A Bullet in the Ballet

Synopsis: Murder runs rampant among the members of the Stroganoff ballet company. It seems that the title role in the ballet Petroushka is an unlucky one. When the dancer Palook is shot just at the moment of the character's death, Inspector Adam Quill is called in to discover who might have wanted the dancer dead. Just when he settles on fellow dancer Pavel (who just happens to move into the vacant starring role) as his culprit, someone eliminates the newest Petroushka before he even gets to mak [...]

I first read Bullet in the Ballet as a teenager and then again several times as an adult. I haven't read it now for many years. Re-reading it, I found it had lost none of its comic zest. This book is a classic. Written in the 1930s, it is still riotously funny today, with its cast of loveably self-obsessessed Russian dancers and their mammas, not forgetting Nicholas Navajno, choreographer of the future (and his ever-hopeful refrain "you schange me small scheque?") and the impressario of the comp [...]

A murder in the ballet draws new detective inspector Quill to the case. The show must go oneven if it means destroying clues, moving the body, backstabbing each other, and lying just to attract attentionMapcap. I didn't care for this because it was jerkily written, easy to lose track of this or that, or even of one's place in the paragraph. But it did prove to have me completely fooled after I was sure what had gone down and what red herrings had been laid in my path.

A 1937 humorous whodunnit by the established team of Caryl Brahms (Evening Standard ballet critic) and S J Simon bridge international and Observer columnist. More life, wit, good writing in 170 pages than in most modern equivalents. With a detective named Insp Quill, an impresario named Stroganov, and the death of the lead doll in the ballet Petrushka at the moment he dies in the ballet (unusual because he normally dies two beats late!).It starts: Since it is probable that any book flying a bull [...]

I first read this book when I was about sixteen, when I was in my balletomane period. I loved it then and I love it now. I got an old dog eared copy from amazon and it took me right back I missed it . Lesson: don't lend books you really like!

For the second time I have been taken in by International Polygonics. The back cover suggests that Brahms and Simon share space in the pantheon with Waugh and Firbank, but really they are more comparable to lesser Wodehouse. The plot is underdeveloped, and the ending is just as telegraphed as it seems to be. The simplicity of the mystery makes the inspector seem laughably inept. By halfway through, Brahms and Simon have provided every clue short of a flashing neon arrow pointed at the murderer, [...]

For my full review click on the link below:crossexaminingcrime.wordpress

Anton Palook is shot dead on stage, at the end of his performance in the ballet Petroushka, the audience is unaware and the ballet continues. When Inspector Gill arrives all the evidence has been moved and he is faced with a company of almost excessively eccentric characters most of whom were, or could have been, in a position to fire the shot. Gill's investigations (aided by the ballet's routinely insulted dogsbody Stanley) uncover many motives and then the weapon. Everything points to Pavel as [...]

By the book Scotland Yard detective Adam Quill may be an educated policeman, but he's out of his death when Anton Palook dies at the culmination of a performance of Petroushka. None of his fellow dancers, nor the others involved in the ballet, seem to care, and all incriminate themselves and their friends with careless abandon. Just as Quill is about to make an arrest, a second murder leaves his theories in shambles. But someone killed Palook!

A delightful romp takes place backstage of a Russian ballet company in the nineteen thirties, featuring over the top characters and Brit silliness. Some ballet knowledge is helpful, but not necessary. The author inserts the plots and stage action of the relevant ballets into the narrative of the story. The climax is rather anti, but the mystery is neatly resolved.

I read this in the Library at school (along with the other Brahms and Simons books and Puckoon) instead of working at my studies. I can't say that I was wrong. I found it funny then and still did after re-reading a couple of years ago. The plot, such as it is, is really a cloak for the wit and humour of both writers.

Loved the satirical picture of the world of pre WWII ballet, but the novel has aged

Deeply silly, but good fun.