But in “Bel Canto,” the fat lady’s dead and Detective Dick Trowel’s determined to figure out exactly “who dunnit.”

Hometown Promotions has teamed up with the Palmetto Room in York to present “Bel Canto,” a comedic murder-mystery dinner theater opening Sunday for a one-week run.

The show is written by York playwright Laura Pfizenmayer and Charlotte playwright Ann Marie Olivia, who were commissioned years ago to do the piece for Opera Carolina.

“It’s a very cute play set in a 1940s opera house,” Pfizenmayer said. “It has it all — murder, mystery and comedy.”

The production opens with the opera cast and crew standing over the murdered opera diva’s body.

“She’s not a nice lady and everybody has something against her,” Pfizenmayer said.

Potential suspects include her husband/manager Stanley Greenpool Greenpool (whose parents were first cousins), an aspiring star who’s having an affair with Stanley and the opera house manager, who thinks the diva is ruining his show.

The story is told through flashback scenes as Detective Trowel pieces together the puzzle, Pfizenmayer said.

“The end is a real surprise,” Pfizenmayer said. “I promise the solution will come as a big kick.”

The show is filled with all things opera — from the feather boas and cheap champagne to the accouterments of opera and Broadway of the 1940s, Pfizenmayer said. The name itself, Bel Canto, is a type of operatic singing.

“Bel Canto” promises to be “full of parody, surprise and misdirection, and a good dose of satire,” said director George Amer, a veteran in the York theater scene. “This is one of the most talented casts I have ever worked with.”

Amer said the audience also will be involved, as performers wander among the crowd.

“I see it sort of like theater in a ‘Socratic’ style, similar to teachers who walk the aisles among the students,” Amer said.

“Bel Canto” marks the first Hometown Promotions show at Palmetto Room, which boasts an intimate setting and good acoustics ideal for the play, Pfizenmayer said.

The show is family-friendly and suitable for all ages.

Shannon Greene • 684-9903

Want to go?

What: “Bel Canto”

When: 2 p.m. Sunday and May 18 and 7 p.m. Monday, Thursday and May 16 and 17. Monday’s performance will benefit Hospice and Community Care.

Where: The Palmetto Room, 22 N. Congress St., York.

Cost: Italian dinner buffet and show, $35 per person. Show only, $12. Group rate available for tables with eight or more.

Details: Call 628-7970 or e-mail lpfiz@bellsouth.net