This coming weekend, two former Maplewood mayors team up to solve a murder in the Maplewood Strollers’ production of Agatha Christie’s "The Unexpected Guest."

Jerry Ryan, who served as mayor from 1998 – 2000, and Ken Pettis, who served in 2008, are now serving as Inspector Thomas and Sergeant Cadwallader, the two sleuths tapped to wade through a bevy of suspects in this classic 1958 murder mystery. 

The story opens one foggy evening in South Wales as Michael Starkwedder, played by Chris Farrow (proprietor of Highland Place Bar and Grill), enters the Warwick home through open terrace doors after running his car into a ditch.  Looking for help, what he stumbles upon instead is the recently dead body of Richard Warwick, with his wife Laura, played by Dena Daniel, clutching the suspected murder weapon – a gun. 

Crime solved. Or is it? She confesses her guilt, but Starkwedder believes Laura is innocent as they conspire to put the blame elsewhere. 

Cleverly crafted by Ms. Christie to take place in one room, the audience gets to know the cast of characters—all with possible motive to the crime. There is Warwick’s mother, played by Judy French; his simple half-brother, played by John Mendlovitz; the sinister nurse-attendant Henry Angell, played by Paul Morgan; and the goody-two-shoes housekeeper Ms. Bennett, played by Fran Shultz; not to mention Laura’s clandestine lover, Julian Farrar played by Peter Wick. 

This production of "The Unexpected Guest" is directed by Judy Allwyn Cohn, produced by JoAnne Hankey, and managed by Ann Harding.

The show opens March 16. Performances times and dates are: March 16, 17, 23 and 24 at 8:00 p.m., and March 18 at 2:00 p.m. Performances are at The Burgdorff Center for the Performing Arts, 10 Durand Road, Maplewood, NJ.  

For more information, go to http://thestrollers.org. For tickets, call our box-office at 973-761-8453, or call Brown Paper Tickets at 800-838-3006 (or visit their website www.brownpapertickets.com). Reservations are highly recommended.