This entertaining novel opens at the beginning of the 20th century, where Douglas Layton is newly released from prison after a term of five years with hard labour. Once a respected and feted architect, happily married and socialising with the aristocracy, he is thoroughly disgraced and branded a killer after a balcony in a music hall he designed collapsed, killing 14 people and maiming many others. He is horrified by what happened and believes that no term of imprisonment is as bad a punishment than that which his agonised conscience torments him with daily.

Eventually he makes his way to Nottingham, where he begins a new life as a scenic designer and painter in a theatre, taking care to forge a new identity and disguise himself as best he can. But he can never really escape his past, and over time he begins to come across things that make him wonder if it really was a dreadful accident, a flaw in his design. And eventually he asks, if it wasn’t, who would do such a thing and why?

The novel then turns into a detective story, one peopled with the exotic diversity of characters who made a living in variety theatre in the early 1900s. We have cross-dressers, acrobats, comedians, strong women and, most entertainingly, a group of Pygmies from Central Africa who are quite the sensation. It is these observations of theatrical life that add interest and a considerable amount of amusement to the story.

The outcome after what is a complex and well-considered investigation was a surprise to me and overall this was an entertaining period mystery.

Reviewed by Lesley West