There are a number of things that make a play difficult to review: complexities of plot; subtleties of theme; good plays with bad actors and bad plays with good actors.

And then there are shows like Anthony Shaffer's Sleuth, which is difficult to review simply because I don't want to give away anything that happens beyond the first 15 minutes.

Sleuth is a mystery. Kind of. Maybe. Which is to say, it might come down to a death that could have happened, depending upon whose account you believe. Including your own.

See what I mean? It's not an easy minefield of vagaries to navigate.

The setup is this: Andrew Wyke, the wealthy, successful writer of popular detective stories (those in the Christie and Conan Doyle milieu, where the accomplished amateur outwits the criminals and makes fools of the conventional police at regular intervals) invites his young neighbor, Milo Tindle, over for a drink.

It‘s not giving too much away to reveal that Tindle is Mrs. Wyke's new lover, or that Andrew is well aware of his own cuckolding. What follows is a complex game of what might be anything from revenge to insurance fraud.

There have been two film versions of Sleuth over the years, and I would strongly advise you to neither see them nor read anything about them if you intend to enjoy Tacoma Little Theatre's production to the utmost.

In director John Munn's production, Wyke and Tindle are played by Alan Wilkie and Christian Doyle, respectively. Doyle, fresh off an excellent turn in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, hearkens back to his season-opening role in Agatha Christie's Mousetrap at Lakewood Playhouse, also directed by Munn.

Wilkie and Doyle both deliver solid, if not transcendent, performances. Wilkie brings life to the author's fervent (almost absurd) obsession with puzzles and games, while Doyle spends much of the first act playing out the vague confusion that made him so endearing as the fated loser Rosencrantz.

If anything, there is too much levity. Truly great mysteries and thrillers thrive on the manipulation of tension, which is sorely lacking in the interplay of the two men throughout the first act.

There are likewise a number of behaviors that seem almost too absurd, even for a character who has been downing whiskey nonstop for an hour, as has young Milo Tindle. Just how much he has drunk is difficult to determine, as he seems to shift levels of intoxication from line to line.

Fortunately, the silliness fades (somewhat) and the tension rises with the onset of the second act, as the consequences of what happened - or didn't happen, or may have happened - begin to materialize.

The action plays out on a rich brown wooded set, true to form for much of Munn's work over the years. As with any classical mystery there are moving parts and secret doors, though none of them remain much of a secret for long. The decor looks sorely out of place for 2010, and makes one wonder why they even bother with a passing mention of the year.

Weaknesses aside, Sleuth remains engaging and entertaining to the end. Regardless of how many of its twists you guess in advance, the ending is sure to leave you with something worth talking about.

Sleuth

Through Sept. 26, 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, $15-$24
Tacoma Little Theatre, 210 North I St., Tacoma
253.272.2281