Another wonderful review for the latest Milverton Mystery, Fright on Stage Right, this time by Craig Sisterson writing for the Fall 2025 edition of the US-based Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine, featuring words like “intriguing” and “charming”!
Addison Harper’s Milverton is held up alongside other cosy crime capitals such as Miss Marple’s St Mary Mead and Jessica Fletcher’s Cabot Cove. There’s also the suggestion that fans of TV shows like Murder, She Wrote and The Brokenwood Mysteries might find their next read in The Milverton Mysteries?
Investigate for yourself
Jump into the latest of The Milverton Mysteries with Fright on Stage Right or venture back to where it began with Murder on Milverton Square.
Read the full review
Craig Sisterson’s review of Fright on Stage Right by G. B. Ralph for Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine:
Like Cabot Cove with Jessica Fletcher, or St Mary Mead with Miss Marple, the fictional small town of Milverton in the Manawatū region of New Zealand’s North Island is a bucolic place with a quirky array of locals that on the surface seems like a great place to live or visit. Other than having far more than its fair share of murders, thanks to cosy mystery writer GB Ralph.
Craig Sisterson’s review of Fright on Stage Right by G. B. Ralph as featured on page 66 of the Fall 2025 edition of Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine
This fourth novel in Ralph’s charming Milverton Mysteries series sees Wellington city slicker, marketing man, and accidental amateur sleuth Addison Harper back again in Milverton, dealing with the creaking house inherited from his uncle, as well as a romantic entanglement with local police Sergeant Jake Murphy. In Fright on Stage Right, Addison has made the move to Milverton more permanent; he’s about to begin a new job with the mayor, promoting the town to tourists.
But first, date night with Jake, front row at a local Halloween variety show packed with spooky fun, ghoulish drag queens, and audience participation. Then Addison is dragged onstage with the mayor to judge the contestants, only to witness a very sudden, very unscripted onstage death.
Accident, negligence, or something far more sinister.
Ralph creates a lovely tone in an intriguing cosy mystery laced with plenty of fun characters and grin-inducing elements among the dark deeds, suspects, and red herrings. A lighter read, really enjoyable; those who love TV shows like Murder, She Wrote or The Brokenwood Mysteries may also fall in love with the Milverton mysteries. Even as someone who more often reads darker, grittier crime fiction, I’m certainly looking forward to the next instalment.
G. B. Ralph 