Death and the Chaste Apprentice — Robert Barnard

Des Capper, landlord of Saracen's Head, a splendid Elizabethan inn, had been called a bore, a snoop, and other things not fit to print. Currently he was provoking his newest arrivals, the performers of the Ketterick Arts Festival--as rowdy a group as ever trod the boards. Des thought knowledge was power and was busily digging up secrets to "get" someone good. The brilliant conductor with the Casanova complex... the gorgeous Russian soprano with a taste for hit players...the theatrical couple with a marriage so open it had a revolving door...all of them--and scads of others--soon had the urge to kill Des. Finally, someone did. But why would be the best-kept secret of all.