Contra Costa Times

What's for dinner? Customized murder

By Roberta Alexander

It started as a quiet, elegant dinner for 40 Tuesday at the Lafayette Park Hotel and turned into an evening of violence, giggles and deduction, as Murder on the Menu knocked off a few more people.

Hosted by Schering, the drug company, the dinner was a show of appreciation for the pharmacists and physicians who prescribe the company's anti-allergy medications.

In a murder game tailored to guests' medical interests, participants learned that the dinner was in honor of the very wealthy Dr. Harry Doctor, a prominent allergist and vineyard owner who had died in a fall at his Livermore home.

As the salads were being served, Doctor's widow, the glamorous Blaze; his sister, Judy, a fashion designer-wannabe; his scientist daughter, Susan; and Susan's lazy husband, Richard Profit, began describing their relationships. They soon moved on to accusing each other of nefarious motives.

Eventually, it was up to Frank T. Lawman and the assorted guests to figure out who killed Doctor, shot Blaze, strangled Susan, poisoned Judy and stabbed Richard (don't ask; it all made sense).

Members of the audience were worked into the plot, and some guests got into the game on their own: an unscripted addition was the pregnant woman who announced that she had killed Doctor because he had gotten her into a delicate condition.

The cast -- Randall Miller, Mitzie Abe, Nancy Gold and Alf Adams -- visited the tables to cast aspersions on each other and answer questions posed by guests. Assorted clues left on the tables gave people a few ideas of what lines to pursue.

As the last bites of chocolate cake disappeared, guests recorded their solutions. All the clues were there, and some of the guesses were right on the money.

Whodunit

The wizard behind the curtain at Murder on the Menu is Oakland resident Janet Rudolph. In an industry in which even writers with several mysteries to their credit cannot afford to quit their day jobs, and independent bookstores are an endangered species, Rudolph has created a dream career.

Murder on the Menu was born almost bv accident.

Rudolph, a Philadelphia native with a doctorate in religion and literature, had been teaching extension classes in the Bay Area, eventually specializing in women and mystery. In 1984, she founded the Mystery Readers Journal; each quarterly issue focuses on a different theme: English mysteries, technological mysteries, sports mysteries, etc.

Her expertise brought an invitation to serve on a radio panel, whose producer was organizing some mystery events.

"He was doing it Hollywood style," Rudolph said with a chuckle. "That's organize first, get a script later.

"After the show, he asked me if I knew anyone who could write scripts for these events. I told him that I could."

They worked together for nearly two years, with the producer finding the jobs and Rudolph writing the scripts and hiring the actors. Then she struck out on her own.

Still, she said, "I didn't quit my day job," which was working with juvenile offenders in Richmond.

Then came the next surprise: To run her own business, "I had to learn marketing." It was a bit of a stretch for a liberal-arts type with a resume full of do-gooder jobs.

"But I loved it," she said. "I love to sell on the phone, to follow up, to get to know what people want."

These days, much of Rudolph's business comes from recommendations from corporate clients. Putting together one of her productions involves good phone manners, a lot of detective work, a solitary stint at the computer and the organizational skills of a battle planner.

A brain teaser

Any murder game is interactive entertainment: A small cadre of actors performs scenes and then mingles with the audience, remaining in character, while answering questions. At the end of the event, guests offer their solution, and prizes are usually awarded.

Any number of dinner theaters around the Bay Area offer murder games. Rudolph has taken the format a step further, crafting a script to fit the organization and people in attendance.

She starts with the jargon of her clients and their industry's important issues. And then she questions her party-planner: who is coming? what are their hobbies? what are their quirks?

From the mass of data, she produces a personalized script that pulls the guests into the drama. While you are questioning the chef about his mysterious past, he is likely to ask you if any witnesses can prove you were on the golf course this morning.

This sort of performance requires a high level of skill, and Rudolph says she has been working with many of the same actors for years.

"They need to know how to work off a script, how to use jargon correctly and how to understand and stay in character throughout," she said.

It's not exactly improvisational theater, but it's a lot less structured than staying safely on the stage.

For Rudolph, whose day starts with 4 a.m. writing sessions, the laughter of participants hunting down clues in a hotel, winery, ranch or garden is music to her ears.

In fact, there's no mystery to Murder on the Menu, just a self-described workaholic writer who has probably killed more people than anyone else in the Bay Area.

That little cackle you hear is probably Janet Rudolph, quietly plotting another demise.

(Hey, boss, wouldn't it be fun to have a murder here at the Times?)

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