One minute Gen. Swinbutton is crowing about being “one of the greatest fighting men this country has ever produced.” The next he’s keeling over dead.

Between his self-aggrandizing speech and his untimely death stand a bottle of wine and a handful of motives.

But whodunit?

That’s for audiences to determine. And adventurous theater-goers who attend the Leavenworth Players Group’s upcoming production of “Murder at Fort Leavenworth or The General is Generally Dead” will need an inquisitive disposition, a keen sense of observation and a healthy appetite.

After all, there’s a lot at steak — er, stake — in the interactive dinner theater murder mystery, which will be the centerpiece on the Aug. 8 menu at Hereford House, 4931 W. Sixth St.

“We just decided it would be something different to do,” says Connie Roach, assistant general manager at the Lawrence restaurant. “I think it might be kind of fun.”

Gregory Marino, a Leavenworth paralegal and founder of the troupe, wrote the script and for the past several months has been headlining a seven-person cast in productions of the show at High Noon Saloon & Brewery in Leavenworth.

“We’ve had some sold-out performances and done very well there,” Marino says.

The Hereford House appearance will be the troupe’s first in Lawrence, but Roach says the engagements will be ongoing if the first staging is successful.

Future shows planned in Leavenworth include “Murder at Madam Conundrum’s or Ghost Who’s Coming to Dinner” in October and “Beefing with the Wellingtons” in November and December.

Lawrence patrons will get their money’s worth — tickets are $35 — from cast members, who double as servers.

That’s no easy task, says Aron Carlson, the lone Lawrence actor in the play.

“Especially because my character is dumb, so I have to be competent as a server and then appear to be dumb at the same time,” he says.

Carlson plays Pvt. Homer Guile, based on, you guessed it, Gomer Pyle.

“He’s kind of there to steal a little attention from the leads and provide a little comic relief by being dumb and a little balance in texture with all the characters,” he says.

The ticket price includes the show, which will be performed in the restaurant’s downstairs banquet room, as well as a multicourse meal featuring steak, salmon or chicken chardonnay.

The evening begins as an innocent-enough dinner in honor of Gen. Swinbutton. But it’s not long before it devolves into a murder investigation in which the audience members are key P.I.s. Viewers are invited to ask questions, look at documents and photos that provide clues and then fill out solution ballots.

A name will be drawn randomly from among the people who solve the mystery, and the winner will win two free tickets to the troupe’s next show.

Why would anyone want to see the same murder mystery twice? Well, dear Watson, it’s elementary, really.

The show has five different conclusions.

“Next time you see the show it will have a different ending,” Marino says. “Most of the show is improvisational. … Much of what we do is dependent upon and relates to what the audience pitches at us.”

So be skeptical. Be curious.

And “expect to be entertained,” Carlson says.

“It’s about entertaining people. This is not a Shakespearean piece. This is about making people smile and telling them a nice story for their enjoyment.”