Murder Before Evensong Review: Richard Coles's Village Mystery Finds Snug Home at Watermill

A stage adaptation of the Reverend Richard Coles's murder mystery novel Murder Before Evensong has opened at the Watermill theatre in Newbury, the latest in a recent run of literary detective stories brought to British stages.

The production, reviewed by the Guardian, follows Canon Daniel Clement, the amateur-sleuth clergyman at the centre of Coles's 2022 novel, as he investigates a case linked to his plans to install a lavatory at the fictional village church of St Mary's, a mystery that eventually leads back to events buried in the history of the fictional benefice of Champton during the second world war.

A crowded field of literary detectives

The review notes that Clement joins an already busy season of fictional investigators on UK stages, with Poirot, Marple, Rebus, Barnaby and Grace among the literary sleuths recently adapted for theatre.

According to the Guardian's assessment, actor Ian Hallard impresses in the role of the detecting rector, a performance the review singles out as a highlight. Coles, known as a broadcaster and a former Strictly Come Dancing contestant before turning novelist, set the story in the 1980s, a choice the review says freed the plot from the alibi complications that mobile phones and CCTV would create in a contemporary setting.

The review is more mixed on the adaptation's handling of its ensemble, suggesting the stage version strains under the number of suspects, victims and doubled roles drawn from the source novel, even while praising the thoughtfulness of the overall adaptation.

Murder Before Evensong runs at the Watermill theatre in Newbury until 14 November.