The Royal Box

by Frances Parkinson Keyes

Jacket, End paper, and decorations by Belinda Crossley

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Classics, Historical Fiction

367 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

Frances Parkinson Keyes was an American author who wrote about her life as the wife of a U.S. Senator and novels set in New England, Louisiana, and Europe. A convert to Roman Catholicism, her later works frequently featured Catholic themes and beliefs. Her last name rhymes with "skies," not "keys."

Reviews

[Carol, She's so Novel ꧁꧂ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first murder mystery I ever read. I found it on my parents' bookshelves when I was 11.

I loved it then & I still think this book has held up very well- unlike FPK's best known book Dinner at Antoine's! As far as I know these two books are FPK's only murder mysteries, written only six years apart. Both were inspired by visits to an establishment - in the case of this book, FPK went to the theatre in London in 1952 as a guest & was hosted in what turned out to be The Royal Box of a London theatre.

Baldwin Castle has been appointed the American Ambassador to the oil rich (& fictional) country of Aristan. He & his equally demanding new wife Cornelia expect the young Counsellor from the American Embassy to procure tickets for the most popular show in London, Gold of Pleasure.

Hilary is at a complete stand, until his girlfriend's mother Laura says she may be able to help. The mystery is why, given Lady Laura's strong dislike of Americans. A glittering & glamorous group of guests are assembled, the radiant leading lady & some of her entourage joined the guests during the first entr'acte. Yet on the way to the Grill Room at the Savoy afterwards one of the guests dies & it is down to Chief Inspector Kirtland from Scotland yard to unravel the clues.

This book does have a lot of similarities to the earlier Dinner at Antoine's both books are very character orientated & both have very long epilogues. The one in Antoines I remember as painfully boring but I liked the one for this book better as I cared about (some) of the characters more. I was cheering for Cornelia & I'm glad she got her happy ending. There is some overwriting, but overall this is a superior book.

I couldn't work it into my review, but this is the cover of my parents' old copy. which I love.

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[Diane Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good murder mystery and I wasn't able to figure out the guilty party. Did I miss some clues? A murder occurs and the head inspector questions the suspects one at a time. It's during his questioning that we find out all the back stories. The book wrapped up with a long epilogue that seemed odd to me. Why was it even there?

[CindySR · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first, I thought "will I be able to keep all these characters straight?". I did and got to know each one intimately as an inspector interrogated them, each a murder suspect. I wish I hadn't read the book blurb on the dust cover, it gave away too much. I liked the story but it got boring in spots. I liked the epilogue where the character's lives are wrapped up after the trial.

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reviewer's Disclaimer – I am not one who automatically expects poor writing from a book published several decades ago, so when I find it, I don't roll my eyes and go all dramatic in disdain. Oh, well, okay, maybe I do roll my eyes a bit. But by and large, dated writing methods don't upset me.

However, when so many of them are crammed together in one book, and they ruin what could have been a cracklin' good yarn ….

Royal Box is a murder mystery set in post-WWII England. Hilary Thorpe, the Counselor to the American Embassy in London, has just invited the widowed Lady Laura Whitford and her daughter Althea to an entertainment for Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin Castle, the new American Ambassador to Aristan (a small country in the Middle East). Only, he can't get tickets to "Gold in Paradise", the hottest show in the West End. Lady Laura wants to decline the invitation, as she dislikes Hilary Thorpe – and all Americans – intensely. She only agrees to go because she can score a hit off Thorpe by contriving to obtain seats in the theatre's Royal Box.

(This first chapter, containing physical descriptions and lots of 'telling' – but no head-hopping! Hmm – is a pure and simple Info-dump.)

Also included as guests for the evening are Colonel deValcourt, the Military Attache to the French Embassy in London; Jevad Ahani, the Aristani Ambassador to England; and Joe Racina, an American newspaperman and his wife Judith. During the show's Intermission, the star Janice Lester, her husband/manager, and another actor are invited to the Box by Mrs. Castle. There, the Aristani Ambassador presents Castle with an elaborate, jeweled container of salted walnuts, a delicacy in his country. He desperately wants to speak privately to him concerning Aristan's political situation, and its oil reserves, which are controlled by Americans. The entire group arranges to eat supper at the Savoy Hotel after the show. Only, the new American Ambassador doesn’t appear. He's found downstairs in the Aristani Ambassador's limousine – dead – with the jeweled box of salted walnuts spilled beside him.

(Whew. Did you catch all those names – all those Alliterative names?)

Autopsy reveals Castle died of cyanide poisoning.

