Predictably from the title this episode takes Nell Bray into the world of the theatre and I have to say that though I’m enjoying seeing all these glimpses into different realms of life in the 1910s I’m looking forward to reading a book where Nell is back in the bosom of suffragettedom. In the last couple of these books I’ve read the suffragette stuff has seemed like a background detail rather than Nell’s foreground life.

That’s probably not fair though as there’s plenty of sexual inequality one way or another in this book even when Nell’s not a full time campaigner for the vote. This book delves into the ridiculous inequalities of divorce law as George Bernard Shaw puts on a play Cinderella Revisited (I think this is fictional) in which Cinders escapes from her handsome prince in a hot air balloon and one of the leading actresses harbours desires to do the same.

Linscott’s usual attention to period detail without drawing the reader’s attention to it coupled with Nell’s detective skills is still making this series a pleasure to follow.