Murder at Chichester Festival Theatre... in Greg's new book

The second in his cosy crime series, Murder At Bunting Manor followed on from Murder at Church Lodge – part of an accelerated publishing schedule which will see the first four released within a year. Number four will be released in August; in the meantime, number three is Murder At The Theatre. And it is a very specific theatre and named as such: Chichester Festival Theatre.

“It is set in this extraordinary concrete and glass spaceship that sits in the park in such an extraordinary way and on that extraordinary stage with the Olivier point where so many great speeches have been delivered.

"The book is set in April 1972 and in real life The Beggar's Opera was being rehearsed in Chichester, and in my book as well, Chichester Festival Theatre is mounting a production of The Beggar's Opera. And by chance Maisie Cooper happens to be staying at the Dolphin & Anchor (a hotel which has since become Waterstones in West Street). And she meets a couple of times the French star playing Polly Peachum in the show. Maisie and the French star become friendly and Maisie begins to help her with the difficult and archaic lines that she has got to learn. As her assistant she can also stand by this very gorgeous French star making it difficult for the men in the company to importune her. Her name is Adelaide Amour and at one point she does seem very vulnerable. One of the things that Maisie discovers is that stars of stage and screen are vulnerable people insofar as their next performance defines who they are. And Adelaide for the first time has been cast in a major theatrical production which is making her feel nervous…”

In the course of the book a member of the theatrical company is murdered...

“In the previous books we have seen the centre of Chichester and the Market Cross and the Dolphin & Anchor and the cathedral but the bulk of the action has taken place in the villages outside of Chichester. But here all the most important scenes actually take place within the theatre in the final week of rehearsals leading up to the first night. That's a great way of driving forward the plot.”

All the Maisie Cooper mysteries come in the cosy crime category, Greg explains: "The magical thing about cosy crime is that it leaves the reader feeling good.

"At the end of the story once the perpetrator of the crime has been identified then the puzzle is solved and there are no other problems in the world of the book. That's completely central to the enjoyment of cosy crime whereas in a thriller everybody is tainted and everybody could well have bad intentions.

"Cosy crime is a delightful world that you just want to enjoy but it just so happens that one bad thing has happened. In order to have a good cosy crime novel you need at least five or six potential murderers but that does not mean that all of them are evil.

"The plot will show that five out of six of them are entirely innocent and that if they did in fact have bad intentions then they didn't follow through on them because morality and ethics prevented them.”