Cue the Murder: A Darcy Donovan Drama Detective

How do you go from acting in Noël Coward plays to catching psycho killers?

At thirty-two, stage actress Darcy Donovan is juggling five jobs just to keep pursuing her dream. When two productions close and she loses another paycheck, she lands a freelance assignment with a magazine run by the man she's always admired. Just as romance seems possible, her not-quite-ex-husband reappears to complicate everything.

Then Darcy's favorite theater security guard plunges from a skyscraper in what police call a suicide. Certain he was murdered, she sets out to prove it—and to track down the mysterious granddaughter he mentioned before his death.

Her investigation takes her racing through Houston in her billboard-covered VW Bug, where she becomes a murder suspect, rescues an abused woman, is nearly run off the road by a violent husband, uncovers secrets involving her own divorce lawyer, crosses paths with a desperate real estate tycoon, and struggles to impress her intimidating NPR reporter mother.

With danger closing in, Darcy must decide whether she's ready to trade the spotlight for the truth—or risk becoming the killer's next victim.

About the Author

Claire Hart-Palumbo grew up in rural Texas. A year of teaching in her hometown forced her to admit she wanted to be an actress. Between starting up mid-sized professional theaters, she studied at American Conservatory Theater and received an MFA from University of Texas. During forty-plus years in professional theater she has been an actress, director, and teacher primarily in Houston. Concurrently, she spent twenty years as an instructional designer. In 2020 she moved back to her farm, teaching and writing remotely, while renovating a 170-year-old farmhouse. She lives there with her cats, across the pasture from her sister and brother.