MYSTERY PLAY by Elizabeth Kostova

 MYSTERY PLAY

by

Elizabeth Kostova

    Mystery Play, Elizabeth Kostova's fourth novel, is expected to be published on October 13, 2026. It follows The Historian, The Swan Thieves, and The Shadow Land (my reviews of these can be found at https://imobookreviews.blogspot.com/, the first two dated June 27, 2015, and the third dated April 2, 2017). In Mystery Play, the reader is immersed in the history of the world of theater.

    Mystery Play introduces us to James (Jay) Taylor, a historian (from a long line of historians), roughly a year following his mother's death. While going through his mother's belongings, Jay found a newspaper fragment from 1902 referencing Gael Brogan, an actor who was most famous for his portrayal of Dracula. The remainder of the book switches between the theater in the late 1890's, primarily through Brogan's leading lady from that time, Fern Quinn, and Jay's deep dive into Brogan's world.

    While Jay was sorting through his mother's possessions, we learn that his mother had owned a book dated from 1477, one of a few commissioned by Vlad Tepes (also known as Dracula), a blank book but for a woodcut printing of a dragon at the center. She told Jay that she had donated this book to the Rutherford Museum and Library. Nonetheless, while he was discovering the article fragment, Jay received a delivery, the very same book. Although this book is obviously the same book received by some historians in The Historian, thereby connecting Mystery Play to The Historian, the relevance of Vlad's book within Mystery Play is not clear to me.

    I found Mystery Play to be quite slow at the beginning. However, as the book progressed and the pieces started coming together, the pace picked up as well. The history of the theater detailed in the book did not pique my interest as much as the subjects considered in other Kostova novels, although Jay and his story did. I soon became immersed in the book and enjoyed the experience.

IMO, Mystery Play is RECOMMENDED.

This review is based upon an Advanced Reader Copy kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.