Downtown Strut: An Edna Ferber Mystery    by Ed Ifkovic Order:  USA  Can Poisoned Pen, 2013 (2013) Hardcover, Softcover     Reviewed by Mary Ann Smyth Don't you just love Edna Ferber? Talented woman. It's 1927 and she has two shows opening on Broadway on successive nights! Unheard of! Downtown Strut by Ed Ifkovic brings Edna and her wide group of well-known friends to applaud her achievement. It's always fun to live for a while in her time. She was a skilled author with many other minor talents. She is enough of a celebrity that directors and producers love to present her works on a Broadway stage. They know they will be instant hits. This time, it's Show Boat as well as The Royal Family. While agonizing through the last few days of rehearsals, Edna does battle with the producer of The Royal Family. He constantly changes dialogue and she is exasperated by his high handedness, and rude and boorish behavior. Ferber had been mentoring some talented young Negroes, men and women. However, when she arrives at a boarding house to take one of them out to lunch, she finds the young man stabbed to death! Who would do this? And why? Ferber puts her thoughts of her Broadway plays on the backburner to discover the murderer. As she does so, we are treated to cameo appearances of a good many who were popular in the day. Fun reading. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Mystery books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews