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The Spirit in Question (A Lila Maclean Academic Mystery Book 3) Kindle Edition

by Cynthia Kuhn (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.4 99 ratings

Book 3 of 5: A Lila Maclean Academic Mystery

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English professor Lila Maclean knew drama would be involved when she agreed to consult on Stonedale University’s production of Puzzled: The Musical.

But she didn’t expect to find herself cast into such chaos: the incomprehensible play is a disaster, the crumbling theater appears to be haunted, and, before long, murder takes center stage.

The show must go on—yet as they speed toward opening night, it becomes clear that other members of the company may be targeted as well. Lila searches for answers while contending with a tenacious historical society, an eccentric playwright, an unsettling psychic, an enigmatic apparition, and a paranormal search squad.

With all of this in play, will she be able to identify who killed her colleague...or will it soon be curtains for Lila too?

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THE SPIRIT IN QUESTION by Cynthia Kuhn | A Henery Press Mystery. If you like one, you’ll probably like them all.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Lefty Award Nominee, Best Humorous Mystery

Foreword Indies Book of the Year Awards Finalist, Mystery

"Lila Maclean returns with theatrical hilarity and otherworldly suspense. A fabulous backstage whodunit." -- Gretchen Archer, USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award-nominated author of the Davis Way Crime Caper Series

"Delightful heroine Lila and her supporting cast conjure a fun show stopper in The Spirit in Question. Old scandals, new rivalries, a ghostly menace, and a determined killer will keep readers puzzling over whodunit until the final act." -- Vickie Fee, author of the Liv & Di in Dixie Mysteries

"Murder,protests and a haunted theater--Stonedale University English professor Lila Maclean deals with it all with wit and humor in The Spirit In Question, a must-read for cozy mystery fans." -- Sybil Johnson, author of the Aurora Anderson Mysteries

"An A+ academic mystery! This delightful cozy deserves extra credit for its clever protagonist, laugh-out-loud dramatics, and layers of mystery."-- Nora Page, author of the Bookmobile Mysteries

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07FDL54HG
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Henery Press (October 2, 2018)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 2, 2018
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1870 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 254 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #270,890 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #2,385 in Ghost Mysteries
- #6,734 in Amateur Sleuths
- #8,099 in Cozy Mystery

Customer Reviews:
4.4 99 ratings

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Cynthia Kuhn

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Cynthia Kuhn writes the Lila Maclean Academic Mysteries and Starlit Bookshop Mysteries. Her work has also appeared in Mystery Most Edible, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, Literary Mama, Copper Nickel, Prick of the Spindle, Mama PhD, and other publications. For more information, please visit cynthiakuhn.net.

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4.4 out of 5

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Carolyn Goodart

Academic humor

Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2021

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This is an interesting mystery set in a Colorado college town and centered around an historic opera house! Even though someone is murdered, the story is light-hearted, and the main character has a fun sense of humor. Lila feels like a real person and has some baggage of her own as she learns of a past sad death in the old building, with maybe a ghost in the mix as well! But the main excitement is the staging of a play in the old building with college student actors! It has that wonderful feeling feeling of, "Let's put on a play!" And, hoping for a hit!

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Catherine H

Madcap Adventure With Humorous Plot and Characters

Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2018

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Competing forces and agendas collide over the staging of a play at the Stonedale Opera House, the historic college theater in Stonedale, Colorado. On one side is the college faculty led by the outspoken Jean Claude Lestronge, the visiting professor directing the musical written by another professor. On the other side are members of the Stonedale Historical Society represented by its equally outspoken president, Mrs. Clara Worthingham. The Society fears the fragile facility will be further compromised by going forward with the play and seems willing to stop it by any means. And there is another interested party: developer Chip Turner who has offered to purchase the aging theater from the college, with plans to replace it with a state-of-the-art performance space.

With such a backdrop, is it any wonder that Puzzled: The Musical, a post-modern murder mystery featuring iconic sleuths and their authors seems doomed from the start? A series of accidents and mishaps ensue during its production, most troubling of which is the onstage death of the play's director during a rehearsal.

