To Study a Long Silence — V.C. Clinton-Baddeley

The gentle don detective Dr. Davie broods over the murder of a young actor committed during a drama-school production of a commedia dell'arte play. The actor appears to have been killed in the wings, but Davie establishes the precise movements of everyone on stage and behind the scenes and arrives at the conclusion that no one could have committed the crime! Davie persists in an investigation that takes him throughout his beloved London, and in a brilliant and teasing search he explores one lead after another until he hits upon a splendidly ingenious solution.