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Best of Family & Relationships
"So Many Books, So Little Time!"
A Death At His Majesty's
by
David C Dawson
Genre/s
Historical, Fiction, Mystery
Publish Date
April 17, 2024
Short Description
The stage is set for murder
It's the summer of 1929 and there's a serial killer on the streets of London.
Bodies of young women are dumped at the stage doors of London’s theatres.
This is the prequel to the LAMBDA finalist A Death in Berlin. It explores the secret world of the 1920s, a time when your sexuality could make you a lawbreaker.
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Description
The stage is set for murder
It's the summer of 1929 and there's a serial killer on the streets of London.
Bodies of young women are dumped at the stage doors of London’s theatres.
Noël Coward's assistant Florence Miles, known to her close friends as Bill, is dragged into the investigation when the body of her former secret lover is found outside His Majesty’s Theatre.
Bill forms an unlikely alliance with the Chronicle newspaper’s senior crime reporter Simon Sampson. Together they discover that the killer has friends in high places…
This is the prequel to the LAMBDA finalist A Death in Berlin. It explores the secret world of the 1920s, a time when your sexuality could make you a lawbreaker. When gay men and women were constantly on their guard, careful about how they presented themselves in a hostile society.
A Death At His Majesty's is the first of a series that brings together Bill and Simon and follows them as they embark on a series of sleuthing adventures.
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Reviews Of The Book On BooksShelf
A Death at His Majesty’s by David C. Dawson is an atmospheric historical mystery set amid London’s theatrical world in 1929. When Maureen Lyon is found murdered outside His Majesty’s Theatre, Florence “Bill” Miles, Noël Coward’s sharp-tongued personal assistant, forms an unlikely investigative partnership with crime reporter Simon Sampson. Their search for the killer exposes both a pattern of violence and the institutional prejudices protecting it.
Bill is a particularly memorable protagonist: independent, witty, confrontational, and emotionally guarded. Her grief over Maureen gives the mystery a strong personal foundation, while Simon’s curiosity, compassion, and growing disillusionment make him an effective counterpart. Their spirited exchanges provide humour and warmth without turning their relationship into a conventional romance.
Dawson convincingly evokes the theatres, clubs, newspapers, social restrictions, and hidden queer communities of the period. Real historical personalities, most notably Noël Coward, are incorporated with confidence, while the murderer’s journal entries create an increasingly disturbing sense of danger. The mystery develops through a satisfying trail of physical clues, concealed identities, religious extremism, blackmail, and institutional corruption.
The novel occasionally loses momentum through extended conversations and repeated discussions of gender, sexuality, and social convention. Several clues also make the murderer’s identity apparent before the final confrontation. Nevertheless, the emotional stakes remain strong, and the eventual resolution provides both suspense and a meaningful sense of justice.
A Death at His Majesty’s is an engaging, compassionate, and entertaining historical mystery that combines theatrical glamour with darker reflections on intolerance, secrecy, and the courage required to live authentically.
