Fans of the Roy Grace mysteries will enjoy this

Review Picture You Dead - Theatre Royal, Bath

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The art world has always held a fascination for writers, particularly creators of crime fiction.

Picture You Dead by Peter James at the Theatre Royal, Bath this week is one of the popular fictional detective Roy Grace mysteries by the author.

The Roy Grace stories have a huge following, the novels have sold more than 23 million copies worldwide and have been number one bestsellers on the Sunday Times list, 16 of them have been turned into the hit ITV drama series Grace starring John Simm as the Brighton copper.

For this production, Picture You Dead has been adapted for the stage by Shaun McKenna, a most versatile and prolific writer who, among many other productions, adapted with Lin Coghlan the acclaimed The Forsyte Saga at the Park Theatre, London.

Picture You Dead is a good yarn, well told.

It is the story of suburban couple Harry Kipling (Ben Cutler) and his wife Freya (Fiona Wade) who unwittingly buy a £20 painting at a car boot sale.

Enter rogue art forger Dave Hegarty (Mark Oxtoby) who works in a disused garage and the tale of mystery, greed, murder and all kinds of underworld dealings in the art world unfolds, with the unsuspecting Kiplings at the centre.