Stage Reviews : ‘Murder by the Book’ Survives Misstep : The Long Beach production of the comedy-thriller simmers, but better direction might have brought it to a boil.

The murders in Duncan Greenwood and Robert King’s “Murder by the Book” certainly are, but discovering which book is part of the fun. That, along with bodies popping up like Lazarus to re-enter the fray, and countless red herrings, contributes to an English comedy-thriller of the highest order.

The play doesn’t look quite as good as it really is in this production at Long Beach’s Studio Theatre, although the humor is all there as well as the puzzlement. What’s missing in Peter Sands’ direction is flavor. Sands tries to whip up the brightness the genre requires, and often succeeds, but never reaches that bubbly, frothy stage, with firm peaks of offhandedness that would give it style. This is another case in which the importance is not in being earnest.

As the curtain rises, mystery writer Selwyn Piper (Neil Dickson) is about to be murdered by his wife, volatile actress Imogen (Catherine McGoohan), whom he refuses to divorce. But Selwyn’s publisher John (Joel Parkes), now Imogen’s lover, has a few surprises in store for her. And Imogen has a few in store for him, and Selwyn has many in store for them both. A simple situation fraught with complicated misdirection that works in spite of the staging being less than it could be.

Dickson’s Selwyn is close to target--the public’s image of a mystery writer--and Dickson struggles valiantly to maintain the insouciance that sets him apart. So does Parkes as the publisher, a distracted bumbler so warmly regarded by the British in their mystery-comedies. McGoohan needs just a bit more coolness and a bit less of a hard edge, to backhandedly point up Selwyn’s opinion of his wife’s histrionic abilities. “Imogen was the best Lady Macbeth I ever saw,” he says, “Unfortunately she was playing Juliet at the time.”

Stephanie Geyer is charming in the unrewarding role of Selwyn’s secretary, with little to do but look pretty and confused, but Peter Greenwood totally misses as the even more difficult and unrewarding young love interest, next-door neighbor Peter Fletcher. Greenwood plays him at face value, without individual characterization--puzzlement, maybe, or a more specific origin--that would help him hurdle the impossible dialogue he’s given to speak.

‘Murder by the Book’

* A Long Beach Community Players production of the Duncan Greenwood and Robert King play. Directed by Peter Sands. With Stephanie Geyer, Neil Dickson, Catherine McGoohan, Peter Greenwood and Joel Parkes. Set and lighting: Joe Hodges. Sound design: Peter Sands. At the Studio Theatre, 5021 East Anaheim St., Long Beach. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Nov. 15, 2 p.m. Ends Nov. 21. $10. (310) 494-1616. Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes.