You’re eating dessert.  All of a sudden there’s some noise at a neighboring table.  Two customers appear to be arguing.  The argument turns to shoving.  One man falls to the floor.  He rises, grabs a knife and stabs the man through the heart.  A police detective rushes in to tell everyone that it’s not what it appears to be.  The deceased didn’t die of a knife wound, he’s been shot in the head.  Who shot off a gun?  The murder mystery dinner is now in full swing.

Murder mystery theater has been around a long time. Combined with dinner theater, these murder mystery dinner shows are interactive and often held at smaller venues. People enjoy the food as well as the chase. They can eat their steak and like Sherlock Holmes engage their minds once the game is afoot. These mysteries can take on many different forms. One is a simple interactive play where the actors talk to the patrons but stick to a general story in which one of the actors’ roles is to solve the mystery. Another is a game in which the diners have to discover clues to solve the murder. There can be a lot of twists and turns along the way including some participants given information others do not have.

These murder mystery dinners have become popular for parties, special occasions and even entire weekends and cruises. They’ve leaked into popular culture. One example has been done a few times in television and movies. A group of people is invited to a dinner, then one by one they’re killed in mysterious ways. Murder by Death is a funny comedy based on that premise. In other versions, a mystery dinner is taking place when someone is really murdered. In an episode of the detective show “Monk,” the lead character has been banned from a murder mystery weekend bed and breakfast because he solved the murder in three minutes, thus ruining the weekend and losing the establishment a lot of money.

Many of these dinners take place at locations associated with death .  Some murder mystery theater groups say that real murders have happened in their facility.  It’s probably faked, but still fun.  Patrons are willing to suspend disbelief enough to enjoy themselves, even if in the real world they wouldn’t believe the tall tales.

A murder mystery dinner can be fun. There are even versions specially made for children, and the whole family can participate.

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