The reviews called it “A Play to Die For” after a woman was found dead in the front row. It didn’t seem so funny the next night when another body was found—this time the playwright himself, his throat slashed. Detective Kathy Mallory of the NYPD Special Crimes Unit takes over, but isn’t getting a straight answer from anyone. Not the lead actor, a movie star fallen on hard luck; not the lead actress, a nervous sort with a dependence on pharmaceuticals; not even the wardrobe mistress, working under an alias; and certainly not the twin actors so unnervingly convincing playing psychos.

Now, backstage, someone has left Mallory a message on the blackboard: Tonight’s the night. Nothing personal. It appears that she is being written into the play itself, a play about a long-ago massacre that may not be fictional after all.

If Mallory can find out who’s responsible, heads will roll. Unfortunately, one of them might be her own.