Mystery Play by Elizabeth Kostova: A Gothic mystery steeped in theater history

Elizabeth Kostova’s Mystery Play is an atmospheric Gothic mystery that combines Dracula lore, international theater history, and an ancient evil into an elaborate story that stretches from Boston to Italy and Ireland. As the latest novel from the #1 bestselling author of The Historian, Mystery Play has the kind of sweeping historical mystery and richly layered atmosphere readers might expect from Kostova, although its sprawling narrative occasionally loses momentum along the way.

When Jay Turner returns to his family home in Boston after his mother’s sudden death, he expects the usual grim task of sorting through the belongings left behind. Instead, he finds a partially burned newspaper clipping bearing the name Gael Brogan, along with an antique leather-bound book that should not be in his possession. His mother had once been entrusted with the medieval volume, one of a set commissioned by Vlad Țepeș before his death, and she had always warned Jay that the books carried dangerous associations. She eventually donated the book to a museum, so its mysterious return to Jay’s hands—accompanied by two bloody footprints—is enough to convince him that whatever his mother was involved with may not have ended with her death.

From there, Jay begins to investigate Brogan, a nineteenth-century actor whose most famous role was based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. His investigation leads him into a complicated history involving theater, obsession, murder, and supernatural forces, while a mysterious woman named Rhiannon becomes his partner in trying to understand what is happening to them. Kostova uses that mystery as a doorway into the history of theater across several countries, and that historical material is one of the novel’s greatest strengths. There is a real sense of discovery as Jay follows the trail backward through time, piecing together connections between performers, writers, scholars, and the shadowy legacy of Dracula.

The Gothic atmosphere is equally strong. Kostova clearly understands what makes a Gothic story work: old books, mysterious deaths, secrets passed between generations, shadowy figures who seem to know more than they should, historical settings carrying the weight of the past, and the persistent feeling that something terrible is just beyond the edge of what the characters can see. Mystery Play hits that Gothic nail squarely on the head. The atmosphere becomes especially effective when the story moves beyond the United States. The sections set in Italy and Ireland were my favorites because Kostova makes those locations feel particularly vivid and unsettling. The international scope gives the novel a sense of scale that a more conventional mystery might not have, and the journey through these places is part of what makes the book feel like a true Gothic adventure rather than simply another contemporary supernatural thriller.

At the same time, the novel can be slow going. There were times when I felt that Mystery Play was dragging, particularly when the historical material and Jay’s investigation seemed to circle around the central mystery rather than move it forward. The wealth of theater history is interesting, but there were moments when I wanted the story to get back to the mystery itself. Kostova has created a very large tapestry here, and while I appreciated the ambition, I did not always feel that every thread was pulling with equal strength.

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In fact, I found some of the stories surrounding Jay more compelling than Jay’s own storyline. His mother’s history, which we receive only in fragments, particularly fascinated me. There is something tantalizing about the pieces of her life that Jay gradually uncovers, and I often found myself more interested in understanding what she had experienced than in following Jay through the present-day mystery. Those glimpses also create some of the novel’s most effective sense of mystery because his mother clearly knew far more than she ever told her son.

That became something of a double-edged sword for me, however, because there were several pieces of backstory that I wanted to see resolved more fully by the end. Some questions felt intentionally mysterious, which is perfectly appropriate for a Gothic novel, but others felt like gaps that needed explanations. For example, I still don’t know which of Jay’s potential fathers is actually his biological father. Is the man Jay remains in contact with his blood father, or did he simply take on a fatherly role that worked for both of them? I also wanted more clarity about what happened to Jay’s grandparents and how much Riley’s mother knew. Surely, she would have been present for her own daughter’s birth? I can’t get much more specific without wandering into spoiler territory, but these pieces of the characters’ histories remained unresolved in a way that kept me from feeling that the story was completely wrapped up.

That said, Mystery Play is ultimately a novel that I appreciated more for its atmosphere, historical detail, and sense of place than for the mechanics of its central mystery. Kostova has created an elaborate Gothic world in which theater history and Dracula mythology become intertwined, and she clearly relishes the opportunity to explore the ways stories, performances, and legends can survive across generations. The novel is at its best when those elements come together—particularly in the sections set in Italy and Ireland, where the atmosphere becomes almost tangible.

Readers who enjoy sprawling Gothic mysteries, historical fiction with supernatural elements, and novels that take their characters on an international journey will find plenty to appreciate here. Mystery Play asks readers to follow a long and sometimes winding trail through theater history, family secrets, and the continuing shadow of Dracula. It doesn’t answer every question as completely as I would have liked, and its pacing occasionally tested my patience, but the atmosphere and historical storytelling kept me invested in the journey.

Have you read Mystery Play or any of Elizabeth Kostova’s other Gothic mysteries? I’d love to know what you thought of the novel’s blend of theater history, Dracula lore, and family secrets. Did the unanswered questions work for you as part of the mystery, or did you find yourself wanting some of those pieces of Jay’s family history resolved more clearly? Share your thoughts in the comments!

An advance reader copy of this book (ARC) was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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