We had a team celebration today at Kells and it was a rather fun murder mystery dinner (well, lunch) theater from Eddie May Mysteries.

The idea is that, while you eat, there are actors who come in portraying different suspects in a murder mystery. You talk to them, they leave “clues” and “evidence” at your table, and at the end you have to figure out who the killer was.

Our mystery took place supposedly in 1929, so all the actors had costumes on and acted like it was the roaring ’20s.

At one point, one of the characters left some “evidence” at our table - a purse with a bloody handkerchief in it.

Now, I’m a fan of mystery movies and such, so the first thing I start thinking is, red herring. I mean, no way it’s going to be this blatant, right?

Finally we got a chance to ask the characters questions, sort of near the end. The actress who had the bloody handkerchief sat down and I started thinking… given the time period… woman with a bloody handkerchief… maybe not living the healthiest lifestyle…

“Are you sick?” I asked.

“What?” The actress looked a little shocked.

“Sick. Are you sick? Like, not mentally ill, but physically. Do you have any disease?”

“Why do you ask?” She looked legitimately confused and started acting like I was being offensive to her character.

“Well, given the time frame, somewhat close to turn of the century, I’m wondering if you have tuberculosis. Consumption. You have a bloody handkerchief in your purse and there’s no way it’s that obvious.”

At this point she actually broke character. “This is what you get when you do the show for smart people. I’ve been doing this show for years and I’ve literally never heard anyone ask that question. Have you ever heard of Occam’s razor?”

I couldn’t help but giggle a little. “Yeah.”

“OK, good. Think way… way… way simpler than that. Truly, you’re overthinking it.” She laughed a little.

So… Maybe I should stop watching so many mystery movies. I always expect it to be this crazy convoluted thing now and I ignore the obvious stuff.

I ended up getting it right, despite over-thinking it.

Anyway, it was a pretty sweet event. The actors were good and were obviously having fun with it, which made it all the more fun for us. I would totally do it again.