Murder at Drury Lane by Robert Lee Hall

Ben Franklin goes to the theatre to see David Garrick, and is hired to investigate strange threats that the Theatre has been recieving, promising fire, mischief and the unveiling of adulterous dealings in the playhouse. And, indeed, strange accidents have befallen the theatre. Though Garrick pleads his case to "The Blind Beak", Justice William Fielding, but Fielding says he can only deal with crime *after* it occurs, and recommends Ben Franklin to Garrick.

Garrick and Franklin conspire to create a reason for Franklin to be at the theatre, and to poke around where he wishes. Garrick will say he is hiring Franklin, as a man of science, to improve the lighting and machinery in the theatre, and meanwhile, Franklin can investigate the notes. But if Franklin actually does come up with something to improve lighting and machinery, so much the better!

Franklin and his son and copy-boy, Nick, take in another evening at the theatre. Outside, preachers condemn playgoers and actors alike with fire and Brimstone, and inside, a new play "A Lord and No Lord", by company-member Abel Drumm, is performed. During the performance, the actual lord the play satirizes, watches in ill-concealed fury, but afterwards, the play itself is shouted down by the watchers. During the shouting, a man falls from the upper tier of seats. But did he actually fall? Or was he pushed?

The dead man turns out to be one Dudley Midge, a former ticket-taker at the theatre sacked for theft. Since his firing, he has become an inveterate foe of the theatre, and David Garrick in particular. Since he also worked as a part-time journalist for scandal rags and wrote saucy stories in the bargain, it is obvious that he had enemies. But who could have wanted Dudley Midge dead?

Franklin must investigate deep inside the swirling stew of jealousy, rakes and actresses with powerful "protectors" to find out the true reason for Midge's death. But can he discover the murderer before more are killed at the theatre?

This was an excellent mystery, with the information coming by dribs and drabs. Ben Franklin is, as befite a man of science, an astute and logical thinker, but still, only human for all that. Even he cannot prevent him or his illegitimate son Nick from coming to harm in the course of the investigation.

The book also provides a well-researched look into the workings of an 18th century theatre, and presages both the inventions of Fly dollies, limelight and illuminating the stage more than the audience. Mix these intriguing bits of theatrical history, throw in some real historical personages, and you have a mystery you have a hard time putting down.