By Aaliyah Medawar
On Saturday, September 7, Redlands business owners Katie and Jason Marxer held their first annual murder mystery dinner at their venue, Speakeasy on State. Running from 6:00 to 8:00pm, this event included a three-course buffet and a night of intrigue all for the price of $69.99 per person.
Themed around the 1920s, the players were sent off on a hunt for the murders of the Tracy Gang, a fictional Detroit moonshining empire slain by a rival mafia family. To accomplish this goal, those in attendance played a large-scale game similar to “Clue.” Each table, who all belonged to various different gangs, had to deduce the motives, means, and opportunities of each organization and use the information given to see which best fit the circumstances surrounding the Tracy Gang massacre.
Not only that, but guests were treated to a piece of Redlands history. The building itself was once a speakeasy, hence its name and theme for the evening, complete with a secret door equipped with a place to fit a gun in case of trouble and a light that warned party-goers of police raids. Though the event itself had a few historical anachronisms, given the fact that some of the characters players could portray for the night included Jack the Ripper, a serial killer from the 1880s, and the Kray Twins, two mobsters from the 1950/60s, along with the standard pun names, the story of the place can make one forget about the event’s confused chronology.
Regardless of timeline, the event itself was nothing short of entertaining.
Though it was not without fault. Food distribution was slow, with it taking about fifteen to twenty minutes for all the tables to be called up and go through the line. But more notably, one table’s answer to who killed the Tracy Gang was not acknowledged. As said by those in the group, the paper they submitted their answer on was taken, but never officially put into the box where the votes were drawn due to a miscommunication between themselves and the staff. Nevertheless, according to a majority of guests after the fact, the experience of this murder mystery dinner was well worth the price and many patrons are looking forward to attending the gathering again next year.
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