Miss Harris In The New World by Peter Maughan

From the back page . . .

 'The Red Lion production of Love and Miss Harris is booked to tour America, opening in Manhattan.

On arrival the group finds that it’s not the Manhattan with the Great White Way of Broadway at its glittering heart, but the part between the Bowery and the East River, on the Lower East Side, in a vaudeville venue owned by a local mobster. And when members of a rival gang decide to disrupt the play, the action shifts from the theatre’s state to its auditorium…

Determined to fulfil the rest of their tour dates, the company heads west from New York. Try as they might to shake it off, trouble seems to follow them wherever they go.'

Review

Set just after WW2 Miss Harris In The New World follows the adventures of The Red Lion Players as they take the play "Love and Miss Harris" to from the UK to New York. Alas, as is often the case, things get muddled along the way and the Broadway they were expecting was not the Broadway they got.

They are soon embroiled with local mobsters and when they head out into New England and beyond the mobsters and trouble follow in their footsteps.

For me it was the Red Lion Players that made this for me. Many years ago I did a few years backstage at our local community centre moving scenery (and one year I even got to be main spotlight operator - but that's a story for another day and yes, I still bear a grudge 😂) so the behind the scenes behaviour and carrying on felt quite familiar. 

The author, in my opinion, made a good job of bringing post war America to a believable kind of life which certainly added to the enjoyment. Apparently this is the second book in a series but as I haven't read the first one yet (this will be amended soon, never fear) I can certainly say that it works as a stand alone novel.