Our host for the New Strand Theatre production, The Two Murderers, is the less than scrupulous entrepeneur, Robert Kramer. Combine him with an unhappy wife, unfaithful lovers, a set designer with an interest in torture chambers, a plagiarizing playwright, murderous puppets, and you’ve got a perfect Peculiar Crimes Unit story.

Nathan, baby of Robert and Judith Kramer is mysteriously strangled by Punch (of Punch & Judy fame) and tossed from the window. There we begin a string of deaths, with ties to The Two Murderers and the Punch and Judy characters. Twists and turns, as Bryant & May, and their team look to solve a hanging, death by Scold’s Bridle, and pitchfork. Even amid murder and mayhem, there are plenty of laugh out loud moments between characters. 

A side story involves Arthur Bryant writing his memoirs and the mysterious demise of his editor, Anna Marquand, with national security implications, of course. Never a dull moment in a Christopher Fowler mystery.