Plot summary

At the eleventh hour, Lawrenceton librarian and President of the town's Real Murders Discussion Club Aurora Teagarden - Ro to her friends - is asked to make a presentation and be on a discussion panel at "From Motive to Murder", an annual true crime and mystery conference always held at the same mountain resort. What Ro was unaware of when she agreed was that the other panelist in her session is Lawrenceton Police Chief Lynn Smith, who has always resented Ro and the other club members inserting themselves into murder investigations. In addition to some of the other club members, a few others from Lawrenceton, who would normally not be caught dead at such an event, end up out of circumstances attending, such as Ro's mother, realtor Aida Teagarden. The event organizer Linda Bennett traditionally has written and staged a murder mystery play with the guest speakers asked to assume some of the roles for the one performance during the event. It is during this special performance that someone associated with the play and conference is murdered on-stage during what was a well-timed blackout. Especially as one of their own is the lead suspect in the minds of the local police solely on circumstantial evidence with no real motive to speak of, Ro and the other Real Murders members start to investigate on their own to exonerate their friend, who they know is innocent. The difference this time from any murder which they've investigated back in Lawrenceton is that Lynn and her husband, Detective Arthur Smith who is also a Real Murders club member, are on the outside looking in and thus are forced to work with Ro and her colleagues. The lead suspects in their minds are: Linda Bennett herself, she who is struggling financially with the event and the theater being under threat; developer Boyd Stauberg, the person who usually gets what he wants be wielding his power, he wanting the theater for a condo development; Boyd's son Brett Stauberg who was in an on-again/off again relationship with the victim, they who were apparently off-again; librarian Andrew Wakefield, who lied to the police regarding his whereabouts during the actual time of the murder; and author Robert Brown, the conference's keynote speaker who may have wanted to test theories as to the true crime about which he writes.

At the eleventh hour, Lawrenceton librarian and President of the town's Real Murders Discussion Club Aurora Teagarden - Ro to her friends - is asked to make a presentation and be on a discussion panel at "From Motive to Murder", an annual true crime and mystery conference always held at the same mountain resort. What Ro was unaware of when she agreed was that the other panelist in her session is Lawrenceton Police Chief Lynn Smith, who has always resented Ro and the other club members inserting themselves into murder investigations. In addition to some of the other club members, a few others from Lawrenceton, who would normally not be caught dead at such an event, end up out of circumstances attending, such as Ro's mother, realtor Aida Teagarden. The event organizer Linda Bennett traditionally has written and staged a murder mystery play with the guest speakers asked to assume some of the roles for the one performance during the event. It is during this special performance that someone associated with the play and conference is murdered on-stage during what was a well-timed blackout. Especially as one of their own is the lead suspect in the minds of the local police solely on circumstantial evidence with no real motive to speak of, Ro and the other Real Murders members start to investigate on their own to exonerate their friend, who they know is innocent. The difference this time from any murder which they've investigated back in Lawrenceton is that Lynn and her husband, Detective Arthur Smith who is also a Real Murders club member, are on the outside looking in and thus are forced to work with Ro and her colleagues. The lead suspects in their minds are: Linda Bennett herself, she who is struggling financially with the event and the theater being under threat; developer Boyd Stauberg, the person who usually gets what he wants be wielding his power, he wanting the theater for a condo development; Boyd's son Brett Stauberg who was in an on-again/off again relationship with the victim, they who were apparently off-again; librarian Andrew Wakefield, who lied to the police regarding his whereabouts during the actual time of the murder; and author Robert Brown, the conference's keynote speaker who may have wanted to test theories as to the true crime about which he writes.

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