Catch Agatha Christie's Murder on the Nile at Belconnen Community Theatre

In the latest, Murder on the Nile, Wilson plays a character whom Christie introduced as a substitute for one of her best-known creations.

By the 1940s, Agatha Christie was beginning to tire of her Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.

In adapting her novel Death on the Nile to the stage - retitling it Murder on the Nile - she omitted Poirot. An actor friend of hers, Francis L. Sullivan, had expressed interest in playing Poirot on stage but she persuaded him to accept instead the part of Canon Pennefeather, who was a kind of substitute.

That might come as a surprise to fans of the book or its film adaptations but they'll have a chance to compare the differences when Tempo Theatre's production of Murder on the Nile sails onto the stage of Belconnen Community Theatre.

Murder on the Nile is set on the SS Lotus, which is sailing down the Egyptian river. Aboard is the wealthy, newly married Kay Mostyn (Jacqueline Forrester), who is on her honeymoon with husband Simon (Mark Ritchie).

She's also accompanied by her longtime maid, Louise (Kah-Mun Wong).

"Louise doesn't get along with her employer," Elphick says.

They're being shadowed by Jacqueline De Severac (a different, female Kim Wilson), Simon's former fiancee, whom he dumped in favour of the more enticing Kay.

When Kay is murdered, those on board must figure out whodunnit in classic Christie fashion. They're isolated and at least one of them is a murderer who must be found before anyone else dies.

"Instead of a country manor or a island, they're on a boat," Elphick says.

And, as always in Christie's plots, there's a shipload of potential suspects harbouring secrets and possible motives.

They include: Kay's longtime guardian Canon Pennefather (the male Wilson); Dr Bessner (Paul Jackson), whose family was destroyed by Kay's father; Mr Smith (Sam Kentish), who's actually Lord Dawlish ("He's a bit of a wastrel who joined the Communist Party," Elphick says); and Miss Ffoulkes (Marian Fitzgerald) and her niece Christina (Sarah Jackson).

Also on board are the steward (Nick Fuller) and the head of the ship company (Garry Robinson).

While Tempo has produced many other plays since it began in 1965, Agatha Christie is always popular.

"Who doesn't love Christie?" Elphick asks rhetorically.

She was known as the Queen of Crime and Guinness World Records names her as the bestselling author in history with more than 2 billion copies of her books sold.

Christie would return to Detective Poirot - he appeared in half of her 66 novels and in many of her short stories - but although she eventually killed him off in her novel Curtain, published in 1975, Poirot - as well as Christie's other creations - endure.

Murder on the Nile is on at Belconnen Community Theatre in Swanson Court, Belconnen, various dates and times from October 21 to 29. See: canberraticketing.com.au or phone 6275 2700.