MURDER by the Book by Duncan Greenwood and Robert D King, chosen by Boundary Players for their spring production, isn’t a whodunnit as we see a ‘murder’ in the opening moments when a disgruntled, estranged wife points a gun at her obnoxious, author/critic husband and shoots him.

She wants a divorce but he won’t agree, and so the scene is set for an evening of twists, turns, surprises, poisonings, stabbings and further shootings.

It was fun to try and work out where the plot would take us.

Rachel Silk looked pretty and confused as the secretary who discovers the body. She doesn’t call the police as she is interrupted by a neighbour - who heard the shot - he is played, with confidence, by Andrew Smith as Peter Fletcher.

Leading the cast was Steve Schollar as Selwyn Piper. He had great support from Pat Archer as Imogen, the soon to be ex-wife who gave a strong performance.

Completing the cast was Mike Huxtable as John Douglas, who transformed from some time lover to Imogen and publisher/friend and co-conspirator to Selwyn, as the plot required.

With direction by Colin Webb and production by Andy Abbott, this performance contained some good and at times some weak elements – including quite a few prompts. The set, the author’s apartment was of high standard with great attention to detail and the technical aspects were of the highest standard.

Chris Horton