Die We Must

A jittery Sebastian rings the police as Frank and Lu have gone missing.

A few hours earlier Frank and Lu were hired by a representative of a reclusive ill tempered sci-fi author Greg Alban (Clive Russell) to recover a stolen manuscript.

They had to hand their mobile phones in before they head out to his mansion.

Frank is a big fan of Alban's work but it becomes clear that the author is almost psychotic.

His staff have to live with daily abuse from him. The include the security guard Carl, housekeeper Deirdre, accountant Max and his right hand man, Don (Christopher Fairbank.)

Frank thinks that the missing manuscript had to be an inside job. When Alban is found dead, it is a case of who hated Alban enough to kill him.

It seems that his staff hid all sort of dark secrets, enough for any one of them to have a motive.

It was good to see Frank using his knowledge of Alban's book and Shakespeare to figure out the plot. To think Lu told him that she was surprised that Frank had read a book.

Sebastian teamed up with PC Deacon to find Frank and Lu, knowing that DS Keeler would be useless.

It was a nice twisty story, some character development and a bit of erratic acting from the guest cast.

Frank and Lu are forcefully employed to help an author find his missing final chapter, the author, a well known sci fi writer, a recluse and something of a hot head.

This was a bit of a mixed bag, more silliness than we've seen in the last few episodes, but a good story, and some intriguing characters.

I did chuckle at how quickly Sebastian and Viola found the House, I can't even find a Costa Coffee that quickly.

Very camp, very kitsch, it was perhaps a little over done at times, but there's no denying it's easy to watch, engaging enough fluff.

Clive Russell, I am a fan, and he's a fine actor, he delivered on what he was given, but it was just too much, Christopher Fairbank however, he was brilliant, I don't recall seeing him playing a part such as this before, it shows just how good an actor he is.

A missing final chapter....has anyone seen The Magpie Murders, two very similar plots, there were a few similarities.

Enjoyable nonsense, 7/10.