“‘A DETECTIVE studies the body of George Tabin, a professional Elvis impersonator.”’

Poor Tabin, dead on a bus bench, has severe head wounds, but there’s no blood around to suggest he was murdered here.

Sara Sidle, played by Jorja Fox, stumbles upon a trail of blood drops, which lead her to where a blackbird – a rook – has been stabbed to death.

Soon enough, there’s a connection between the two deaths. Both the rook and Elvis impersonator (“The King”) represent chess pieces.

The hunt for a killer is on when it’s realised there’s a chess tournament in town. It seems remarkable that 14 seasons in, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is capable of producing such a twisted tale.

Eric Szmanda, who plays Greg Sanders, always knew he was signing for a hit show.

“I remember doing the pilot and thinking to myself, why hasn’t anybody done this yet?”

But Fox has her own theory on why the original drama in the “CSI” franchise endures.

“I have often thought of our show really as an action-adventure show,” she says. “I think it’s supposed to be a mystery-suspense show.

“And there are a whole bunch of really good reasons to tune in, but one of them is you are going to be in for an amazing ride, an amazing hour of an exciting, dodgy, what’s-going-to-happen-next kind of ride.”

Surely Fox had no idea “CSI” would become this monster hit when she signed to play Sidle 13 years ago.

“You know, when I read the script I was blown away by it,” she says.

“It was so different and I hadn’t seen anything ever like it. “Quincy” was probably the closest thing that I could compare it to.

“I thought a show about death, this is going to be cancelled in six weeks, like no one is going to watch this.

“And boy was I extremely wrong about that – and happily so.”