Death of a Dream Seller is a cozy murder mystery set in a sham New York acting school that is taking its last bow. Former staffer Paloma Pennington comes back to the Gramercy Theatrical Arts Academy for a bittersweet “grand finale” party after the school declares bankruptcy, even though the building is nowhere near Gramercy Park and the whole operation has always felt a bit fake. She once sold spots in the pricey program and knows the place charges eye-watering tuition for cramped dorm rooms in Chinatown and dream-of-stardom promises that rarely come true. During the party, she and co-worker Sterling discover the body of their boss, Edwin Everett Asher, stabbed on the empty fifth-floor stage with what looks like a theatrical dagger, his corpse propped under a Florentine mask. A blizzard keeps everyone trapped while the police lock down the building and question a lively group of teachers, board members, and ex-students, many tangled up in a Broadway show called Monte Carlo Autumn that made huge profits yet never paid back its investors and hid behind an anonymous company called Fair Day Partners. As Paloma pieces together that fishy show, a nearby art-gallery robbery, and Edwin’s phony bankruptcy, the story moves toward a shocking reveal.

I enjoyed the narrative voice a lot. Paloma tells the story in a dry, funny first person, and I liked how she mixes straight talk with little flashes of drama. She is the granddaughter of a cop and the daughter of two criminal justice professors, and she thinks like it, so her running commentary on how people should behave around a crime scene feels sharp and oddly believable. I smiled at the way she reacts to the school’s fake glamour, the tacky Wizard of Oz decorations in the hallway, and the students who still think Edwin can “make them stars” even though he is just a small-time acting teacher. The supporting cast leans big and broad, and that worked for me as a cozy. Clementine is loud and unfiltered. Levi cracks jokes at all the wrong times. Goldie is pure theater queen. Their voices bounce off each other and give the party scenes a lot of movement. Sometimes the humor leans a bit cartoonish, and a few side characters feel more like types than people, yet I still had fun watching them crowd into the room and snipe about lawsuits and flop shows while a dead man lies two floors below.

On the mystery side, I liked the bones of the plot. The idea of a “dream seller” who milks both students and investors, then pretends his school is broke while he quietly hoards millions, hits hard and feels sadly believable. I also liked the way the story keeps looping back to money and empty promises. The art gallery robbery next door to the school, the missing Tibetan-style paintings, the secret link between those paintings and Edwin, and the later discovery that some of the stolen art sits in an accomplice’s apartment all give the murder a bigger web and make the title feel earned. A lot of the solution comes to Paloma in texts and recaps, and the reveal is almost too clean. I still liked the logic of it, yet I wanted more time in the room when the truth finally blows up, more heat between suspect and sleuth.

What stayed with me most were the ideas under the whodunit. The book takes real aim at people who package dreams as products, whether that is bogus acting programs with glossy brochures and terrible dorms, or big Broadway shows that treat their backers as prey. The author’s note at the end spells out that she drew on real experiences in show-business offices that went bust, and I could feel that lived-in detail in the empty corridors, the half-cleared props, the sad little “grand finale” spread complete with caviar at a bankruptcy party. The book does not excuse the killer. It just points out that when you build a life on lying to desperate people, you stack the powder, and someone will eventually light the match.

All in all I had a good time with Death of a Dream Seller. The voice is warm, the setting feels lived in, and the mystery ties money, art, and ambition together in a way that kept me turning pages. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy cozy or light mysteries, who like theater or art-world gossip, and who appreciate a heroine who is smart, slightly jaded, yet still kind. If you want a fast, entertaining read with a bit of bite about the cost of chasing fame, this one fits the bill.

Pages: 146 | ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0GJYYX4FK