Since April of this year, Keith & Margo’s Murder Mystery Dinner has been wreaking murder and mayhem in Santa Monica, with plans to do so indefinitely. The venue for all these goings-on is, of all places, the Daily Grill on Colorado Avenue, oy, oy, oy!
The evening starts out harmlessly enough in the restaurant’s patio for a social hour where you can get acquainted with your fellow guests over hummus, pita, crackers and veggies. A flier advises you that in the midst all his pleasantry, there may be murderers lurking around. Ha, who would have thought!
So it is best to meet as many people as possible and get to know them. Eavesdrop on any conversation you can, figure out whether and how people are related, and make sure to read between the lines to figure out their special angles and agendas as they answer to your very pointed questions like: What brings you here? What did you do in your past life? What is your darkest secret? Do you have any ‘side’ businesses? Have you ever wanted to kill? Who?
Get to know who you are dealing with, don’t believe anyone, don’t trust anyone, and proceed with caution! A couple told us they had just come out from N Carolina, but another lady came over saying she knew them, and they were just tourists from Canada. The guy who told us he worked for a garbage disposal company looked way too professorial, and a very pretty girl in her early twenties introduced herself as a heart surgeon, yeah, sure!
The guy next to me told us he was the manager at a Vons, but when we began talking about the great Friday’s $5 specials on the Vons current weekly flier, he was totally clueless. We patted ourselves on the back at how cleverly we had trapped him! One lady told us she studied insects, with a specialty in cockroaches, and showing off her knowledge, she informed us that they liked to be touched: something definitely creepy going on there!
The party then moves to assigned seats in the dining room, though the group you came with gets to sit together. Before you sit down, though, make sure there is nothing unusual on the seat, or at your place setting that might be a potential clue. Waiters come by to take orders, but, hmmm, are they all really all waiters? Could it have been one of them that left the fridge door open when it was supposed to be closed?
No sooner is the first course – the salad – served, than a body hits the floor! The door barges open with a detective holding a suspect, and you are smack in the middle of a homicide investigation. Now everyone is a potential suspect, so for the rest of the evening, you cannot even leave the room, you are just trapped until the case is solved. Everyone at your table better put their heads together to figure out this whodunit and clear themselves so they can go home!
The detective interrogates guests, and more clues keep popping up, which he collects and displays as exhibits on the clue table. You are welcome to visit the table to sort out the clues and piece them together. At the end of the evening, you fill out an answer form with your best guess as to what happened and who you think is guilty. Its your chance to both show off your genius and absolve yourself at the same time.
You work in teams with the rest of your table, submit your detective work at the end of the evening, and compete for the prize. Answers are collected, the crime is solved, arrests are made, and prizes awarded to not only the most accurate answer, but also the most hilarious answer.
Needless to say, many in the audience are mystery buffs, having done more than their fair share of reading mystery novels and watching mystery shows. They love playing detective and with all that practice behind them, they have also gotten very good at putting two and two together. Many are even veterans of murder mystery dinner shows. A couple at our table had met on OK Cupid and had been dating a few months. The lady went to every murder mystery show she could find and had dragged along her novice, not quite as enthusiastic partner as part of a compatibility test.
For dinner, several entree choices are available, but you need to select before arrival. We could choose from three non-vegetarian entrees. The first was a blackened tilapia fillet, herb almond brown rice, asparagus, roasted red peppers, and lemon Caper sauce. The second was a chicken piccata in a lemon butter caper sauce, and mashed potatoes. The third was a grilled skirt steak with mac and cheese, and required an additional $15 paid at the restaurant. Vegetarians could have angel hair pasta pomodoro with fresh tomato, garlic, olive oil, basil, or a vegan and gluten-free grilled vegetable plate with balsamic glaze. All entrees come with a mixed greens salad as well as a seasonal sorbet or ice cream.
Parking is free at 2401 Colorado Ave. For more information please visit, www.murdermystery.com