It was a Friday night in my apartment on March 11, 2011. The gingham-red table cloth was pulled out and candle sticks were lit while classic Italian music played in the background as my dinner guests arrived. While aromas of pesto pasta & fresh garlic bread alongside a caesar salad wafted throughout my apartment, this was not your typical Friday night dinner party. Tonight was my much anticipated murder mystery dinner party for 10, and I, French Winemaker Bo Jolais, welcomed my guests; Momma Rossa, Rocco Scarfazzi, Tara Misu, Claire Voyant, Father Al Fredo, Angel Roni, & Marco Roni. The key to the success of the evening was inviting friends who would arrive in costume and embrace their characters’ descriptions, and my guests did just that. I was in tears laughing at their attire as well as their attempts to maintain Italian accents throughout the evening, which quickly declined as the chianti flowed. I cannot express how much fun it is to host one of these events. I received the "Passion, Pasta & Pistols" gift box for Christmas from my family, which you can order from a variety of web sites and stores such as amazon.com. Inside of the package are professional invitations to mail out to your guests which list off all of the characters, their descriptions and costume ideas. You also receive booklets for each guest to be opened on the night of the event which has all the dialogue and questions for each character to ask and details to reveal if asked. Some even come with DVDs with video clips to enhance the story telling and set the tone for the evening's crime to be resolved. While I had read the rules and instructions ahead of time, I did find it to be a bit challenging and confusing to be both host and a character, and we found that having one guest as the dedicated host for the evening allowed for the game to flow much better. We also found the books being written in 3rd person to be a bit of a word jumble as we attempted to translate the dialogue into 1st person, but again, the chianti probably didn't help too much either. By the end of the game everyone was completely involved in the game, including the few guests who attended but did not necessarily have a roll to play, and only one of the 10 participants actually accused the correct guilty person. I have personally attended three of these murder mystery dinner parties and every single one of them has been an evening of tremendous fun, laughter, and a great way for your friends to have a shared unique exerience that you know they'll be talking about on Monday at work. I have to be honest, I am usually against the 1970s concept of "game-night", however I have to say these murder mystery games bring a whole new dynamite and definition to game nights -- I can't wait to host another one!!
