We had a fun and different evening for last night’s entertainment. Our son and daughter-in-law from Columbus, Ohio came over to Indianapolis and treated us to an evening at the Indy version of The Dinner Detective murder mystery dinner show.

Where the body was found!

The show was held in a decent sized conference room at the Sheraton Hotel in the Keystone Mall on the north side of Indianapolis. Our party had seven, including three of our adult grandkids. The table sat 10, so another couple was seated, and before the show started another fellow sat down. We all wondered if this fellow was in fact part of the show.

Interaction between cast and audience

All attendees had made up “aliases” for name tags. Sher was Nancy Drew. The crowd was encouraged to question as many other guests as possible, and begin to make a suspect list. Soon after we began eating the murder victim made his appearance with a mortal wound and died on the floor.  Thus the mystery commenced.

The detective hovering over the victim’s body

Two “Police Detectives” soon came out and began the investigation. They interviewed and interacted with many of the audience. There was constant funny patter, including some hilarious one liners and great improvisation. The lack of an obvious script was a bonus.

This was the “Curtain Call” for the cast

Clues were discovered, some under some of the plates on the tables, some from printed pages giving background information for the plot. The flow of the acting was pretty much constant. The two police detectives did a great job keeping the storyline on track. The plot was quite complicated and only one person got all the details correctly.

Vegetarian Farro Risotto

Chicken Marsala

The rich dessert

All of this action took place while we were enjoying the very nice multi course meal. It started with Caesar salad. Entrees offered were Chicken Marsala, Pan Seared Tilapia, and vegetarian Farro Risotto, all topped off with a decadent rich chocolate cake. There was also a full service bar that was open the entire time. The meal was good, however the table service left a lot to be desired. That was really our only disappointment of the evening.

The company logo

We had a great time being immersed in this murder mystery. The Dinner Detective has over 80 locations in cities all over the country. Check to see if there is one near you.