PUT OUT THE LIGHT by Guy Hale

(Bullington Press,£9.95)

Rating: ****

ALL the world’s a stage for a killer with a theatrical flourish, but nowhere more so than in Stratford-upon-Avon where murder most foul comes wrapped in the words of the Bard. Yes, with barely a pause for dying breath, Guy Hale’s Shakespeare Murderer is back.

The second book in a planned trilogy (more a quadrilogy with the recent insertion into the series of background novella All Our Yesterdays) finds Oliver Lawrence back in business, having eschewed Hamlet as his inspiration and basing his sinister spree on Othello.

That’s not a spoiler. We’ve known from the outset of opener The Croaking Raven who the killer is. It’s not so much a whodunnit as a howdunnit, and much of the dark humour comes in working out just how the embittered actor is going to dispatch his next victim.

Read more: My review of Guy Hale’s The Croaking Raven

By now, the police know who the killer is, too. Only problem is, they have no idea what he looks like, other than an old photograph that bears little or no resemblance to Lawrence, and no idea where he might he holed up. That’s before you consider he’s one hell of an actor. Shakespeare would have loved him.

This instalment is the best yet. While the murderer may have taken on the mantle of anti-hero after we learned of his tragic background, he is slowly, but surely, losing the plot. As a consequence, Put Out The Light is appropriately much darker in tone.

Once seemingly infallible, Lawrence is also starting to make mistakes, one of which will surely prove costly in the long run. But perhaps his biggest mistake is not taking setbacks seriously in his deluded dream of returning to the stage and becoming a national treasure.

Read more: My review of Guy Hale’s All Our Yesterdays

Hale’s sense of location is excellent and his blend of wry humour and murderous mayhem well balanced. There is, perhaps, a tad too much repetition at times – we don’t need the “I’m sure he’s our killer” and “But what if he’s not?” cop conversation again, please.

It’s an enjoyable romp to satisfy both the cosy crime crowd and the police procedural posse. We’re headed into the ‘Scottish play’ for the fourth book finale, Sleep No More, due out in September, although Hale’s detective duo, Toby Marlowe and Fred Williams, will return for another series.

I won’t mention the play by name because in theatrical circles it’s bad luck to do so – and Hale’s Stratford surely doesn’t need any more of that.

I’ve been writing occasional guest reviews and readalongs for the popular One Girl And Her Book bookstagram blog, and will repost them here as and when.