ur name must be getting around out there. Customers have witnessed our Murder Mysteries throughout Northern California, from San Francisco to San Jose, including the East Bay, North Bay and South Bay. We've received a good deal of press from folks who have enjoyed a good old-fashioned night of Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre. If you come across a review that is not listed below, please email us and let us know. We'd love to add to the collection.

Mystery Dinner to Raise Funds for Camel Barns By Maya Strausberg (Benicia Herald, Oct. 21, 2006) Never before has solving a murder been so fun. But that's exactly what it is when "The Maltese Crow Murder" comes to the Benicia Historical Museum Saturday, Oct. 14 at 6:45 p.m. Gibson House Mystery Performers present a murder mystery that will keep you guessing the whole night. This interactive dinner theatre will offer the audience members a chance to play detective. Solving the murder may even mean winning a prize. This is Gibons House's third production in Benicia, following "Murder in the Old Wild West" and "Funeral for a Gangster." diablo Magazine Top 10 Things to Do (January, 2005) Set your Nancy Drew alter ego free at the Mystery Dinner Theater’s Murder in the Old Wild West. Enjoy a meal in the authentic Western setting of the old Pleasanton Hotel, and try to figure out whodunit. (925) 846-8106, www.pleasantonhotel.com. Maltese Crow Entertains Locals at Camel Barns By Richard Parks (Benicia Herald, Oct. 18, 2006) SATURDAY -- About 40 Benicians decked out in thirties attire gathered at the Benicia Historical Museum at the Camel Barns for a murder mystery dinner theatre show staged by Gbison House Mystery Performers. The Maltese Crow, a spoof on the plot of the Bay Area pulp novel by Dashiell Hammett, was performed in three acts: one with drinks, the second after the salad, and the thrird between the entree and dessert. Click here to download the full article. Streetlights, Acting Up By Tony Owen (Inside Benicia, 2006) What happens to a state speech and debate champion after high school? What do valedictorians do? Where do opening acts for Jefferson Airplane and The Doors end up? On Broadway, if they follow the path of Benician John Gibson, hanging out on 42nd Street eating 25 cent hotdogs, drinking 10 cent Cokes and sneaking out of fleabag hotels when the cash runs out. "I never did any acting in high school," says Gibson in his smooth dark chocolate voice, "I got the bug, tho, so when the rock band broke up after the lead guitar player got drafted, I sold everything and would up in New York with $50 in my pocket." Click here to download the full article. Murder Mystery Slays at Liberty Hotel Restaurant By pittsburgca.net (April, 2006) Dining out at the Liberty Hotel Restaurant in Pittsburg doesn’t usually involve murder with the merlot, but just about every other month, the GibsonHouse Mystery Performers take over, and its always “curtains” for one of them. Recently, “Murder at the Liberty Hotel, A Deadly Bingo Night,” was performed, a new mystery written by Serena Gibson-Torres who also acts with the troupe. At these dinners sure to end in the demise of one of the cast, even the first introduction to the character’s name brings a chuckle. As the diners were seated, the bingo caller and host for the evening’s dinner and games, William Ding, (get it… Bill Ding) played by the delightful Tony Santucci, greeted each table and handed out the bingo cards. Once the guests had chosen a person at their table to mark the card, and be in charge to call out “Bingo,” Ding stepped up to the circular cage of marked spheres and began the game in his best ring announcer’s voice, “Lets get ready to Bingo.” But all is not perfect in Bingo land. It seems that the star of the evening’s entertainment, Miss Faye Flift, (Siobhan O’Brien) is not happy. And apparently when stars are not happy, they let the world, and the diners know why. With such a lovely voice, it’s too bad she didn’t get to sing a full song, but as she was sharing her story, we also meet her manager Earl E. Bird, played with flair by Michael Riley. It seems that both are lively characters that could be capable of “rubbing out” someone who gets in their way of having her name in lights. Speaking of characters seemingly capable of grave terminations, soon enters Annie Bodyhome, (Serena Gibson-Torres) sharing her story with the diners, followed by the bell boy, Oliver Sudden, (Steve Anthony). Mr. Sudden seems chipper, and looks dapper in his red jacket and hat, but is described as carrying a lot of baggage. (Get it…bell boy…baggage?) It really is pun heaven, in the most entertaining way. Anthony and Gibson-Torres both have a gift for physical comedy and are great fun to watch. Rounding out the cast is the debonair Mr. Royal Pain, played with charm by Alex Torres. But it seems that not all these characters are here for the bingo. At least one has murder on the mind, much to the audience’s delight. But who gets whacked? Why did they do it, and what are the clues? The actors incorporate both the location and the dinner itself into the story line, making the evening a complete experience personalized for the soon-to-be sleuths at the Liberty Hotel Restaurant. Once the crime is complete, each table gets a chance to guess who did the dastardly deed by way of a card. In case the diners missed a clue while enjoying the salad, or entrée, the poor corpse to-be manages to stagger in and utter one final clue before succumbing to whatever it was that caused their expiration. Now the diners must become the detectives and try to figure out the mystery. The cast kept the audience caught up on the plot, as well as improvising with the diners between courses. All the actors do a wonderful job, and between the fine dining, eye rolling puns and physical comedy, it’s a hoot. Guests get a few minutes to figure out the stumper, and prizes are offered for the top three guesses. It’s a great evening for birthdays, anniversaries and other special celebrations, with the cast and audience joining in for a rendition of “Happy Birthday,” and well wishes for others. The innocent cast members as well as the murderers are always happy to pose for photos as well. You can view upcoming shows at the GibsonHouse Mystery Players website, www.gibsonhouse.com. They perform six times a year at the Liberty Hotel Restaurant, and with a splendid dinner you get a chance to guess what not so macabre “murderer” is passing for innocent. The Liberty Hotel Restaurant is located at 200 E. Third St. For information call 427-1770 after 4 p.m.
