What do you think?
Rate this book
Michael Spraggue Mystery #1
Blood Will Have Blood
A Michael Spraggue Mystery.
Famed theater director Arthur Darien's production of "Dracula" is in trouble. Strange and macabre jokes -- including a batch of literally mixed Bloody Marys -- are unnerving the cast and threatening to close the play before opening night.
Michael Spraggue enters the cast, but in a dual role unknown to most of them -- Arthur Darien has asked him to solve the mystery of the jokes before the jokes turn deadly. But Spraggue finds that he is not the only actor playing a dual role. Nobody is sticking to the script -- and a killer is bent on giving the performance of a lifetime!
Famed theater director Arthur Darien's production of "Dracula" is in trouble. Strange and macabre jokes -- including a batch of literally mixed Bloody Marys -- are unnerving the cast and threatening to close the play before opening night.
Michael Spraggue enters the cast, but in a dual role unknown to most of them -- Arthur Darien has asked him to solve the mystery of the jokes before the jokes turn deadly. But Spraggue finds that he is not the only actor playing a dual role. Nobody is sticking to the script -- and a killer is bent on giving the performance of a lifetime!
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
About the author
Linda Barnes
67 books225 followersLinda Barnes is an American mystery writer, born and raised in Detroit, and graduated from Boston University"s School of Theater. She is best known for her series featuring Carlotta Carlyle, a 6'1" redheaded detective from Boston. Carlotta Carlyle is often compared to the hard-boiled female detectives created by Sue Grafton and Sara Paretsky. Her new novel, "The Perfect Ghost," which will be published in April, 2013, is her first stand-alone mystery.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 9, 2024
2.5 stars. First of a series and Barnes' debut outing. An easy read set in the theater world, broad stereotypical characters of the cast. Michael Spraggue is a part-time actor and former sleuth. The director of a new presentation of Dracula has been dealing with pranks that have the cast on edge. He invites Michael to join the cast and on the side try to find the "jokester". The pranks are escalating in the potential for harm as it moves closer to opening night. It seems that many of the cast and/or technical crew have secrets to hide and may have a motive for sabotaging the show.
This was fine for a quick read that I could pull out while waiting for an appt or while having lunch out by myself, but not too exciting. Even though it was relatively short, I found myself over many of the characters and just wanted the resolution to come. I read #2 in the series quite a few years ago and I recall a better read.
This was fine for a quick read that I could pull out while waiting for an appt or while having lunch out by myself, but not too exciting. Even though it was relatively short, I found myself over many of the characters and just wanted the resolution to come. I read #2 in the series quite a few years ago and I recall a better read.
October 20, 2020
BOTTOM LINE: Linda Barnes' first novel introduces us to Michael Spraggue, actor, an ex-PI in Boston. This almost cosy theatrical mystery series was a fairly long one before she started writing about Carlotta Carlyle, and is decidedly gentler in tone, although there are nicely dark edges about even here, at the beginning of her career.
A once famous director making a comeback by producing DRACULA in a creepy old theater “with a history”, finds his cast under siege by a series of scary jokes. When one of the incidents loses him one of the central actors, he calls in a favor from Spraggue, who hasn’t acted in several years - since he tried to make a go of being a PI and failed - and asks him to fill the role dead guy's role, and to snoop around as well.
Beautifully wrought theater setting, strong but not too far over-the-top characterizations, and a nicely twisted plot with a darkly crisp ending make this a very good first novel. Similar in style to Ngaio Marsh’s theatrical mysteries, but with a bit more American brashness, plus we’re allowed a much closer look at Spraggue than we usually get with Alleyn. A quick, entertaining read. Recommended.
Spraggue is part Wimsey, part Alleyn (wealthy blueblood, big house, “connections”) with a sidekick cop of lesser quickness who is nonetheless useful (like Fox), a likable older relative who helps out with information gathering (his Auntie, a.la The Dowager Duchess), and the setting was pure Ngaio Marsh. As a first novel it’s very well paced, nicely twisted, and tied up beautifully. A really fun read - brought back lots of memories of downtown and The Fens circa 1980.
A once famous director making a comeback by producing DRACULA in a creepy old theater “with a history”, finds his cast under siege by a series of scary jokes. When one of the incidents loses him one of the central actors, he calls in a favor from Spraggue, who hasn’t acted in several years - since he tried to make a go of being a PI and failed - and asks him to fill the role dead guy's role, and to snoop around as well.
Beautifully wrought theater setting, strong but not too far over-the-top characterizations, and a nicely twisted plot with a darkly crisp ending make this a very good first novel. Similar in style to Ngaio Marsh’s theatrical mysteries, but with a bit more American brashness, plus we’re allowed a much closer look at Spraggue than we usually get with Alleyn. A quick, entertaining read. Recommended.
Spraggue is part Wimsey, part Alleyn (wealthy blueblood, big house, “connections”) with a sidekick cop of lesser quickness who is nonetheless useful (like Fox), a likable older relative who helps out with information gathering (his Auntie, a.la The Dowager Duchess), and the setting was pure Ngaio Marsh. As a first novel it’s very well paced, nicely twisted, and tied up beautifully. A really fun read - brought back lots of memories of downtown and The Fens circa 1980.
