The cold and dreary Tuesday night set the scene nicely. As the rain tumbled down on the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury everyone was a little subdued.

But I was smiling and giddy with excitement. There was going to be a murder and I couldn’t wait.

Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express was first published in 1934 and remains one of the best-selling crime novels to this day. There have been countless adaptations over the years but it was first written for the stage in 2017.

This production is the first time it’s toured the UK.

Director Lucy Bailey has previously been involved with productions of And Then There Was None and Witness for the Prosecution so she knows her way around an Agatha Christie. I felt like I was in safe hands.

For anyone new to the story, it’s a simple formula that sticks to the old “if it aint broke, don’t fix it” model. There’s a murder on a train and anyone else on the train could be the one whodunit.

Over the course of the 140 minute run time (including the interval) the characters come into focus, their stories unravel and at the end the solution is triumphantly revealed – like Paul Daniels whipping Debbie McGee out of a sparkly box.

For the faithful, there’s been very little change to the story. It’s as familiar as climbing into your favourite pair of slippers. The characters are compelling and so wonderfully performed you feel captivated by the story on stage even if you know how it ends.

The set design was the most impressive and cleverly put together aspect of the show. A lot of the action takes place in cramped corridors or rooms the size of a shoe box. But train carriages, compartments and dining cars are put together and pulled apart right in front of our eyes.

There’s a hard-working smoke machine that puffs away almost constantly to give the impression, not only of an old-fashioned locomotive, but of a murder clouded in mystery.

And into this fogginess steps legendary literary Detective Hercule Poirot, played by Michael Maloney. His portrayal is energetic, witty and delightfully quirky.

For a show about murder and suspicion he brings an element of comedy that I wasn’t expecting. I laughed a lot, even when there was a body poking out from underneath a bloodied sheet. The cast around him are impressive and move like chess pieces through the show. This one here, this one there and each delivering an excellent performance.

All the while the tension is slowly building. By the time we get to the Big Reveal the atmosphere in the theatre is palpable as tempers, emotions and my admiration for Poirot’s moustache styler boil over.

The show’s been skilfully crafted to bring everything together in a finale that’s both satisfying and haunting.

As I left the theatre twizzling my fake moustache and talking with an unconvincing Belgian accent it struck me how iconic the story of Murder on the Orient Express is and how lucky I’d just been to see it brought to life so beautifully.

There was just one final mystery to solve. Where had I left my car keys?

Murder on the Orient Express is running Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre until Saturday, Oc