@ The King’s Theatre, Edinburgh until Sat 7 Feb 2015 (and touring)

Readers of bestselling author Peter James’s detective novels will know to expect some shocks and twists in this stage adaptation. And with thudding inevitability the culprit (or ‘perp’ as the cops might have it) is the person least likely to have done it. Sadly all this is signalled way ahead of time. If you’re looking for subtlety you’ve come to the wrong party.

Michael Harrison is a millionaire property developer in Brighton whose stag night hijinks go awry and Detective Superintendent Roy Grace tries to solve this mysterious missing persons case. With TV awash with detective yarns from Broadchurch to sophisticated Scandi-noir, who wants to trudge out in the winter cold to see it on stage? A surprising number of people, that’s who.

But this is a mishmash. Most disappointing of all is that Roy Grace (played with cheesy elegance by Gray O’Brien) seemed to be a character on the periphery of the story. And it’s a story of several laughably over-contrived devices that simply don’t ring true. A sequence when bridegroom Michael (a shouty Jamie Lomas) is buried alive ought to be claustrophobic and panic-inducing but he ends up looking like a specimen in a glass tank. A subplot about a psychic helping to locate the missing man should, but doesn’t, enliven matters.

Tina Hobley is believable as the victim’s feisty bride-to-be and Rik Makarem makes a fine best friend – both actors have previous on TV soaps. The entire company bashes their way through the baggy plot as if they are keen to get it over and done with.

Who exactly is this type of theatrical fare aimed at? Readers of the books will know the story already; diehard devotees might want an extra fix of their favourite cop; and then there will be fans out to see the stars of their favourite TV shows in the flesh.

Dead Simple is not dead dull but it bears a strong similarity to Victorian melodrama with its trapdoors and sudden shocks. Modern audiences surely find this tawdry manipulation all a bit too much to bear. Or, then again, maybe not.