RUDDY GORE

If Jazz Age sleuth Phryne (rhymes with shiny) Fisher is new to you, prepare to be delighted. Here she gets involved with a Melbourne Gilbert and Sullivan company whose leading men keep dropping from poison in the middle of performing RUDDIGORE. Phryne is ably assisted by the beautiful, young Chinese man she rescued from thugs on her way to the theater. Stephanie Daniel is a riot performing the scenery-chewing members of the company, endlessly self-dramatizing even in genuinely dramatic situations, such as orphaned babies with birthmarks, hauntings by the malevolent ghost of a long-dead actress, and a trap meant to kill Phryne that squashes the stage prompter instead. Daniels is light, deft, and perfect in this champagne froth of a mystery. B.G. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/ MAY 07]