Murder at the Old Vic Theatre

Fiona Veitch Smith
Works of: Fiction

* Previously published as The Kill Fee *

London, 1920. Newly promoted intrepid reporter Poppy Denby is tasked with her first big job for the Daily Globe: covering the royal exhibition at the Crystal Palace alongside dashing Globe photographer Daniel Rokeby.

The champagne is flowing, the guests look resplendent in their finery, and the jewel in the imperial crown is a glittering Fabergé egg. But before the party is even in full swing, the lights go out and when they finally come on again, the guests are horrified to discover that the famous egg has disappeared.

Miss Denby is determined to be the first reporter to get the scoop and find the culprit. Her investigation will lead her to no other than Princess Selena Romanova Yusopova, a cousin of the murdered Romanov family. Selena is now a leading lady at the Old Vic Theatre but when Poppy knocks on her dressing room ready to get her exclusive, she finds her sprawled across a pink chaise longue, drenched with blood – stabbed through the heart.

Who could want the princess dead and is this a murder of passion or is it somehow connected to the great heist of the priceless Fabergé egg? It’s up to the ever-brilliant Miss Poppy Denby to find out.