Hello All,
Welcome to another edition of Introducing. Some of you are already familiar with today’s guest, but for those of you who haven’t yet “met” her, let me introduce Bev Robitai.
Robitai was born in the UK, but lives and works on Auckland’s North Shore. Besides being a crime fiction author, she’s also a highly skilled professional photographer as well as an editor and writing coach.
Robitai also spent several years in the theatre, which is the source of her inspiration for her Theatre Mysteries. In Murder in the Second Row, the Regent Theatre, under the management of Jessica Jones, is planning a production of Agatha Christie’s 
Appointment With Death. There are several challenges to the production, including the self-important pampered star Simone Duchaine, who has the role of Mrs. Boynton. Another problem is Tamara Fitzpatrick, who’s playing Mrs. Boynton’s daughter-in-law Nadine. Tamara manages to upset everyone and she has a bad habit of not leaving the men in the production alone. So when she’s found dead on the floor in the back row of the stalls, Detective Senior Sergeant Jack Matherson’s got plenty of suspects.
Jack Matherson, Jessica Jones and some of the other characters from this novel appear again in Body on the Stage. In that novel, Dennis Dempster’s sister persuades him to audition for the Regent’s production of Ladies Night. Dempster has no theatre experience but he knows his sister won’t leave him alone until he fills the social void left by his divorce. So 
he reluctantly goes to the Regent and gets a place on the crew. That’s how he meets Cathy, who owns the local gym Intensity. She’s agreed to get the production’s actor/dancers in shape and prepare routines for them in return for publicity as well as payment. When her computer refuses to print, Dempster helps her fix it and Cathy persuades him to tag along with the actor/dancers and come to the gym for their training sessions. Dempster knows he ought to get in shape so he reluctantly agrees. Disaster strikes when Cathy’s assistant Vincenzo Barino is found murdered just weeks before the production is to premiere. Jack Matherson investigates officially, and Cathy and Dennis Dempster investigate unofficially as everyone tries to solve the murder as soon as possible so the show can be staged.
A talented writer with a humourous style who also helps new writers and takes amazing photographs? And she lives in New Zealand? Of course I wanted you to “meet” Bev Robitai!
Want to know more about Bev? Here’s how:
Bev’s interview on Craig Sisterton’s terrific 9mm series
Want to know more about the Theatre Mysteries? Here’s how:
Love theater settings. Will check Bev out.
Patti – Oh, I hope you’ll really enjoy her work. Interesting characters, solid mysteries and humour, too.
I love the idea of the Introducing slot Margot and Bev sounds extremely talented. Creative talented, with writing and photography. I will check out your links. Thanks for sharing.
Rebecca – I’m glad you like this feature. I always like the idea of letting people know about talented authors whom they may not have “met.” I hope you’ll get to read Robitai’s work.
I hope I can find her books in Western Canada. There are a shortage of books from New Zealand in my part of the world.
Bill – I know what you mean about the difficulty of finding some books. I run into that too. If you have an e-reader, you may be able to get both Murder in the Second Row and Body on the Stage at Smashwords. I’m sorry to say I’m not sure how Smashwords works in Canada. I know I’ve been able to find books there from non-US authors that are hard to find elsewhere.
Those Theatre Mysteries look interesting. It’s nice to meet a new author.
Clarissa – I hope you’ll like these mysteries. They’re solid stories with a nice dose of humour. They’re light mysteries with some fun characters.