Now. DeValcourt is famous for perfecting a coating for cyanide pills, which prevents the poison from acting instantaneously. Dutch girls in the French Underground used these pills to assassinate Nazi officers during the war. DeValcourt is also a well-known horticulturalist; of course insecticides require cyanide. And Everyone who is Everyone (well, everyone in the book anyway) has toured DeValcourt's famous gardens in Chiswick. Judith Racina is an RN, so she could have access to and understand a poison's action. Lady Laura's husband Sir Guy Whitford collected butterflies, so she would know how to use cyanide. It turns out that both Lady Laura and Janice Lester were romantically involved with Baldwin Castle some 20 years previously. Would they or their respective family members wish some sort of vengeance on him? He was instrumental in acquiring the oil rights in Aristan during that same time period, and obviously the political situation there has changed. Would anyone from the Middle East wish him dead?

Was one of the salted walnuts contaminated? If not, then how did he ingest the poison? What did he eat and drink that evening – and who gave it to him? Who could have access to the poison?

And here's where the bad writing blurs out the story, because for the next 180 pages (out of 302 total), Chief Inspector Kirtland of Scotland Yard conducts his interviews. Seven – yes, you read that correctly, 7 – out of these 10 interviews contains at least one flashback; sometimes the same person has several. One flashback trudges on for page after page. Then the whole book is wrapped up in a minute, three-and-a-half page chapter, which manages to not explain any salient points or tie up the loose ends. And believe you me, you will not see this end coming, for it's the Least Likely Person. (Well, no, it isn't actually – but it may as well be.) The motive is quite faint, and both it and the method are introduced very late into the book. (Apparently the murderer had one of these coated cyanide pills, which was put into a tankard of water a few minutes before Castle drank from it. But – wouldn't the coating have melted off by then, so the poison would act right away, not 1-2 hours later? I would think so.)

Here's a few more instances of awful writing – the political situation in the Middle East, the American control of oil in that area, and the jeweled box of salted walnuts DO NOT figure into Baldwin Castle's murder.

(Sheesh, so what am I finishing this for??)

Ah, but we're not done yet. Now we have a 40-page Epilogue which Elaborates Fully on what happened Afterward to everybody else. A writer friend of mine would call this "just playing with the dollies," and for once I see what he means. Only, by now I don't care – most especially about the character who got that horrendously long flashback. (Read that first, to get it over with!)

Yeah. And, though the book is chock-full of very bad writing, yet it didn't completely bore me, and I never threw it across the room in disgust (as I have others). Plus, coated cyanide pills is a really cool idea! So -- 1 1/2 stars.

[Kailey (Luminous Libro) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A group of people are invited to the theater to welcome the new American Ambassador and his wife. They are able to secure the Royal Box and have refreshments with the principal actors between acts. Lady Laura Whitford and her daughter are escorted by an attaché with the American Embassy and a French count who are both interested in Lady Laura's daughter. The Ambassador from a Middle Eastern country tries to take the American Ambassador aside to talk about oil deals and political unrest in his country. The Ambassador's wife embarrasses herself with her crass manners and drinking. At the end of the night, one of them is dead and everyone is a suspect.

I liked that there are many different layers to the mystery. As the detective interviews each suspect, we learn that almost all of them had connections that they want to keep a secret. More than one lady is hiding a child born out of wedlock. There is a secret engagement that was broken off years ago, secret political deals that fell through, and several affairs that have been hushed up.

I thought the interview process, which took up half the book, was boring though. Just people sitting around talking; no action at all, just lots and lots of flashbacks. And the writing is unnecessarily verbose and long-winded. This book could have been half as long without losing anything.

There is also some profanity from certain characters during their interview. I could see how it was calculated to tell us something about that particular character, but it still annoyed me.

I didn't like most of the characters. They are all sort of mean and selfish. There are only two characters that I really liked, Hilary and Althea, and they are very minor characters with only a few lines. Some of the characters are downright nasty, and I just didn't care about their storylines.

Overall, an interesting mystery, but it was too long.

[Dean Cummings · Rating 4 out of 5]

“There was a devastating element in her charm; he would rather have her for a friend than an enemy.”

Social coups had once been a regular occurrence for Lady Laura Whitford, after all, she was a lady of noble birth. But that was all long ago, before her life and social standing had taken a nosedive.
Most frustratingly, she still lived in the grand house, but no longer in grand style. Her and her daughter Althea were spending their days in an atmosphere that no one would call grandeur.

It all started when her husband died, and as a result, the family’s main source of income was lost. This loss was not felt immediately, as at first it was just a matter of selling off a few fine pieces of jewelry and a couple pieces of furniture from a seldomly visited room. In the beginning, the sell off was easily disguised.

