THE village hall was packed to the rafters for this Miss Marple whodunit.

It was a very accomplished performance by the word-perfect cast for the tale, which follows the classic Agatha Christie formula of leaving lots of clues, red herrings and dead ends before the guilty party is revealed.

Written in 1950, the play stands the test of time very well.

There were strong performances by Jane Lindsay as Aunt Letty and Pauline Chadaway as a very good confused and dotty Bunny.

Miss Marple was played with great aplomb by Lysandre Notley, a role that is always difficult because you can't stop thinking of Margaret Rutherford, but Ms Notley was well cast.

The supporting cast were good too, with a special mention for Fiona Holmes, who as Hungarian maid and slightly madwoman Mitzi, provided much light relief and kept her accent at all times.

It all rolled along nicely, well directed by Chris Davies, and the scene where the lights go out and everyone must be in position was impeccably done.

It certainly kept me guessing, because I was convinced I had all the answers at the interval, but I turned out to be entirely wrong!

As always, it tends to be the one person you least expect that does the dirty deed.

LM