The seventh shot

"The seventh shot : A detective story" by Herman Landon is a detective novel written in the early 20th century. Set in Broadway’s backstage world, it follows volatile new star Alan Mortimer, producer Max Dukane, and ingénue Sybil Merivale as their show collides with the ousted leading lady Grace Templeton and the calculating Kitty Legaye. When anonymous threats and jealousies surface, detective Jim Barrison moves from a technical consultant on fingerprints to an uneasy guardian as danger seems to gather for opening night. The opening of the novel traces a sweltering rehearsal season on the Rialto: Kitty befriends job-hunting Sybil over lunch, Mortimer (already the object of multiple entanglements) impulsively anoints her his new leading woman after Grace Templeton is fired, and Dukane cautiously agrees to test her. Rehearsals reveal Mortimer’s intoxicating charm and predatory will—he forces an onstage kiss during the “tag,” rattling Sybil and stoking Norman Crane’s jealousy—while a superstitious stage manager frets and an anonymous letter warns Mortimer of doom “on the opening night.” Barrison, brought in to coach a fingerprint scene, quietly reads the room: Grace’s smoldering fury, Kitty’s designs, Sybil’s fearful fascination, and Mortimer’s enraged response to the note; Grace later tries (and fails) to hire him to shadow Mortimer, and Tony Clay reports she has bought a revolver. On opening night, with the theater stifling and security tightened, Barrison spots Grace in a box dressed in black, watches her sit strangely calm as Mortimer makes his entrance, and senses the fuse has been lit.

The seventh shot, by Herman Landon. Republished by OpenStories from Project Gutenberg eBook #76659.