Stagestruck — Cynthia Thomason

Small-town librarian Gwen Barlow gets more than she expected when she inherits her uncle's lavish Mississippi showboat and discovers that the Jubilee Palace is in serious financial straits, her uncle's death by a falling theater backdrop is under suspicion, and the showboat family of actors and musicians are the prime suspects. Her life is further complicated when she hires handsome but mysterious Carson Stockwell to captain the Jubilee, and he becomes a suspect as well. When another murder occurs on the decks of the showboat, Gwen and Carson must team up to find the murderer before he or she can strike again. This is Marian the librarian meets Showboat.