The producers of Whidbey Playhouse’s most recent production, the comedy/mystery “Catch Me If You Can,” have threatened to kill me if I reveal the play’s shocking final twist, and who am I to flirt with death for the sake of a mere review. I’m no martyr for art.

Suffice it to say that, should you choose to subject yourself to the whiplash plotting of this amusing conspiracy drama, the final act will leave you agog. It’s a shaggy dog with a big, bad bite. By the last scene, you’ll be scrambling back over the play’s intricate woof of deceit trying to figure out how it all works.

“Catch Me If You Can” is an updating of an older French drama first penned in the ‘60s. Director Ed Bennett, a retired engineer who moved to Whidbey Island two years ago, said he and the current cast had to update some of the references in the script (for example, lines about Ladybird Johnson). They’ve done a smooth job of it, though just knowing about the alterations will draw your attention automatically to references about the Bush administration. Oh well.

Southern novelist William Faulkner said the three crucial elements of modern drama are money (preferably a substantial chunk of it), family (advisably dysfunctional) and murder (the more gruesome, the better). And on this front, “Catch Me If You Can” certainly delivers. It’s subtext, as with most murder mysteries, is human greed; the wrench it throws into this equation is the challenge to the audience to figure out just who is guilty of that sin.

The play centers on a murder investigation involving a missing wife, who in fact may or may not be dead. The first mystery the audience confronts is whether to believe that Danny Corban (energetically played by Billy Franklin) is actually the bereaved husband he pretends to be. Perhaps he’s only tooling for the insurance money… or was it his wife’s inheritance?

Enter Inspector Levine, a sort of Columbo character with a bandsaw of a Brooklyn accent and a nose for fishy business. Actor Jim Siggens plays Levine perfectly, bringing to the character all the classic attributes of the literary detective. He’s a bit bumbling, cynical, dry-witted, and yet, in the end, his logic is impeccable. Levine recalls in many ways the detective from Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s great epic “Crime and Punishment,” by playing coy and utilizing a warped species of socratic irony, he practically leads the guilty party (or parties) to reveal themselves.

In fact, the entire cast is strong. Charlie Moore as the perhaps evil Father Kelleher lends a perfect air of menace to his wispy Irish priest, and Matt Powell shows off his excellent comic timing as the sandwich-maker Sydney.

Especially fun to watch is Dulcey White Lovell, who plays the woman who may or may not be Elizabeth Corban, the missing (and perhaps kaput) wife of Daniel. Lovell’s busy-body antics inspire the kind of ambiguity necessary for such a role. It’s a fine performance, well-suited to the needs of a murder mystery.

My biggest gripe about the production has nothing to do with the actors, director or script. Rather, I found the stage itself was all wrong for the type of drama being presented, a problem further compounded by the fact that the play has only one set. The vacation cabin where all these shenanigans are taking place is a spare, roomy and well-lit room, exactly not the kind of place a mystery — even a comedic one — should be staged.

For a better example of how to stage a who-done-it, one need look no further than Whidbey Playhouse’s production of Ira Levine’s“Deathtrap” from earlier in the year. In that play, the stage wonderfully reflected the drama’s brooding darkness and sense of claustrophobia. Everything was close, woodsy and cloaked in shadows.

This, obviously, is a minor and perhaps persnickety objection to what is otherwise a fine production. Audiences accustomed to the generally high quality of Whidbey Playhouse’s community theater productions will not be disappointed this time around. Just don’t tell anyone how it ends: It could be murder on your reputation.

How you can catch tickets for a show

Tickets for “Catch Me If You Can” are $11 for adults and $9 for youth (4-17). Saturday, Sept. 7 is bargain night: all tickets are reduced $2. The comedy, mystery, suspense thriller runs through Sept. 21. Performances are Thursdays, 7:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturdays, 8 p.m.; and Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m.

Call Whidbey Playhouse at 679-2237 for information and tickets.