Dead Like Me - Comedy-Mystery Dinner Theater

Jest Murder Mystery Company is running Dead! Like Me. at The Lemp Mansion on Saturday, October 17, as part of a run that goes through the end of the month. It's a comedy-mystery dinner, so you're eating a multi-course meal while a fictional investigation unfolds around you. You don't just sit and watch; you talk to the actors and piece together clues to figure out whodunit. The shows change seasonally, and this one is their afterlife-inspired theme.

Dead! Like Me. brings together a cast of the deceased at the annual meeting of The Brotherhood of Obituary Occupants—BOO, for short—with P.T. Barnum up to his usual tricks. It's a lighthearted take on the afterlife, and since it's a comedy, the focus is as much on the laughs as it is on the mystery. If you've never done a murder mystery dinner, this is a good place to start: you get a full dinner and a show in one night, and you're part of the story rather than just an observer.

The venue is The Lemp Mansion, a St. Louis landmark built in 1868 that now runs as a restaurant and inn. It's open for lunch Monday through Friday and handles banquets, weddings, and ghost hunting tours, so it's a spot that knows how to do a crowd. The dinner theater is one of the things it's known for, and Jest Murder Mystery Company is the group behind it.

Tickets are $72.95 per person, which includes gratuity, though tax is extra. The show starts at 7 PM, and it runs on Fridays and Saturdays from August 28 through October 31, so you've got plenty of dates to choose from if Saturday doesn't work. If you're looking for something for a larger group, they also book private comedy-mystery dinners any day, any time, with a private room fee from $200 to $2,900 plus an actors' fee per event.