MURDER AT MADINGLEY GRANGE

Graham (Death of a Hollow Man, etc.) returns with a wildly funny spoof on murder weekends staged in stately homes. Looking after the imposing Madingley Grange while Aunt Maude is aboard, shy Laurie reluctantly acquiesces to her brother Simon's money-making scheme--advertising for mystery enthusiasts at 250 pounds per couple--and is soon hostess to the banjo-strumming Gilly; the dÉclassÉ Fred and Violet and their card-shark, clairvoyant mum; a mother/daughter duo and the daughter's secret beau, Martin; Derek and his smashing wife, Sheilia; plus butler Gaunt (a drunk) and maid Bennet (his lover in drag). Then, not according to script, Derek is truly murdered; Laurie falls in love with Martin; a secret passage is revealed; a ghost is seen in the conservatory; and the phone lines are cut. When the corpse returns to life, the plot takes several Agatha Christie twists, only funnier, and Aunt Maude cuts short her holiday to revise her will. Deliciously silly, with beguiling trickery.