Opening night was supposed to end with applause.

Instead, it ends with murder.

When the Brevard Outdoor Players stage an innovative Appalachian adaptation of Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis at the edge of Pisgah National Forest, Shakespeare enthusiast Diane McMichael expects nothing more exciting than an evening beneath the stars with the Tuesday Night Book Club.

But after the curtain falls, the handsome young actor playing Adonis vanishes.

His body is discovered among the rhododendrons just beyond the stage, posed to mirror the tragic death from Shakespeare's poem. Tucked inside his costume is a weathered pocket edition of Venus and Adonis, its margins crowded with mysterious annotations.

Detective Sergeant Aaron Roberts suspects a crime of passion—or a tragic accident in the dark forest—Diane sees something no one else does. Julian Vance wasn't studying Shakespeare.

As Diane and her fellow book club members follow a trail of hidden symbols, rare books, secret rehearsals, and dangerous mountain paths, they uncover the truth. Someone has already killed once to protect the truth—and they'll do it again before the final curtain falls.

Because in Brevard, not every masterpiece is authentic.

And some tragedies refuse to stay on the stage.