Write Me A Murder

by Frederick Knott

The play tells the story of the brothers Clive and David Rodingham, who inherit the family fortune upon the death of their father. They then meet business man Charles and his wife Julie, a would-be thriller writer. Charles is anxious to work with the brothers on property deals, and so encourages David, who is also a writer, to co-author a murder story with Julie. It isn’t long before the two concoct the perfect crime, which is soon twisted into a reality…

Genres: Plays

72 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1962

About the author

Knott was the son of English missionaries who sent him to be educated in England. A graduate of Cambridge, his promising tennis career was cut short by WWII. He served in the British Army Artillery as a signals instructor. He eventually moved to New York, and found success with three stories he wrote for the British and American stage.

Reviews

[Emilie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frederick Knott only wrote three thriller plays in his lifetime: DIAL M FOR MURDER, WRITE ME A MURDER, and WAIT UNTIL DARK (his one dark comedy MR. FOX OF VENICE was a flop). All three were successful, but WRITE ME A MURDER is often considered the least of the trio. DIAL and WAIT had longer runs on both Broadway and the West End and both were made into popular Hollywood film adaptations with big-name stars. Those two plays are still staples of community and school theater as well. In comparison, WRITE is rarely revived anywhere and only got a TV adaptation in the mid-60s, leaving it forgotten.

This is a shame, since WRITE is a clever, fun little thriller, in some ways better than even DIAL in that it boasts a livelier cast of characters beyond its villain-protagonist. The play takes place on a dying country estate and involves two writers, David, a successful thriller author and second-in-line to own the estate after his brother, and Julie, an aspiring writer who wants to see her work in print no matter what it is and soon-to-be owner of the estate after her husband buys it from David's older brother, coming up with the perfect murder plot. First, all they want is to write a good potboiler, but then as family drama regarding the ownership of David's estate heats up and David's desire to make sure he does not lose it grows, fiction might just become a reality.

The whole thing feels like a proto-DEATHTRAP and while not as meta (seeing as a lot of DEATHTRAP references Knott after all), it is still delightful. This would be a fun show to see live, though I can see from the stage directions why some might be reluctant to take it on. Compared to DIAL and WAIT, this seems much more elaborate. Still, it would be worth the ambition and effort! The play retains the central thesis of Knott's other thrillers: that the perfect crime is an illusion since no one is master over circumstance and human behavior.

[Nicolas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this a lot. It's an atypical mystery, but switches direction often. It isn't action packed which requires careful plotting and staging. It would love to see it on stage.

Tune in here for special interview I did with an actress playing the role of Julie in a stage production: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/of...

[Carolyn Page · Rating 3 out of 5]

An absolute ride of a drama that reminds me a ton of the Alfred Hitchcock Hour. The characters are all very interesting and playable, and I would definitely recommend this for an amateur dramatic society.

[Alif · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was really good!!