CRIME novelist Peter James has sold more than 15 million books and has fans across the globe.

Now The Perfect Murder has been adapted, the first time one of his books has been performed on stage, and is playing at the Opera House, Manchester, until Saturday.

The plot is based on that of the 2010 book — Victor Smiley and his wife Joan have been married for nearly 20 years but he secretly loathes his wife more and more each day, while she is bored by Victor, and their marriage has reached crisis point.

Victor decides there is only one way to get Joan out of his life forever but he is about to get a nasty surprise as he discovers he is not the only one with murder in mind.

The darkly comic thriller is gripping and funny from the first scene when Victor — played by Les Dennis — sits up in bed and proclaims: “My wife doesn’t understand me. I’m going to kill her.”

Les, one of Britain’s best-loved actors and entertainers, is perfectly cast as the IT manager with an obsession with murder, playing the role with his tongue firmly in cheek.

Claire Goose, who starred in BBC’s Waking the Dead and Casualty, ITV’s The Bill and Sky’s Mount Pleasant, demonstrates herself as a talented stage actress with great comic timing as she plots to kill her husband.

The same can be said for former Coronation Street actor Gray O’Brien, who plays Joan’s hunky lover Don Kirk.

As a nice (if you ignore the murder part) but dim, wannabe Cockney, the Scotsman is unrecognisable from villain Tony Gordon who he played on the street for three years.

Simona Armstrong, a finalist in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s TV talent search How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, is very funny as Croatian prostitute Kamila Walcak, with apparent psychic abilities.

While I have enjoyed other books by the writer of the Roy Grace murder mystery and thriller crime novels, this is one I have not read but I am told there is a twist in the tale.

Although Detective Grace does not appear in the book, he has been written into this version — adapted by award-winning writer Shaun McKenna — as a young cop and is played by Steven Miller.

Like any good page turner, the stage play certainly keeps you entertained and guessing until the end.

The Perfect Murder, directed by Ian Talbot and with clever set design by Michael Holt, runs until Saturday.