July 24, 2010
Not bad for first novel from now famous author...
Linda Barnes is no doubt better known for her tall, redheaded private eye, Carlotta Carlyle (8 books in all, with a ninth due out soon) than her earlier Boston-based "playboy" Michael Spraggue. His set of four stories often revolves around the theater since Spraggue is a part-time actor, a part-time former sleuth, and a full-time, wealthy, man about town.
In this first book of the set, and presumably Barnes' first full-length novel, Michael is hired to sub for an actor who quit an upcoming version of the stage play "Dracula" due to a number of serious pranks being pulled on cast members. Director Arthur Darien wanted Michael not only to fill the missing role, but of course to track down the prankster before there was more trouble. The plot winds along through nearly a dozen more episodes, some in the nuisance category, some quite dangerous, until one of the stars is murdered right on stage. At that point, the police get involved, but Spraggue is close enough to a solution to stage a trap. Throughout we get close looks at theater relationships and politics.
For a first novel, now 21 years old, we were reasonably well entertained throughout, especially by the surprises at the end and the eventual unraveling of the culprits. Some of the malarkey in the middle of the book got a little tiring, but we suspect editors were pushing plot complexity harder than characterizations in Barnes' earlier work. Interesting that as soon as she dropped Spraggue for Carlyle, he was a goner -- and in general we suspect that is just as well.
The Barnes' fan club won't want to skip these Spraggue stories, but more casual readers will probably enjoy the zany Carlotta escapades a good deal more.
Linda Barnes is no doubt better known for her tall, redheaded private eye, Carlotta Carlyle (8 books in all, with a ninth due out soon) than her earlier Boston-based "playboy" Michael Spraggue. His set of four stories often revolves around the theater since Spraggue is a part-time actor, a part-time former sleuth, and a full-time, wealthy, man about town.
In this first book of the set, and presumably Barnes' first full-length novel, Michael is hired to sub for an actor who quit an upcoming version of the stage play "Dracula" due to a number of serious pranks being pulled on cast members. Director Arthur Darien wanted Michael not only to fill the missing role, but of course to track down the prankster before there was more trouble. The plot winds along through nearly a dozen more episodes, some in the nuisance category, some quite dangerous, until one of the stars is murdered right on stage. At that point, the police get involved, but Spraggue is close enough to a solution to stage a trap. Throughout we get close looks at theater relationships and politics.
For a first novel, now 21 years old, we were reasonably well entertained throughout, especially by the surprises at the end and the eventual unraveling of the culprits. Some of the malarkey in the middle of the book got a little tiring, but we suspect editors were pushing plot complexity harder than characterizations in Barnes' earlier work. Interesting that as soon as she dropped Spraggue for Carlyle, he was a goner -- and in general we suspect that is just as well.
The Barnes' fan club won't want to skip these Spraggue stories, but more casual readers will probably enjoy the zany Carlotta escapades a good deal more.
April 12, 2026
This book introduces a private eye detective, Michael Spraggue who needs to find a deadly prankster who has been haunting a “haunted theater” in downtown Boston. It seems that someone is sabotaging the play to stop the imminent opening night. This was an exciting mystery right to the conclusion.
January 27, 2026
First reading of a mystery set in a theater
I read the book with curiosity because I hadn't read a mystery based in a theater with all the main characters being actors. I was interested in the personality traits of each individual. I found the action a bit confusing.
I read the book with curiosity because I hadn't read a mystery based in a theater with all the main characters being actors. I was interested in the personality traits of each individual. I found the action a bit confusing.
November 5, 2019
Kind of goofy, hella dated, but fun beach/campsite read.
February 24, 2026
Decent, the theater isn’t a fav setting of mine, but this was ok….ill read another…
April 27, 2013
#1 in the Michael Spraggue III series. Not as well known as the author's Carlotta Carlyle series, this 4 entry series published between 1982 and 1986 was nonetheless entertaining and very readable.
Michael Spraggue III (ex-actor, ex-cop) is called on by Arthur Darien to discover who is playing tricks on cast members of his new production of Dracula. As the tricks escalate the production may be ruined. The interactions of the cast and their back stories create a tangled web.
Michael Spraggue III (ex-actor, ex-cop) is called on by Arthur Darien to discover who is playing tricks on cast members of his new production of Dracula. As the tricks escalate the production may be ruined. The interactions of the cast and their back stories create a tangled web.
October 22, 2013
This is my first Michael Spraggue Mystery but it will not be my last. I was thoroughly intrigued and befuddled and just generally enthralled by the twists and turns and personality clashes contained within the story and I did not guess who the bad guy was before the end, though I came close. Actually, this book brings to mind shades of Agatha Christie, though it is much cruder and far less refined. A book that is well worth reading.
April 14, 2009
The two Linda Barnes books I read from Michael Spraggue series aren't as delicious as her Carlotta Carlyle ones. eh.
June 2, 2021
An interesting mystery with an investigator who has it all.
January 7, 2024
Story was ok but the print was so small I had trouble reading the book.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews