you'll adore Caroline Graham, with characters who charm and murderers who terrorise. Named by the CWAs as one of 'The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time', The Killings at Badger's Drift is the first spectacular novel in the Midsomer Murders series, the novel that inspired the ITV hit drama, now featuring an exclusive foreword by John Nettles who played best-loved TV detective and star of Midsomer Murders, DCI Tom Barnaby. The village of Badger's Drift is the essence of tranquillity. But when resident and well-loved spinster Miss Simpson takes a stroll in the nearby woods, she stumbles across something she was never meant to see, and there's only one way to keep her quiet. Miss Simpson's death is not suspicious, say the villagers. But Miss Lucy Bellringer refuses to rest: her friend has been murdered. She is sure of it. She calls on Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby to investigate, and it isn't long until the previously unseen seamy side of Badger's Drift is brought to light. But as old rivalries, past loves and new scandals surface, the next murder is not far away. Praise for Caroline Graham's novels: 'One to savour' Val McDermid 'A mystery of which Agatha Christie would have been proud. . . A beautifully written crime novel' The Times 'Tension builds, bitchery flares, resentment seethes . . . lots of atmosphere' Mail on Sunday 'A witty, well-plotted, absolute joy of a book' Yorkshire Post 'Swift, tense and highly alarming' TLS 'Lots of excellent character sketches . . . and the dialogue is lively and convincing' Independent 'Read her and you'll be astonished . . . very sexy, very hip and very funny' Scotsman

THE STORY: The creative team responsible for a recent Broadway flop (in which three chorus girls were murdered by the mysterious Stage Door Slasher) assemble for a backer's audition of their new show at the Westchester estate of a wealthy angel.

New York Times Bestseller! Shakespeare meets Dashiell Hammett in this wildly entertaining murder mystery from New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore—an uproarious, hardboiled take on the Bard’s most performed play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, featuring Pocket, the hero of Fool and The Serpent of Venice, along with his sidekick, Drool, and pet monkey, Jeff. Set adrift by his pirate crew, Pocket of Dog Snogging—last seen in The Serpent of Venice—washes up on the sun-bleached shores of Greece, where he hopes to dazzle the Duke with his comedic brilliance and become his trusted fool. But the island is in turmoil. Egeus, the Duke’s minister, is furious that his daughter Hermia is determined to marry Demetrius, instead of Lysander, the man he has chosen for her. The Duke decrees that if, by the time of the wedding, Hermia still refuses to marry Lysander, she shall be executed . . . or consigned to a nunnery. Pocket, being Pocket, cannot help but point out that this decree is complete bollocks, and that the Duke is an egregious weasel for having even suggested it. Irritated by the fool’s impudence, the Duke orders his death. With the Duke’s guards in pursuit, Pocket makes a daring escape. He soon stumbles into the wooded realm of the fairy king Oberon, who, as luck would have it, IS short a fool. His jester Robin Goodfellow—the mischievous sprite better known as Puck—was found dead. Murdered. Oberon makes Pocket an offer he can’t refuse: he will make Pocket his fool and have his death sentence lifted if Pocket finds out who killed Robin Goodfellow. But as anyone who is even vaguely aware of the Bard’s most performed play ever will know, nearly every character has a motive for wanting the mischievous sprite dead. With too many suspects and too little time, Pocket must work his own kind of magic to find the truth, save his neck, and ensure that all ends well. A rollicking tale of love, magic, madness, and murder, Shakespeare for Squirrels is a Midsummer Night’s noir—a wicked and brilliantly funny good time conjured by the singular imagination of Christopher Moore.

National Sylvan Theatre, Washington Monument grounds, The Community Center and Playgrounds Department and the Office of National Capital Parks present the ninth summer festival program of the 1941 season, the Washington Players in William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," produced by Bess Davis Schreiner, directed by Denis E. Connell, the music by Mendelssohn is played by the Washington Civic Orchestra conducted by Jean Manganaro, the setting and lights Harold Snyder, costumes Mary Davis.

Decades after the filming of a horror movie is halted in the wake of three actor deaths and rumors about a haunted set, Claire, the daughter of a failing studio head, helps with a production on the same site.