Then, as time passed, the ongoing lack of income forced Lady Whitford to liquidate almost all but her most prized jewels and most of the furniture and paintings that were of any value. Eventually, most everything was sold, and mother and daughter had closed off the unused rooms, one by one.

By the time we reach the opening pages of the story, we find Lady Laura and Althea living in the basement of their own splendid, but empty home, each pinching pennies and economizing by cutting the corners of every imaginable expense.

But amidst these circumstances, dire as they were, there was one faint ray of hope at the end of the tunnel…

Althea, as it turned out, was growing up into becoming a very attractive young woman, so much so, in fact, that two high profile men had expressed interest in her. One, a Counsel of the American Embassy in London, and the other, a military attaché to the French Embassy, also in London.

The fascination these two well connected men had for Althea proved to be favorable for Lady Laura as it brought her nearer, at long last, to the center of high society circles. And it was as a result of these fortunate developments, combined with a little luck, that Lady Laura was able to secure the Terry Theatre’s most prestigious seats for the hottest ticket in town, “Gold of Pleasure,” the bill of which was topped by the world’s most celebrated actress, Janice Lester.

She’d secured the Terry Theatre’s Royal Box and joining she and Althea would the two potential suitors, along with two Ambassadors, a high-profile member of the American press and his elegant wife. It was a glittering guest indeed!

And for Lady Laura, this felt like old times…she was back in the game!

And in the midst of her euphoria, Lady Laura could’ve never guessed that she would be so thoroughly and unexpectedly upstaged…not due to some social faux pau, or the result of the actions of a social climbing rival aristocrat, but by a set of circumstances she could’ve never imagined…

A murder…

I was only a few pages into the story, already intrigued by the premise of a murder taking place in the Royal Box…I read on in anticipation…

And by the end I’d found that I’d not only enjoyed the story, but my vocabulary was expanded as well. Here were a few of my favorite, newfound words:

Supernumerary – Being in excess of the usual, proper, or prescribed number; additional; extra.

Legerdemain – Slight of hand; an artful trick.

Soubrette – A maidservant or lady’s maid in a play, opera, or the like, especially one displaying coquetry, pertness, and especially a tendency to engage in intrigue.

Marquetry – A piece of furniture that features inlaid work of variously colored woods or other materials.

In addition to the new words were a couple rather colorful sayings, such as, “Hells Big Brass Bells,” and “There will be unshirted hell…”

Overall, a very enthralling whodunnit.

[Dianna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had a very pretty cover and I kept hoping I’d like it. I mean, posh people going on an outing to the theatre and then someone gets murdered sounds great.

Unfortunately I really disliked the way Keyes put this whole thing together. There’s no real suspense, I wasn’t interested in the politics, there were too many characters and they were all dull.

[Heather Burdge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book was like watching the movie “Clue, the board game”. I started with some reservations, thinking this was just too old to be good. Especially after reading the authors note. I was pleasantly surprised to find that once the murder happened everything picked up. The epilogue may not have been needed but as someone who enjoys knowing where everyone ended up I thought it was also enjoyable.

[gufo_bufo · Rating 2 out of 5]

In italiano, "Il palco reale". Dimenticabile, dimenticato.

[Spencer Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic mystery with lots of forward looking political implications regarding the Middle East and French Indo-China, considering that it hails from 1954. Highly recommended.

[Val Robson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I normally adore Frances Parkinson-Keyes’s novels but I found this very hard going and dull. It’s a police procedural written in 1954 with a lot of very old Americanisms and language which did not mean anything to me even though I have lived in the States and am usually very conversant with the linguistic differences between British English and American English.

The first quarter of the book is setting the scene in a laboured manner. It’s set in London just after World War II and the cast includes a counsellor of the American Embassy in London, the Ambassador of Artisan (a small Middle Eastern country rich in oil) to the Court of St James’s, a Military Attaché at the French Embassy and the American Ambassador to Aristan. Each of these people, and the other characters, are variously referred to by their job title, their first name or last name. I was frequently referring back to the cast of characters to work out who was who. At least there was a cast of characters otherwise I’d have needed to write my own! That, together with the unusual language, did not make for a relaxed read.

There is a lot of talk about the politics in Aristan which had no bearing on the plot in the end. This included various Middle Eastern names just in case the reader wasn’t already muddled.

