Murder is a ghastly business, except when it's planned with politeness and grace. Then it can be disarmingly funny.

"Over My Dead Body" gives the subject the genteel air and mannered civility of a British social club, as three over-the-hill mystery writers stage a comeback by planning the real thing. They need a victim, of course — "somebody who deserves to die." And it had best be done in traditional style — the body found in a room locked from the inside.

Most important, there should be enough clues and red herrings to demonstrate why solving murder mysteries is England's number one sport.

If television's Jessica Fletcher had you hooked on "Murder, She Wrote," you'll enjoy this play by Michael Sutton and Anthony Fingleton at Manoa Valley Theatre.

Directed by Lolly Susi, three Honolulu theater veterans give the script its substance and charm and make the play a sound character comedy despite its gorilla suit and farcical elements.

Peter Clark has the pivotal role of Trevor Foyle, an aging novelist who hasn't had a best-seller in so long that a five-year prison sentence sounds like the "bargain of a lifetime."

Jo Pruden is Dora Winslow, Trevor's longtime friend and one-time romantic interest, who's clear-sighted enough to know they would have ended up murdering each other had they ever married.

And Walter Eccles plays Bartie Cruickshank, who — when he's not nodding off in mid-conversation — is preoccupied with recording the proceedings with a flash camera.

The fun comes from the trio's fumbling attempts and their naive oblivion in staging their perfectly puzzling crime.

The victim must be stabbed and shot, as well as hanged, but none of the group has the taste for shedding blood. A chloroformed handkerchief will do the trick — if it could only be applied to the right nose. And it does absolutely no good to mistakenly substitute a shopping list for a suicide note.

While the central cast is a natural delight, they get good support from Gerald Altwies as a creaky old butler and Stephen Mead as a fast-talking inspector.

David Minkoff's set design of a woody, clubby reading room is filled with solid architectural detail and visual interest, while sound and lights create a convincing thunderstorm.

Sometimes watching a production deal with things that go wrong can be more fun than watching everything go right.

Undaunted by the opening-night failure of Act 1's climactic big special effect, the crew simply restaged it at the opening of Act 2 and the comedy soldiered on without detriment. Keeping that kind of stiff upper lip fits right into the character of the play.