LIKE a good cheese, The Mousetrap is a beautifully matured offering both delighting afficionados of the Empress of Crime and intriguing less devoted observers.

The classic whodunnit by Agatha Christie graces the stage once again at the Alhambra this week - and does not disappoint.

Originally adapted from a short radio drama commissioned from Christie by the BBC to celebrate Queen Mary's 80th birthday in 1947, The Mousetrap represents an England - and I mean England - long gone.

It is the last surviving example of its genre that is not a revival. The Mousetrap premiered in 1952 with a cast including Richard Attenborough and his wife Sheila Sim, and by 1957 was the longest-running straight play ever.

Set in the Home Counties shortly after the Second World War, the play has all the familiar Christie touches - eccentric middle class characters, enough red herrings to fill a bowl of fish soup and the unexpected twist at the end.

And it works. Any thriller which gets people debating who the murderer could be during the interval has hit its mark.

Take an isolated country manor house being run as a guest house; throw in a motley gathering of guests and then cut off the place with snow drifts and you have the perfect Christie setting.

Of course, murder most foul is at the heart of the matter but Dame Agatha also touches on child abuse - shocking today, never mind in 1952 - and psychological torment to stir the imagination.

Ian Watt-Smith's production is classy to look at and draws you into the draughty chintzy lounge of the hotel where the story twists and turns to its final unexpected climax.

Esther McAuley is excellent as guest house owner Mollie Ralston and conveys the character with charm and increasing mental strain as the plot unravels . Luke Jenkins delivers the harassed Sergeant Trotter with aplomb drawing together the threads in a characteristic plot in which all the characters have the opportunity. and possibly the motive, to kill.

As Agatha Christie herself said, The Mousetrap is the sort of play you can take anyone to.

The tension is lightly sprinkled with humour and the performances are polished and pleasing.

Of course, anyone who sees the play is sworn not to reveal the ending- a secret that has been sustained for 63 years. I'm not going to change that. Find out for yourself.

On until Saturday.