Cast:
Cully Barnaby...................Laura Howard
Joyce Barnaby..................Jane Wymark
Tom Barnaby....................John Nettles
Nicholas Bentley...............Ed Waters
Esslyn Charmichael...........Nicholas le Prevost
Kitty Charmichael.............Debra Stephenson
Rosa Charmichael.............Sarah Badel
Jenny Evers.......................Vivienne Moore
Agnes Gray........................Denyse Alexander
Mr. Makepeace................Robert McIntosh
Peggy Marshall.................Patricia Heneghan
Avery Phillips....................Nick Woodeson
Colin Smy.........................Geoffrey Hutchings
David Smy.........................Ian Fitzgibbon
Dierdre Tibbs....................Janine Duvitski
Gavin Troy........................Daniel Casey
Doris Winstanley.............Angelina Pleasence
Harold Winstanley...........Bernard Hepton
Tim Young........................Richard Huw
Location(s):
Causton
Summary:
While Barnaby and Troy are called to investigate the death of Agnes Gray, Joyce and her theatre group, the 'Causton Players', are making the final preparations for the premiere of their play 'Amadeus'. Between the members of the group tensions are running high. Esslyn Charmichael (the cousin of Agnes Gray, the murdered woman), the star of the show, is gaining enemies at an alarming rate, and Harold Winstanley, the director, is driving the actors mad with his megalomania. Then, on the evening of the premiere, someone has removed the safety tape from the razor that Esslyn's character uses to kill himself. Esslyn genuinly slashes his throat in front of the entire audience. Barnaby must now find out if the two murders are related, and who is behind them... for the murderer might strike again.
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The murderer is Harold Winstanley. He and and Agnes Gray smuggled art from the continent into the United Kingdom together. Unfortunately, Agnes developed a cancer and decided against treatment. Instead, she chose to die and confess her crime to the police. Harold, not wanting to go to prison, bludgeoned her to death with a crowbar to silence her. What he did not know was that Agnes had left a list of transactions for her cousin, Esslyn Charmichael, in case anything happened to her before she was able to confess. Esslyn decided to try some blackmail, and wanted Harold to transfer the directorship of the actor's group and the control of their theatre to him. Consequently, Harold prepared Esslyn's murder. Just before the play, he replaced the razor backstage with his own, buying him to carefully remove the safety tape. During the interval he managed to switch the two back unseen, although was nearly caught by Dierdre Tibbs returing from the lavatory. Some days later, Doris Winstanley found the duplicate razor, after which Harold attempted to kill her too, but failed due to timely arrival of the police. |