An Amateur Corpse (Unabridged) [Unabridged Fiction‪]‬

On the night of the final performance of
The Seagull, in which Charlotte had taken a leading part, her husband Hugo jealously watched her dancing with younger men at the backstage party. He started drinking heavily and continuously. Two days passed in an alcoholic daze. Charlotte disappeared, presumably with her lover, and, when her body was found in the coal shed, strangled with her own scarf, every sign pointed to Hugo as the murderer. He could remember nothing and admitted to the police that he could have killed his wife. Charles Paris, actor and amateur detective, was an old friend of Hugo's who had been present at the last night of
The Seagull and the following party. He had stayed with Hugo through part of the drinking spree, and it was he who discovered Charlotte's body. Charles was convinced of Hugo's innocence, but to prove it seemed impossible. The only thing to do was to find someone else guilty. It had to be one of the Backstagers, but who and why?