All the characters are gathering at a performance of ‘Gold of Pleasure’ at a London Theatre, after which one person is found dead, presumed murdered. The majority of the book is the twelve or so suspects being interviewed by a Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard. Pretty much everyone seems to have a motive for killing this person. Some of the interviews are interspersed with flashbacks where we learn the history of the characters and their past relationships. Eventually the culprit is named and arrested in a rushed and unsatisfactory two or three pages. There is a rather lengthy epilogue about all the other characters. Not my favourite Frances Parkinson-Keyes novel sadly.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1954.
There are parts that remind me of a 1940's movie with the elite going to a play and a supper at the Savoy.
The author has taken a group of seven characters and revealed them through the questioning of a detective after the eighth character is murdered.
The epilogue follows their lives after this event.
Worth reading if you enjoy a good mystery.

[Dotti Enderle · Rating 2 out of 5]

The most unnecessary epilogue in the history of murder mysteries.

[Chris]

Didn't finish , did not care for writing style

[Kendra Chubbuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading for Island Book Club. We are all reading a book in the year we were born in. What fun. I didn't like the ending. I did like the way the author let us know what happened to everyone involved that night of the murder. The people who were all together and became the suspects were certainly and interesting group and some had never met before. The front and back cover kept falling apart and I had to keep taping it back on. I thought that was funny because the book was just so old and it was after all a paperback! The book was in rough shape. I did learn to solve a murder you need to solve for the 3 M's. They are: Method, Motive, and Moment. This is not my favorite genre to read; but I'm glad I read it.

[Tbfrank · Rating 2 out of 5]

The American Ambassador to a middle eastern nation is found murdered after attending the theater
and a dinner party in London. The reader is first introduced to an aristocratic woman and her daughter struggling to make ends meet. Then appears the young woman's suitors, both diplomats, one American the other French; the ambassador and his wife; a journalist writing about the ambassador and his wife; and a representative from the mid-east nation's embassy with his wife and daughter. In the course of the evening the American ambassador partakes in food and drink multiple times but hours later he succumbs to poison. A detective and his sergeant arrive to find out just what happened.

In the course of a single evening, the detective interviews all of the principals in attendance, one or more times. Between his questioning, the responses, and the character's inner monologue filling in the back-story, not shared with the policemen, the reader learns the tale is particularly complex. The method employed smacked of a screen play, interesting, but not accomplished smoothly. Heavy on the femme fatale aspects, with a dash of international intrigue which rated more emphasis. In the early hours of the morning, the detective has determined the culprit - but the modern reader is doubtful the evidence is conclusive.

An Epilogue makes up the final quarter of the novel, following various characters as they move forward after having bared their souls. Some effective touches for the mid-1950's but entirely unnecessary and lost the novel a star. If Ms Keyes believed telling the story of what happened next was important, then these pieces deserved to be developed separately.

[Russo83 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book a nice reading, even if it was not uniform in the tension it built.

The first part consists of the characters and place setting, but also of the last hours and meals of the victim.

We have then the central part of the book, which is the real mystery component of the story, with the detective and all the suspects he has to question. I liked it a lot, because the interviews were interrupted by flashbacks about the characters, or simply by thoughts they had. It was nice, in my opinion, to know more about certain events that they wanted to keep hidden, or not to explain too much in details to the detective.

Then... solution of the case: a bit too simple, I'm not really convinced about how the detective got to that conclusion, but ok...

The last part of the book is a long "what happened next" to all the (ex)suspects.
I found it boring, because after getting to know who the murderer was, I don't care to see what happened to the others. I mean, once it is revealed that Althea refused de Valcourt and that he decided to go abroad, I don't care to know what happened to him afterwards.

But overall, considering only the central part, it was a good book.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

As my cousin Sarah would say - "Too complicated." Not really, although it did take some focusing to keep track of all the characters and the political issues that were part of the plot. It was interesting to read a book talking about Middle East matters in the 50's. I have to admit that I figured out whodunit, but not much before it was revealed. The epilogue was a bit long and wordy.

[A · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some of the same characters from "Dinner at Antoine's" appear in this mystery. Keyes was trying to continue the success of that novel, which is fantastic for its type. However, this one fell flat. It's the only Keyes novel I ever tossed aside.
If you're a Keyes completist, give it a shot. Otherwise, stick with Keyes' chestnuts like Crescent Carnival, Came a Cavalier, Blue Camellia, etc

[Vionna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very good old fashioned mystery written in the 1950’s where the Scotland Yard detective solved his case by solid interrogation and putting all the facts together. Poison was the weapon of choice against an American Ambassador and the killer was a complete surprise.

[Delanie Washburn · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first mystery book pretty much ever. I really loved the writing and the character development and even the flashbacks, which are hard todo right. It got me into mystery.