BUILDING on the success of The Agatha Christie Theatre Company, which sold more than two million tickets and continually played to packed houses around the UK, Bill Kenwright presents a new production adapted from the writer hailed as the successor of Agatha Christie, Ruth Rendell’s A Judgement In Stone.

Rendell was first published in 1964 and was awarded a CBE in 1996. Her output included film and TV as well as 80 novels.

In A Judgement In Stone, Eunice struggles to fit in. When she joins a wealthy family as their housekeeper the very reason for her awkwardness, long hidden and deeply buried, leads inexorably to a terrible tale of murder in cold blood - on Valentine’s Day.

The cast includes award-winning TV and stage star Andrew Lancel (Coronation Street, The Bill), Sophie Ward (Young Sherlock Holmes, Heartbeat), Pop-idol Mark Wynter, Deborah Grant (Not Going Out, Bergerac), Shirley Anne Field (The Entertainer, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning), Antony Costa (Boy band Blue) and Agatha Christie Company's Ben Nealon (Soldier Soldier).

The production will be directed by Roy Marsden who is best known as an actor, particularly in his role as Commander Adam Dalgliesh in Anglia TV's PD James series, which he played for 15 years.

Ruth Rendell won numerous awards in her lifetime, including the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger for best crime novel with A Demon In My View, a Gold Dagger Award for Live Flesh and the Sunday Times Literary Award.

She was awarded the Crime Writers’ Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence in crime writing.

In addition to the CBE she became a Life Peer in 1997. Her debut novel From Doon With Death introduced Inspector Wexford who went on to feature in 24 of her subsequent novels many of which were adapted for television.

A Judgement In Stone was also filmed twice, as The Housekeeper (1986) starring Rita Tushingham and as La Cérémonie (1995), directed by Claude Chabrol, starring Sandrine Bonnaire.

A Judgement In Stone will be performed at the New Theatre, Cardiff, on Tuesday, April 4 to Saturday, April 8.

Tickets cost from £11 to £32.50, please note bookings are subject to a ticketing service charge - exemptions apply.

For further details about the show or to book tickets visit newtheatrecardiff.co.uk or ring the box office on 029 2087 8889.