KINGSTON — You wouldn’t want Sam Slade to solve a crime for you. But you would certainly want him to entertain you.

Slade is the main character in the new play by Kingston Junior High drama program, “Touchtone ‘M’ for Murder.”

Dressed in a button-down raincoat and battered fedora, Zane Lanum, a ninth-grader, plays the part of Slade. It’s a good one, Lanum said.

“If you’ve ever seen a Humphrey Bogart movie, he (Slade) is totally like that — only he puts him to shame. He’s a complete loser detective.”

Lanum’s character explores a whirlwind of characters in order to solve a murder. With the help of the audience, the fumbling detective tries to win the case (and the girl).

Unfortunately, Slade’s own stupidity keeps getting in his way.

“He has no clue who the killer is. He’s completely clueless,” Lanum said. “He assumes anyone standing in front of him is the killer. So whoever is standing in front of him at that moment is a suspect.”

Lanum is joined by 16 other cast members in the two-act murder mystery.

“It’s a murder-mystery with a touch of comedy,” said drama advisor and play director Mary Beth Timm. Timm has never produced this play before, but thought it would be a good one.

“I thought the kids would enjoy the stereotypical characters in it,” Timm said.

The cast has been working after school for almost a month on the 80-minute play.

The characters are stereotypical (the character named Tex wears a cowboy hat), but most students are in the play for more than that. They are there because they love acting.

“I was interested in the lead role,” Lanum said, “but I would have taken any role. I love acting enough to take the least important role.”

Ninth-grader Erykah McCarty plays the female lead, Lila Dean.

“She just seemed a lot like me,” McCarty said. “She’s got some attitude, she goes after what she wants to do … I thought it’d be easy to fall into the role.”

As a ninth-grader, McCarty felt that this was the time to shoot for a lead role. Now that she has it, she’s been having a great time on the play.

“I think it’s been really fun,” she said. “We all get along so well.”

McCarty said, “For the short amount of time we’ve had (to practice), it should be great.”

The cast also includes John Morgan, Mallory Mcafee, Scott Shawcroft, Sara Hall, Brittany Hade, Carly Astle, Amanda Sageser, Megan Chartrand, Zech Haynes, Jennifer Holbrook, Kevin Spencer, Stevie Minder, Dawn Bresten, Tony Grossnickle, Allen Cook, and Zane Zuchowski.

Molly Jackson works behind the scenes as the assistant student director.

Assistant costume directors included students Liz Schreier, Allie Shipman, and Dionne Corey.