PEMBROKESHIRE playwright Derek Webb is all set for the premiere of his latest murder mystery comedy at Cardigan’s Theatr Mwldan on September 8 – and that’s followed a month later by its US premiere in California!

The comedy – Agatha Crusty and the Health Spa Murders – is the third Agatha Crusty murder mystery comedy which Webb has written.

The first two, Agatha Crusty and the Village Hall Murders and Agatha Crusty and the Mighty Midget Murders, have had many hundreds of performances all over the UK, in Australia and the US.

Each features a crime novelist called Agatha Crusty (which she insists on being pronounced ‘Croosty’) who’s also pretty adept at solving crimes. And, as you might expect, she runs rings around the local police detectives, solving the crimes in her own inimitable way.

One thing which has greatly contributed to the success of the Agatha Crusty comedies is that they are not only extremely funny, but are also proper brain teasers in their own right with ingenious plots which will tax the little grey cells of the audience as well as being terrific fun.

In the latest play, Agatha Crusty and the Health Spa Murders, Agatha has booked into a local health spa feeling she needs to recharge her batteries and get inspiration for her latest book.

There she meets other weekend participants, members of the Zara Fernandez fashion house. But when one drowns in the mud bath, it’s obvious that the health spa is not the healthiest place to be after all.

Enter Detective inspector Simon Aster, who has a penchant for complicating the simplest detection methods and introduces himself, quite rightly, as ‘DI S Aster’.

There are many twists and turns and more murders, plus plenty of jokes and very funny scenes before, inevitably, Agatha comes up with the solution to the crime.

Agatha Crusty and the Health Spa Murders is being performed by Cardigan Theatre at Theatr Mwldan on Friday, September 8 and Saturday, September 9 at 7.30pm.