Castle Deadly, Castle Deep by Veronica Bond

Castle Deadly, Castle Deep
by Veronica Bond

ISBN-13: 9780593335901
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Berkley
Released: July 5th 2022

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Autumn has arrived at Castle Dark, and Nora Blake has settled into her role as an actor in Derek Corby's castle murder-mystery troupe. The setting of Derek's fall mystery: the catacombs in the depths of the castle. A man is killed during one of their first shows, and the audience is made up of fellow actors from the community theater. The killer is someone they all know! Everyone agrees: there is no motive for killing this seemingly innocent victim. As Nora practices her lines at Wood Glen's Blue Curtain Theater, she realizes that everyone around her is an actor, and all of her suspects are perfectly capable of convincing others of their innocence. Nora soon discovers that someone else is in danger...


My Review:
Castle Deadly, Castle Deep has a ton of community theater filler and a clueless mystery. So we have a murder committed in complete darkness during the murder-mystery theater at the castle. Then everyone repeatedly said how no one would kill such a lovable, nice boy. So I'm going, "so who was the real target?" Yet the police and Nora can't even figure out that the victim wasn't the target until 73% of the way in. The murder was solved less than 9% later. Romantic drama was a large part of the filler, so Nora's shopping, noticed a romantic attraction forming, and then commented on it to another person. That person attacked her, thinking she knew that person was whodunit. So, really, no clues or sleuthing. There was also a minor mystery that was solved by her walking in on the actual mystery-solver and just finishing what they had already figured out.

The castle theater idea is intriguing, but it was shut down near the beginning of the book. However, we got very detailed scenes of them practicing the community theater production, which might have been more interesting if I'd ever seen the play before. They do the scenes (in detail, even line-by-line) of practically the whole play out of sequence and then in sequence. The focus was mostly on how Nora's so brilliant at bringing out her unique vision for her character. I found it very, very boring. Oddly enough, the community theater production could have been completely cut from the book without affecting the mystery.

Then there was the romance. Nora told Dash that he'd have to make time for their relationship, then committed to two theaters so she had no time for him. She's also jealous of his beautiful co-worker, though he's only professional around her. She blames the "distance" between them on Dash. He noticed her distance and how her new, handsome co-worker flirted with her. She condemns his lack of trust, and he obediently asks for forgiveness. Nora doesn't admit any fault, herself. They have passionate sex (only the kissing and rubbing her body through her clothing before heading to the bed is described) and all is well. There was occasional use of bad language.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.