Who killed Jean Claude? Professor Lila Maclean, the play's assistant director and Detective Lex Archer are determined to find out. There are plenty of people with motive and opportunity. Is someone with evil intent in their midst, or are otherworldly forces responsible? Some believe the theater is haunted by the ghost of a former professor who died there years before. Instances of flickering lights, unexplained noises, and moved objects during rehearsals lend credence to such a theory. As Lila and Lex concentrate on credible facts, a psychic and a paranormal team pursue the supernatural aspect.

Beyond their search for the killer, Lila and Lex also come closer to unravelling a mystery from the past that has significance to several of Stonedale's citizens, and deepen their own relationship as well.

In The Spirit in Question, author Cynthia Kuhn has woven an eccentric cast of characters and humorous scenes into an entertaining madcap read. The story's insider look at the larger-than-life egos, creativity, and passions involved in staging a play made this reader feel a part of the production.

The book is the third entry in the Lila Maclean Academic Mystery Series, but can be read as a stand alone. I find Lila's adventures in academia intriguing, and will now immerse myself in the series' previous novels -- The Semester of Our Discontent, winner of an Agatha Award for Best New Novel in 2016, and The Art of Vanishing, Lefty Award Nominee for Best Humorous Novel in 2017 -- while awaiting the next installment.

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Tammy "TCB"

I love this series and this one was a wild ride

Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2020

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Okay, just finished. This book threw me for a loop.
Pacing was awesome.
Action was good.setting was fun. I mean, a haunted theater? What could be better!
Dialogue moved quickly, but sometimes I did have trouble deciphering who said what.
Clues and red herring plentiful, and had me changing my mind constantly on who the killer was. Well placed.
The characters were delightful. Ones to love and ones to hate. Although I wish Nate was is this book more.
It’s part of a series, but can definitely read them out of order if you have to.
Read this in 4 days, unusual for me to do it that fast.
Definitely deserving of 5 stars.

Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2018

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In The Spirit in Question, Lila has reached her third year on the Stonedale staff, and has taken on (or perhaps been dragooned into) helping with the production of another professor’s play, Puzzled: The Musical, a barely comprehensible mixture of detectives and dancers. The student actors and crew are having a ball—until murder mars the production.

At the request of Lex Archer, Lila stays (mostly) out of the hunt for the murderer, but there are enough other puzzles to keep her busy. The play is being staged in a deteriorating opera house owned, but not much cared for, by the university and protected by the remarkably officious head of the Stonedale Historical Society. The building not only presents mechanical dangers—what with characters dropping from the rafters and popping up through the trap door, what could go wrong?—but it may be haunted by the ghost of a previous owner, who hanged himself on the stage.

By the time the production opens, no one, least of all Lila, is quite sure who might be a target, or why. Between accidents, a seance, and a missing journal, the opera house is up for grabs—literally. At least Lila has a chance to rekindle her friendship with Detective Lex Archer—if the ghost doesn’t get her first.

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Alison McMahan

The show must go on - right through the ghost

Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2018

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English professor Lila Maclean knew drama would be involved when she agreed to consult on Stonedale University’s production of Puzzled: The Musical. But she didn’t expect to find herself cast into such chaos: the incomprehensible play is a disaster, the crumbling theater appears to be haunted, and, before long, murder takes center stage.

The show must go on—yet as they speed toward opening night, it becomes clear that other members of the company may be targeted as well. Lila searches for answers while contending with a tenacious historical society, an eccentric playwright, an unsettling psychic, an enigmatic apparition, and a paranormal search squad. With all of this in play, will she be able to identify who killed her colleague…or will it soon be curtains for Lila too?

One person found this helpful

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Sue

Kuhn Peels Back the Facade of the Idyllic Liberal Arts College

Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2018

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Kuhn peels back the facade of the idyllic liberal arts college revealing the intense personal and political intrigue, that in this case, turns deadly. Her characters are fun, engaging and smart. I started this book on Halloween between trick-or-treaters and read it right on through past the time when the trick-or-treaters turned to surly high schools in need of a sugar fix. Was a great read.

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The Spirit in Question (A Lila Maclean Academic Mystery Book 3) Kindle Edition

Editorial Reviews

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About the author

Cynthia Kuhn

Customer reviews

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