Not Dead Enough/Malvern Theatres

ACE crime writer Peter James knows exactly what gives everyone the shivers and he gets us quaking right from the start when a ‘body’ comes alive just before the pathologist can get to work with his knife.

Oh yes. The Victorian paranoia regarding premature interment is still very much alive, if you’ll forgive the juxtaposition of terms. And James knows it.

For this echo from his previous chiller thriller Dead Simple taps directly into our sub-conscious fears in one fell – or perhaps that should read ‘foul’ – swoop.

Brilliant. And this opening scene, which drew the predictable dribble of inane, inappropriate giggling from the Malvern audience, proved just how well James understands what knocks us back in our seats.

EastEnders star Shane Richie’s detective Roy Grace is investigating a sex game murder and hauls in prime suspect Brian Bishop (Stephen Billington) for a good old grilling.

But Bishop proves to be a hard nut to crack and the plot not so much thickens rather congeals into an impenetrable morass of sub-plots, lies and confused identities.

Richie makes for a convincing policeman, a cockney cop right down to his daisy roots. His relentless inquisitorial style makes the very most of James’ writing as it twists and turns through a maze of blind alleys.

Keeping Grace company throughout the unfolding drama is Michael Quartey as the ever-attentive and long-suffering buddy cop Glenn Branson, who helps his guvnor ride the stormy waters of an increasingly complex investigation.

Meanwhile, Laura Whitmore as Grace’s lover Cleo Morey turns in a stupendous performance as a woman determined not just to be a mere appendage caught in the slipstream of a male career path.

Finally exasperated by the chaos of Grace’s private life, and by extension that of her own, she finally blows her top in a scene of truly volcanic magnitude that arguably makes Shakespeare’s famous Shrew look like Mother Theresa.

Peter James’ talent for touching a nerve and then mercilessly pressing down hard until the psychological torment becomes hard to bear is the cornerstone to his craft, one which neatly bridges the void between the cosy murders of Agatha Christie and the ‘noir’ vogue currently crowding post-watershed television.

Fabulous stuff. Not Dead Enough runs until Saturday, February 25.

John Phillpott