Tag: theatre
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Book Review: Death on the Marlow Belle by Robert Thorogood
In Death on the Marlow Belle (Poisoned Pen Press, September, 2025) this fourth installment of The Marlow Murder Club, a cozy murder mystery series, author Robert Thorogood has returned us to Marlow, a very real town located on the Thames River thirty miles from London. This is brilliant news for all of Thorogood’s fans, as…
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Book Review: Murder by the Book by Lauren Elliott
Murder by the Book (the novel, Kensington Cozies, 2018) by Lauren Elliott is the first in the Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery series. I checked this book out to read on my Kindle via Libby through my local MCPL mostly because of the title and the cover. Many years ago, I directed a play by…
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Book Review: I Only Read Murder by Ian Ferguson and Will Ferguson
With a busy week where I was spending a lot of time at my former school directing an adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew (written by my daughter, allow me a moment to brag), I had very little time to read, and when I did settle down after wrangling middle schoolers, I was out…
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Book Review: Lost in Thought by Deborah Serra
First of all, I finished this book at 11:00 pm last night, and I lay awake far too long thinking about the ending. Today, I had some things I needed to take care of in preparation for a school play I am directing, and I found myself repeatedly day dreaming about this book. I think…
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Book Review: Janie Writes a Play by Heidi E. Y. Stemple and illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight
For those of you who have been following my book reviews, this will be a bit different for you. Today I read a book to be published on February 11, 2025, a children’s picture book with only 40 pages, short paragraphs on each page, and bright, colorful illustrations on every page. This is a bit…
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Book Review: Booked for Murder by P. J. Nelson
Writing under the pseudonym P. J. Nelson, the author of Booked for Murder (An Old Juniper Bookstore Mystery) said in his bio that he had done a great many things, most of which appear to involve acting and theatre, but, he has never ever run a bookstore. This was a little nagging thought I had…
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The Sun Came Out This Weekend – Again
The Broadway smash hit musical Annie has a special place in my heart. In the summer of 1987, I met my husband while playing the role of Mrs. Greer in a summer stock production of Annie, working backstage also as assistant director/stage manager. We began dating during that production and after twenty-eight years, it’s safe…
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A Salute to Intangible Rewards
On Friday, I was driving my normal route home from school, and as I turned on to this one particular neighborhood street, I slowed down, as usual, on the lookout for the group of boys who sometimes are throwing a football from one yard to another, in some form of ultimate street football, as they…
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Drowning, But Don’t Save Me — Yet
At the annual Back to School Night last week I introduced myself to the parents of my 7th graders with my usual background information: “This is my 9th year teaching and my 9th year at this school. I came to education as a second career after twenty years in the legal field. After leaving my…
Michelle Blanchard Ardillo 