‘The Mirror Crack’d’ by Agatha Christie, new adaptation by Rachel Wagstaff. Directed by Michael Donald Edwards. Through March 14 at Asolo Repertory Theatre, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Reviewed Jan. 23. 941-351-8000; asolorep.org

There’s a slightly clever mystery buried and trying to scratch its way to the surface in Rachel Wagstaff’s stage adaptation of Agatha Christie’s “The Mirror Crack’d” at Asolo Repertory Theatre. It’s a slow build setting up a story involving a murder inside the home of a faded Hollywood actress in a small English village. But it takes a long while for it to reach a steady trot toward its conclusion.

At intermission, many people asked me who I thought committed the crime, and I wasn’t even thinking about that because I hadn’t gotten involved.

Wagstaff adapted her play from Christie’s 1962 novel “The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side,” which has been told in several TV productions and a much-maligned 1980 film that featured Elizabeth Taylor as the film star and a pre-Jessica Fletcher Angela Lansbury as amateur detective Miss Jane Marple.

Theater audiences love mysteries and Asolo Rep enjoyed a big hit a few seasons back with Ken Ludwig’s humorous twist on Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express,” which was a sleek, fast-moving romp.

But the structure of Wagstaff’s telling leaves little room for director Michael Donald Edwards to work the kind of dramatic stage magic he brought to numerous productions during his 18 year tenure as Asolo Rep’s producing artistic director. The audience hears more about things than it experiences them, in part, because Miss Marple injured her foot and is stuck sitting at home in an overstuffed arm chair.

But her fall didn’t impact her brain, and under Jane’s probing, the audience gets to see several different versions of events at that party and at a movie studio, each one varied based on who is telling the story

Such tricks limit the action or sense of motion. Several characters spend their time standing around Miss Marple’s chair, center stage on Robert Perdziola’s stark set, which also features an angled metallic staircase and large panels that display some limited projections by Aaron Rhyne and Steven Royal.

Edwards’ generally appealing cast is led by Suzanne Grodner as the beloved Miss Marple. She’s helping Billy Lyons as the new chief inspector who is investigating the murder. Miss Marple is like a surrogate mother or an aunt to Inspector Dermot Craddock, and Lyons plays him with a bit of an ego – he boasts of his new job title, but his klutzy ways don’t demonstrate why he earned it. He won’t acknowledge that he needs Jane’s wit, insight and wisdom to solve cases.

Even though she’s stuck sitting most of the time, Grodner makes Jane engaging, particularly once she gets more immersed in the setting and has a chance to start questioning guests and staff at the party.

Rebecca Watson conveys an elegance as the film star Marina Gregg and Jan Neuberger has some crusty qualities as Jane’s closest friend.

The cast also includes Mark Benninghofen as Marina’s husband, Morgan Glynn, as the murder victim, Calee Gardner as Marina’s co-star, Yaala Muller as Jane’s helper, Sylvia Day as a secretary, Tasso Feldman as Marina’s assistant. At one point or another, all of them seem to be suspects.

They all serve their characters and do their part to make the storytelling as fluid as possible, even when the script makes that a stagnant challenge.