Curtain Fall — Eileen Dewhurst

Joanna Stuart had once seen the window of a seaside hotel room when driving past with her husband. Its offer of peace and independence stayed with her and several years later, at a crisis point in her life, she compulsively returns to 'the Window'. But she fails to find the expected tranquillity and isolation. Instead she becomes involved with the cast of the resort's summer variety show, whose leading lady has recently been murdered. A member of the cast is obviously the murderer and a cloud of suspicion hangs over the tight-knit and loyal community.

Baffled by lack of motive and frustrated by lack of progress, Detective Inspector Carter persuades Joanna to take advantage of the friendship offered to her by the players and helps him penetrate their closed ranks. Feeling a little treacherous she nevertheless comes to enjoy her role of amateur detective, and her strong involvement with the players helps her to shut out her own problems.

During the last weeks of the glorious summer she gradually sees the pattern of the murder take shape, but it isn't until she witnesses a reconstruction of the crime that the identity of the killer emerges, and Joanna's own problems also become clarified. This is a subtle and fairly-clued whodunnit, full of character and movement and with a stunning climax which does not disappoint.