Brighton, 1933. The sign in front of The Palace Pier Theatre boasts that the current play is Murder By Association by Robert Carol, starring Celia Hamilton, an actress famed from the silver screen, even if she is in something of a decline. Bertie Carroll, the writer, is fascinated to watch this performance of one of his early, lesser plays, despite the signage spelling his name wrong. Reuniting with his old schoolfriend, Chief Inspector Hugh Chapman, he takes his seat.

The end of Act One deals with the death of Celia’s character, shot dead. Act Two is supposed to roll the clock back and look at what led to the shooting, including a shocking twist. Alas, when Celia falls to the ground on stage, it brings the whole show to a halt as she has been shot dead for real. With the young actress Jenny seen to shoot her, as in the play, surely it’s an open and shut case. But Bertie and Hugh think something else is going on…

This one wins the prize for the most “perfect for fans of” lines on the Amazon page. It’s perfect for fans of The Appeal and The Christmas Appeal but because of the theatrical setting, apparently. It’s also for fans of Richard Osman, Agatha Christie, Anthony Horowitz, Tom Hindle and Robert Thorogood. I think one of those is the most appropriate and you may be shocked at my choice.

It’s Agatha Christie.

I don’t think I’ve read a more Christie-esque plot in ages. The motivations, the clueing, the characters – I don’t say this lightly, but this comes as close as anything I’ve read to emulating Dame Agatha in both style and substance.

Two main differences – one sub-plot concerning our hero, well, Christie never went near that as far as I can recall. I won’t say what it is – it’s made clear from the start in the second book, but it’s downplayed a lot here, making the inevitable reveal all the more effective.

Also, Hugh isn’t a dumb sidekick. In fact my one very mild gripe is that as soon as it becomes clear that Jenny has apparently shot Celia, the first thought is “well, something else happened” rather than the police carting her off while our heroes get to the bottom of things.

There’s an effective small cast of characters that stick in the memory as you read it and everything is clued. And there are some beautiful clues here, some of which I so want to mention but I don’t want to for fear of spoiling things. I was kicking myself at the end for the things I missed – a more alert armchair sleuth would have solved it, I think, but that’s the feeling that I want to get from a mystery novel. Being challenged to play the game and to be beaten fair and square. It’s a marvellous feeling…

So, as you might guess, I loved this book. Absolutely marvelous, go and read it and the sequel, Murder At The Matinee. Here’s hoping for more from Bertie soon…