They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway…but in our little costume shop the Eastbrook Playhouse, my day can be derailed by a feather.

More accurately, three genuine ostrich feathers dyed a vibrant crimson for Dolly Levi’s headdress. But we saw to our horror, one hour to curtain, that the iconic look for Hello Dolly’s title song had been plucked.

“Is it noticeable, Tasha?” the actress asked with quivering hope in her voice. There was no missing the gap, slightly off-center, up top for all to see. “My dresser brought it right down here after my quick change, said it looked fine.”

“I must’ve rushed my inventory check,” I admitted with a sigh. “We had an issue with some buttons.”

I grimaced, remembering the morning my crew had spent replacing forty-eight buttons on eight dancers’ waistcoats after the director decided he didn’t like the way they caught the light. This was followed by a production meeting where we had to remind the scenic designer it was too late to repaint the railroad cars unless he wanted the cast to stick to the set. After that, I’d mended a pair of britches and reinforced the lining on an antique hat we didn’t have the budget to replace.

Oh, the glamorous life.

Soon enough, the costume crew had scoured the playhouse for red feathers and rifled through the notions cabinet for replacements, but to no avail. I slipped out to confer with my “work husband” in the scene shop.

“Maybe you can just move some of the feathers,” Bruno suggested, his veiny arms crossed over his broad chest. “Fill in the space at the top.”

“But why are they missing?” I seethed. “That’s what I can’t figure out.”

I reviewed the facts, Bruno’s brow furrowed as he listened. At some point in the last twenty-four hours, the feathers had vanished. Upon inspection, they looked like they’d been mangled, the headband scratched in a way that looked strangely familiar. I was about to give up the search when Bruno suggested we check the loading dock. “You never know,” he added with a smile that made my toes curl.

The breeze that greeted us outside the stage door made a mess of my thick Sicilian curls, but before I could rake my fingers through the fray, I felt a feline friend dash between my legs into the warmth backstage.

“Hilly!” I called after our mischievous box office cat. Bruno and I chased the silver tabby down the hallway, past the green room and straight into the women’s dressing room.

But the screams that followed weren’t about an unexpected kitty – there was another furry invader scurrying across the top of the costume racks. Hilly pounced, barely missing the rodent as it disappeared into a hole behind a row of mannequin heads.

Finally it all clicked – the missing feathers, the marks on the casing, the mouse! The little pest must have chewed its way through Dolly’s crowning glory. Sure enough, just outside the hole were the three missing crimson plumes, intact if a little worse-for-wear.

My crew got to work making the repair and disinfecting the headdress. Bruno promised the blushing female ensemble that he’d have the hole patched by showtime. And I escorted my feline friend back outside.

“Thanks for solving the case, Hilly.”

She gave a satisfied meow.

“Another opening night, another successful season,” I went on. “Next up is Annie Get Your Gun, can you believe it? Don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll go smoothly. As long as no one takes the title too literally.”

What could go wrong?

There’s No Murder Like Show Murder
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: July 2024
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Purchase Link

Tasha Weaver has seen her fair share of divas come and go while working as the costume shop head at the Eastbrook Playhouse, but her beloved theater is put at risk when the star of the show is killed in this fun but deadly debut, perfect for fans of Ellery Adams and Kellye Garrett.

Tasha Weaver is most at home in the cozy backstage world of the Eastbrook Playhouse. As the costume shop head at the charming regional theater, she’s used to watching dramatic acts of love and revenge from the shadows. But when Kurt Mozer—the insufferable Broadway reject who stars in their production of Annie Get Your Gun—is shot center stage, the spotlight turns to her.

Everyone knows Kurt was difficult to work with, and after he got into a fight with both director Marnie Mason and artistic leader Arthur Winston, he promptly decided to quit the show. In deep financial trouble, the Eastbrook Playhouse depended on a big name like Kurt to keep afloat. With reporters coming in from the Big Apple to Tasha’s little corner of Connecticut, she realizes it’s up to her to save their local theater and keep her community safe. After all, the show must go on…but what do you do when the killer could very well be one of your loved ones?

With the help of her friends, her long-time crush Bruno Machado, and her feline colleague Hilly, Tasha must catch a murderer before the shining lights of the playhouse go out forever.

Meet the author
M. S. Greene is a playwright, lyricist, screenwriter, novelist, and overall theatre nerd living the dream in New York City. Under his full name—Matthew Greene—his scripts have been produced on both coasts and several places in between. When he’s not hunched over a keyboard, he can be found teaching, directing, and working to close the arts education gap with some of the city’s most talented young people. He lives in Manhattan with his boyfriend and far too many books.