Play Dead

Detectives Anya Roberts and Moss Stone are faced with the murder of an actor in a live play performance. The amateur play was being performed during the Edmonton Fringe Festival in a modest sized theatre. Ironically, the play itself was a murder mystery. The victim, a quiet man, turns out to have had a past. Suspicion falls on the actors and others associated with the play. Meanwhile the detectives investigate another murder, this one a small time criminal shot dead in a parking lot shortly after an altercation in a bar. A third murder occurs in a neighbouring city, investigated by the RCMP who contact Stone because the victim previously lived in Edmonton. Stone is convinced all three murders are related. Roberts is convinced he needs to take a reality pill. But she has seen him use “Everything is connected in the universe theory” before and solve stubborn cases. Roberts cannot see how the actor’s murder can be related to a parking lot murder, and even less to one the occurred outside the city. But Stone continues to search for a red motorcycle even though there isn’t any proof the killer used one. Has Stone started seeing connections where none exists?


A real murder occurs at murder mystery play. The irony is not lost on Detectives Moss Stone and Anya Roberts. While they search for clues, two other murders need to be solved. One victim was shot after a bar confrontation and the other beaten to death from a possible break and entry. Stone believes the murders may be related. Roberts believes he needs to take a reality pill.