Something Wicked

The only really fun thing about Something Wicked by Carolyn Hart is the constant mention of mystery writers and mystery books and characters. That's fun as long as I recognize the reference but not so much when I don't. This book won the 1988 Agatha Award for best novel.

from the back of the book:

Everyone - including mystery bookstore owner Annie Laurance - loves Arsenic and Old Lace. But something wicked is poisoned a local summer stock production as cast members stab each other in the back and props are sabotaged. Worst of all, the star, aging Hollywood beach-blanket hunk Shane Petree, butchers his lines - while getting top billing in bed with wives and teenage daughters around town. No wonder somebody wants to draw his final curtain. With a little help from Miss Marple, Poirot, and Agatha the Bookstore Cat, a pompous prosecutor tries to pin a murder on Max, Annie's own leading man. Unless Annie can prove her darling's innocence, their wedding date's off! Invoking the tried-and-true methods of her favorite literary sleuths, Annie snoops around the greasepaint and glitter of the Arsenic cast's backstage life. She'll be next to star in a knock-'em-dead showstopper scene if she doesn't watch it, because theatrical murderers never play fair.

Dead Man's Island is the only other book by this author that I remember reading, and I didn't like it much either.