Murder at Channing Ponds Station by Darren Mark Wright.

              Murder at Channing Ponds Station by Darren Mark Wright.

"They're all acting incredibly weird around each other. Do they know something that we don't know? How did we find ourselves in a place where every person that got off the train to come to this random small village is hiding something?"

Think of Agatha Christie's Mousetrap or Cluedo and you're almost there! The scene is set in Channing Ponds, an underground station described as being dank and old. "The track doesn't even see the light of day between these hills." It's in the middle of nowhere. Some God-forsaken place. The drama begins with the arrival of a local Constable and a recently arrived London Detective, both perplexed. Why? Nine people have been killed. "This one is beyond our country experience and capabilities."  Unable to speculate on the perpetrator the Constable wished the Detective the best of luck adding: "You're going to need it. This one's complex." 

We then go back to the beginning, to the scene before the crimes are committed. It is 12 noon and we are conscious of the sound of an oncoming train from London which stops at Channing Ponds. A number of passengers, six in total, alight. There to greet them are Pablo and Julio. The names might sound Spanish but the boys are Irish. It doesn't take us long to find that one out! Not just to greet them but to detain them as long as is necessary. The roads have been closed because of a downpour of snow so the visitors, an odd medley of folk, have been asked to stay inside until the snow clears, six feet of it. All six of them need to get to their hotel that same evening; it is imperative for all of them and that urgency is made clear to the station masters. The Irish boys think they're all nutters, or failing that, they are as secretive as MI6. So much for strangers on a train, these are very odd people.

 Dislikeable Gwen is engaged to Frederick, a weak and naïve character. Some pretence of awaiting news of a pregnancy test seems suspect. She concocted some ridiculous story which Frederick can't verify because of his stupidity. Even young Ben, the 18 year old suggests that urinating on a stick would indicate whether or not she was pregnant without waiting for a phone call and checking into a hotel! Frederick and Gwen are both excitable about the prospect of having a marvellous break in a lovely hotel here, in the village. Ben has been brought up to "hesitate to trust people" and he is the first one to suspect that Pablo and Julio are not who they say they are. When Julio realises the charade has been discovered he assumes he will need to bribe Ben. But Ben is complacent that his financial worries will soon be over for good and at this point, he decides to leave the station.

Harold is 60 and he has travelled here for an urgent meeting with his lawyer. His wife has just died and they are going to finalise her will. He believes he will be left with the scraps because of her family of vultures who will inherit most of it. He is embittered as one would expect. Martina speaks with a Russian accent and carries a gun in her purse for her own protection which makes you think she has a dodgy past and needs watching! She becomes irritated with the lovebirds, the ridiculous couple she calls them, particularly Frederick who she calls an oxymoron or an idiom before kneeing him in the crotch and squabbling with him.

The next train is due to stop at 13.30 if it isn't delayed. The suggestion is that they could catch that train although Julio tries to convince them it is a waste of time: "The roads will be closed, you'll get off at the next station, hike back over the hills across the deep snowy ground to roughly where this station is and make your way towards your hotel." Not the best of plans.

A touch of Hitchcock with lights flickering on and off, moments of complete darkness and the Ride of the Valkyries at full pelt, bursting out from the speakers. Someone "wanted to give the train a little more suspense and excitement." It certainly adds to the tension and the build up to a number of climaxes with grunts of pain, squeals followed by mayhem.

Five of the characters seem to be there because of some money interest but the fifth character, a man called Victor who is 40 and seems to pop pills from time to time, is there to appreciate nature: "the serenity of the hills. Bird watching. The small village. An English breakfast. the strolls around the pond, or over them when they're frozen over." An I-Spy game seemed rather childish but it turned personal and patronising when I represented Idiot and Imbecile, T for Twit, levelled at Frederick. It amused Victor and Ben but soon died a death. Enough said.

It happened at 12.30 precisely, victim number one. Poor pill-popping Victor was stabbed in the back with a syringe which he and the shocked onlookers assumed contained poison. And so it continues. The squabbles, the paranoia and the murders.

There seemed to be at least one potential killer on the loose, a psychopath, perhaps raging psychopaths to be more accurate? The Detective seemed more confident than the audience would have been when he stated at the finale: "We will catch your killer sooner or later." It's good fun trying to work it out. See if you can. Enjoy.

Publisher: DMW Productions, Adelaide.  ISBN: 978-1517712020.

REVIEW it by Carol Naylor.

COPYRIGHT 2016. Permission must be obtained from the author before any of this article review is reproduced.