Sometimes a good mystery needs a splash of comedy.

And what better to parody than an English mystery?

In playwright Tim Kelly’s “The Butler Did It,” the socialite Miss Maple has invited a group of detective writers to Ravenswood Manor on Turkey Island, off the coast of San Francisco, for a themed weekend party — they are to impersonate their fictional characters.

Maple has appropriately stocked the weekend with mysterious happenings, like a spooky voice on the radio and a freaky face at the window. But then something, starting with a capital M, happens that she didn’t plan — murder. Distraught, she invites her guests to use their best mystery writing knowledge to solve the crime. Chaos ensues.

Friends of The Butte will opened this past weekend at The Butte Theater in Cripple Creek. It runs through April 14.

“It’s a parody of all English mysteries, but with an Americanized flare so the humor is kind of making fun of the English drama mysteries,” said director Teri McClintock.

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Patrons well-versed in the mystery genre will recognize some of the characters’ names as reminiscent of their favorite fictional characters, including Maple, who’s named after Agatha Christie’s Miss Jane Marple; Rick and Laura, instead of Nick and Nora from Dashiell Hammett’s 1934 novel “The Thin Man”; and Chandler Marlowe, an homage to crime fiction author Raymond Chandler’s popular Philip Marlowe character.

It’s a fun premise, which is handy, as comedy is her forte, says McClintock, who regularly acts and directs at The Butte, as well as Colorado Springs theater companies.

“A lot of theaters take on serious dramas and serious problems and think that’s good theater when people are upset and feel bad and they really put them through the ringer,” she said. “In this day and age, with all its complications and all the things that get you down, I’d rather create an escape from that. That’s why my passion is comedy. Not that other dramas aren’t good. They speak to people and make people feel better about their problems, but I prefer walking away from problems and just plain laughing.”

Half of The Butte’s productions each year are community shows by Friends of the Butte. The other half is usually done by a professional company, though this year two companies will produce the professional season.

Springs-based Chameleon Arts and Entertainment will do the melodrama “Darling of the Donkey Derby” June 14-July 14 and the Tony Award-winning musical “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” July 19-Aug. 18.

The South Carolina-based husband-and-wife theater company Thin Air Theatre Company, which was The Butte’s first resident professional company in 2007, will likely produce the musical “Spamalot” around Halloween and the new Chris Sorenson melodrama, “Miracle on Mistletoe Mountain,” around the holidays.

Thin Air most recently produced Sorenson’s “Angel of the Christmas Mine” in December.