“No mummers, no murderers, no mountains.”

Thus was the edict from Lady Lewker when laying down the rules for their upcoming week in Majorca. Sir Abercrombie “Filthy” Lewker, the “greatest actor-manager since Tree” has been under the weather and needs a boost so he can get his latest production of Romeo and Juliet ready, so a peaceful break in the Balearics seems idea.

There are just three problems. One, they meet Natalie Nash, a former member of Lewker’s troupe on the plane to their destination. Two, also at their hotel is John Voules, recently acquitted of the murder of his wife. Three, as Lewker looks out of the window of his plane as they land, he sees that Majorca does indeed have mountains (and will have climbed one by the end of the tale).

Of course, Voules isn’t necessarily a murderer. But the person who drops some poison into a wine glass, that definitely counts…

Oh, there’s a fourth condition. Georgie insists that Lewker not quote Shakespeare for the entirety of their holiday. And as a sign of true love, he actually does this. Oh, and no Dylan Thomas because of the name of the village in Under Milk Wood – look it up.

This is a great book, one of the best of the series. There are parts that are genuinely funny, especially between Lewker and his wife and his attempt to keep his quotations away from the Bard – he does quote nearly everyone else…

There’s a nice distinctive set of suspects, including a suspicious religious leader, a Catholic priest who’s clearly up to something, the possible-wife-murderer and a woman who likes trying to seduce Lewker by wearing “the most exiguous of bikinis”. It means small, by the way. He could have just said “small”, but said “exiguous” instead. Who did Carr think he was, Brian Flynn? There’s an interesting bit as well with an attack inside a narrow tunnel that, if you squint at it, could be considered an impossible crime. I say that because the solution is probably the first thing you think of, but the why is definitely more interesting. There’s actually a very interesting idea going through this attack and the murder which is oddly never really emphasised, as it’s clever-ish.

The one flaw is that the killer is a bit too guessable a bit too early, so the reveal about twenty pages later falls a little flat. But that’s a minor issue, as the reader will have had a lot of fun by that point and will be in a forgiving mood for this minor misdemeanour.

If you want to try this one, then the cheapest copy, at time of writing, is a mere £300 on Abebooks. It’s not worth that – it’s only a book – but I do wish someone would pick up this series for a full reprint…