Who murdered the handsome young actor? And why? In 1940, against the chilling backdrop of Hitler's rise and the specter of another war, Edna Ferber decides to follow an old dream: to act onstage. Selecting The Royal Family, the comedy she wrote with George S. Kaufman, for her starring role, she travels to Maplewood, New Jersey. But her escape from troubling news is cut short when a mysterious understudy is murdered. Ferber and Kaufman now begin a different kind of collaboration: the discovery of the murderer. As rehearsals evolve, they deal with a cast of characters who are all hiding something from their days spent in Hollywood. Each character, Edna discovers, has some connection with the dead man and the answer to the murder lies back in Hollywood. Opening night looms-so does World War II. Edna, resolute, believes that justice needs to prevail in a world that is falling apart. Ed Ifkovic taught literature and creative writing at a community college in Connecticut for over three decades, and now devotes himself to writing fiction.