Synopses
Murder at the Manor – (1996)
Author: Chris McDermott
Word Count: 8,122 words (estimated)
Characters: 3 male characters; 3 female characters
The play is set in 1995 in the groounds of a manor house in the south of England. Sir Marcus is a middle aged, conceited and bad-tempered aristocrat who is frustrated with himself and the rest of the world. His wife, the long-suffering Cynthia, spends a good deal of her time trying to pacify him. Unbeknownst to Marcus, she has souoght, and continues to seek, solace in the arms of Nigel Hetherington-Smyth, Marcus’ younger brother, a Conservative MP who shows as much respect for the North of England as does Marcus!
This is emphasised by the contempt Marcus shows for his butler, “The Hero from Heckmondwyke” who appears, at first, to be no more than a downtrodden lackey whose chief purpose in life is to avoid yet further humiliation by his master. But is Arnold really as simple and unassuming as he portrays himself?
Perhaps Briony Hetherington-Smyth could help us to answer that question. She is a bright young lady, studying English at Cambridge, who returns on the fateful weekend to attend her father’s forty-fifth birthday party. But will she be inviting her boyfriend to the party? Not if her father has anything to do with it. Poor man, if only he knew that the daughter of whom he is so very proud isn’t, in fact… But that would be telling the whole story.
Perhaps we should leave that to Caroline Shepherd, family friend, Chief Inspector and former mistress to Sir Marcus. Surely she would not have murdered her former lover. After all don’t all good murder mysteries need a reliable detective to sort out the mess? Don’t be too sure.
Download Synopsis here
Download Extract here
Murder Backstage – (1998)
Chris McDermott (1998)
7,546 words – including dramatis personae
3 male characters; 3 female characters
The drama is set backstage at the West Griddlington Amateur Dramatic Society. Rehearsals are underway for the latest offering from the society’s leading light, Alex Mitchel.
Alex is the author and director of “The Diary of An Urban Tree Dweller, a modern Robin Hood” a pretentious self-indulgent piece written to convince the townspeople of West Griddlington of the importance of conservation.
There are many references to the nurturing qualities of Gaia, or Mother Earth, and the importance of preserving the forest. Alex’s girlfriend, Heather Ronson, and her daughter, Sarah Ronson, play the parts of two hippy tree dwellers who are determined to save the forest from the evil road company, represented by the Sir Douglas, played by Alex, and his sidekick, played by Jo Mablethorpe.
The ridiculous dialogue for “The Urban Tree Dweller” is complemented by the tree dwellers’ costumes, which are green and/or brown, pinned with paper leaves a la primary school play trees. In reality, Heather is becoming tired of Alex’s pretension, but is still somehow under his spell. Sarah has had an abiding hatred of Alex, someone she had previously admired, following her alleged rape at 16. She cannot understand why her mother still lives with Alex, and would be delighted if Heather returned to her former husband, Sarah’s father, Brian Ronson. Brian still carries a candle for Heather, despite being Jo Mablethorpe’s partner. Jo realises this, and finds the situation very threatening. She has already been upset by the West Griddlington Amateur Dramatic Society’s rejection of her script in favour of Alex’s. She is perhaps the only woman in the western world who could find Brian remotely interesting and, in truth, she has nothing to fear from Brian’s continuing interest in his estranged spouse.
The cast is completed by Rodrigo Castello, a stereotypically error-prone foreigner in the Manuel (Fawlty Towers) mode. His English, like that of Manuel, leaves a lot to be desired. He too plays the part of “an urban tree dweller” as does Brian. (N.B. Rodrigo is taller than Brian.)
The majority of the action takes place ‘backstage’, in rehearsal. In Act Two of the murder mystery the characters are backstage, going through their final preparations, waiting to perform. In turn, they leave the stage to ‘go on stage’.
Unfortunately, one of them leaves never to return. You can probably guess who the victim is, but can you guess who is his murderer? Let us all “worship at the temple of Gaia.”
Download Synopsis here
Download Extract here
Death at the Granby Arms – (1999)
8,939 words
3 male characters; 3 female characters
Set in an old coaching inn in the town of Leddington, this mystery features Aubrey Fox, a local businessman who has seemingly set his heart on taking over the whole town. Part of his empire is to be the recently acquired Granby Arms which hitherto had been run as a pub, but which is to be converted into a hotel. Profit is the sole purpose behind the purchase, so the threat to the livelihood of the two sisters working there is of no concern to Foxy. Beattie Cable and her sister Margaret are both employed behind the bar at the pub. Beattie has worked there for 18 years and Margaret, ten years her junior, just two.
Beattie helped to bring Margaret up after their mother had walked out on the family when Margaret was just a few months old. Despite the strong bond between the two sisters, they are quite different in character, Beattie being serious-minded and Margaret the more relaxed, with a dry sense of humour. Others who have a motive for murdering Foxy are Denis Johnson and his fiancee Carol Marshall. Denis is owed over £8,000 by Foxy for all the electrical work he has done at the Granby. Foxy’s initial ‘take it or leave it’ offer of a paltry £500 merely fuels Denis’s anger; could it be that Aubrey is deliberately trying to put Dennis out of business so that he can make yet another profitable acquisition?
Or could it be that Foxy intends to harm Denis in another way, by revealing that he is the father of fiancee Carol’s three-year old son Robbie, and that he intends to take a very active role in the decision-making process connected with the child’s upbringing? Carol has always told Denis that Robbie’s father died in a road traffic accident. Could she bear him to discover the truth just when they had made plans for their nuptials? But, of course, the cast would not be complete without the presence of a member of the constabulary, or, at least, an ex-policeman in the form of George Walmsley, now working for Leddington Security, a firm which is now part of the burgeoning Fox empire.
And we all know, by now, that Foxy would not think twice about making the ex-copper redundant. In fact, nothing would give him greater pleasure. Sadly for him, and happily for the rest of us, he never gets the chance.
Download Synopsis here
Download Extract here
Bumped off!
Author: John McDermott
Word Count: 8,051 words
Characters: 4 male characters; 4 female characters
Colonel Sir Rodney Gung-Ho, a retired army officer dedicated to huntin’, shootin’ and fishin’ and his good lady wife, the inimitable Lady Phyllis Gung-Ho decide to invite some friends round to their country home.
The Colonel, who is not fond of visitors at the best of times, faces the prospect with a stalwart acceptance born of years of years under his wife’s cultured but insistent thumb. His one ally in this life is Stanley Binge, the family butler and his former batman from army days.
On the guest list we have an unlikely threesome: Winnie Miller, a very American friend of Lady Phyllis’s, her daughter, the tearful and sincere Sadie Miller, and Sadie’s fiancé, the untrustworthy and oily Oliver Smooche, local bookmaker and latter-day Lothario. Caroline Gung-Ho, daughter to the Colonel and Lady Gung-Ho, and her fiancé, the well-meaning but rather dim minister of the church, Reverend Claude Smithers, make up the cast list.
Oliver proves to be everyone’s favourite person to hate for a variety of reasons – Rodney, because he owes the wretch a good deal of money; Caroline and her mother, because Oliver threatens to reveal the truth of an old romance from university days; and Binge, because Smooche ill-treated his daughter a number of years ago.
Sadie and her mother, in their turn, discover that ‘Our Ollie’ is about to end his relationship with fiancée Sadie, so they too have their motive.
Perhaps the only character without a death wish for poor Oliver (aren’t you beginning to feel sorry for him now?) is the ineffectual and ineffective Reverend Claude Smithers. Or is he? Make up your own minds.
Download Synopsis here
Download Extract here