The Mousetrap/Malvern Theatres THE routine’s always the same whenever my elder daughter and I see an Agatha Christie murder mystery.

Come the interval, I’m interrogated at length by someone who is arguably Worcester’s top Christie anorak. Yes, I do my best, but only once have I correctly identified the killer by half time.

Now, was that a fluke… or evidence of abnormally low powers of deduction? The jury’s out.

This Mousetrap Diamond Anniversary tour is blessed with some truly talented and perceptive actors, who not only bring the classic thriller to life, but also doff a collective cap in the direction of this great storyteller’s occasional whimsical interludes.

So it’s such a pity that the stupendous Mrs Boyle (Anne Kavanah), a veritable battleship that is never verbally rigged in anything but full sail, gets bumped off quite early on.

Her batty-old-bint routine was a joy to watch. Meanwhile, Helen Clapp is convincingly over the top as Mollie Ralston, the bird-like neurotic landlady of this snowbound guest house where every creaking floorboard may betray yet another dastardly deed.

Of course, nothing must be said that might give a future audience member a clue to the identity of the culprit, but I think it’s safe to say that the gloriously stereotypical Italian Mr Paravicini (Michael Fenner) was never in the frame.

You could open a chip shop with the amount of grease oozing from this silver-tongued lothario but his various amorous slitherings across the lounge lino only further stress his complete innocence.

Throughout, Stephen Yeo’s wonderfully hyperactive Christopher Wren brings an element of comedy to a plot that thickens almost as quickly as the snowdrifts outside, but it is the bellowing Sergeant Trotter (Luke Jenkins) who really quickens the pace.

His booming approach to police work keeps everyone on their toes, turning up the temperature in a freezing country pile where the central heating never seems to work properly.

Several times during the play, the man sitting next to me asked whether I’d solved the murder. Of course I had… only to be proved completely and utterly wrong as the final scene reached its dramatic conclusion.

But that’s the magic of Agatha Christie, for she keeps everyone guessing… that is, apart from my anorak elder daughter. The Mousetrap runs until Saturday (October 18) and is a cracking night out.