Set in the mists of the English countryside, Agatha Christie’s “The Hollow” is a play that features complex characters, romantic intrigue and a plethora of subplots for audiences to sink their teeth into.

Someone also happens to get shot and killed as well.

“It’s a soap opera with a murder mystery in the middle of it,” said local actor Mike Frazier.

The Beckwith Theatre Company is debuting its production of the classic whodunit story this Friday. The three-act play is directed by veteran Beckwith actor and director Jack Gannon, and features a cast of 12.

This is the second Christie mystery that Gannon has directed for the Dowagiac house. The theater did a production of “The Mousetrap” last summer.

“The play seemed to go very well last year,” Gannon said. “It was very well attended, and audiences seemed enthusiastic about it.”

Perhaps the most well known of Christie’s plays, “The Mousetrap” struck a cord with local audiences, with the theater selling out two of the six nights the show was held, Gannon said.

However, perhaps the biggest reason Gannon wanted another crack at directing another murder mystery was due to the chemistry and camaraderie between last year’s eight-person cast. All but one of the original actors have returned for “The Hollow,” and the five new faces have fit right in during the six weeks they’ve worked on the play, Gannon said.

“It’s just such a great group,” he said. “Rehearsals have gone so well and so professionally.”

Frazier, a three-year veteran with the Beckwith Theatre, plays the part of Lord Henry Angkatell, the well-to-do owner of the estate where the play takes place. Frazier said audiences who enjoyed last year’s show should be delighted by this year’s show, which features a similar twist-laden plot but with lots of intrigue outside the search for the culprit.

“‘The Mousetrap’ had a lot of flamboyant characters,” he said. “The characters in this show are more subdued, but are also more complex.”

Peggy Gannon, another Beckwith regular, plays Lady Lucy Angkatell, Henry’s overdramatic wife.

“This is kind of fun for us to produce since its not as well known as ‘The Mousetrap,’” she said. “[Christie] liked ‘The Hollow’ a lot more, actually. She thought it was a more psychological story.”

The play opens at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The play will run the next two weekends, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sundays.

Admission costs $10. To purchase tickets, call (269) 782-7653.