Pittsburg Newspaper, September 30, 2005 by Anna Sanders “…Every other month, a night is set aside at the Liberty Hotel for murder of the most entertaining kind, served up along with a dinner to die for. Built in 1922, the brick Victorian-style hotel with its vaulted ceilings, stained-glass-accented windows and antique chandeliers, offers an ideal setting for a theatrical visit to the Wild West. As the audience is seated in the dinner area, Western-clad cast members mosey in, introducing themselves and start doing what they do best—dropping hints…” "…It's all played out between the three-course dinner, and the audience gets into the act by reading clues out loud as well as guessing who did the murderous acts. There are prizes for the team at each table that guess who the culprit is, and by the end of dessert, the mystery is solved…” View the full article (.jpg 420K)
The Stanford Daily, January 7, 2005 by Katherine Li If you have ever thought of taking your date to dinner and then the theatre(for those are you who are ultra-classy), rest assured that there is now an even more chic option that combines both: Mystery dining that involves a murder. As I was ushered into a room at the Benjamin Franklin Hotel in San Mateo, I knew at once that this would not be a typical dinner. Instead of the soft candlelight and large black stage I was expecting, there were several large round tables stationed themselves throughout the brightly lit room. I found myself seated at a circular table with seven women, all old enough to be my mom, and one misplaced youngster whose boyish looks made him look five instead of 13. Immediately, a man with a tall chef’s hat and white apron came cheerfully bounding up to the table and introduced himself as “Chef Fredo.” He would be taking care of the food during our last night aboard our fictitious cruise ship, the S.S. Amore. I eyed him suspiciously. Was he the real chef? Was he going to bring our food? Could I ask him if the salad to be served contained nuts? For a moment, reality and fantasy confounded themselves within my reason and I was quite sure I was a passenger having dinner on a cruise. The performance began... [read full dinner theatre article]
Weekender Magazine, March 2000 "Murder Among The Stars" is on the menu at Gina's Benicia Bay Restaurant every Saturday night. Opening night, Feb. 12th, was greeted with several after-scene applause, and the laughs just kept coming. The Gibson House Mystery Performers, directed by local John Gibson, have found a home in historic Benicia. Alex Torres, as "Taurus," was spellbinding as he informed the guests that the real cast of the "little mystery play" were "stuck in Lodi again". However, the famous "Madame Zodiac", hilariously played by Lisa Book-Williams graciously consents to speak in their absence. Unfortunately, Madame Zodiac dies right before our eyes, and Jonathan Caplan as Security Guard "Horace Cope" tries to solve the crime. Caplan nearly steals the show, as he bungles his way through the clues. Serena Gibson-Torres, as "Gemini", comes off best as the scatterbrained secretary of "Madame Zodiac", while Gary Hinton, as "Dr. Leo Turnbull" is the perfect heckler among the crowd.
Napa Valley Register, July 14, 2000 by Sasha Paulsen It's not on the menu, but Misto Restaurant is serving up an excellent portion of ham on Friday nights. It's the GibsonHouse Players' production of "murder on the Sea of Love," delivered in three-courses as well as three-acts; you might call it a murder to dine for. It is, of course, all in very good taste. The restaurant becomes, for the evening the SS Amore, a disaster-prone Italian honeymoon cruise ship, inhabited by a wild collection of characters, all hamming it up with gusto: a sort of "At Bertram's Hotel," meets "Monty Python." Many of the local thespians in the mystery are veterans of Dreamweavers' productions. For the evening they become Tilly and Al, and Bambi and Joey, passengers on the ill-fated ship. Tilly is an aging dancer, fluttering about in scarves, hampered only by the fact that she has lost her hearing aid in an unfortunate incident when she was trapped on a life raft with six poodles; Al, her husband, is a humorless ex-detective, who is not amused by the onboard antics. Bambi, a bimbo, is honeymooning with Joey, a smooth-talking owner of shoe stores. Joey, however, was once romantically involved with Gina, the stressed-out activities director for the ship. Gina, when she is not sending off fireworks at the lovebirds, is kept busy coping with, covering for (and dallying with) the handsome, amorous, and semi-idiotic Capt. Giovanni ("Don't tell me about problems; I'm the happy guy.") Add to this mix Fredo, a mad cook making ice sculptures of whales, and what can you come up with but murder? All this is served up with a three-course meal, beginning at 8:3- p.m., Fridays, after the closing of the Napa Chef's Market. I dropped by with my two children on a Friday evening and we got our first taste of what was in store when Bambi slithered in the front door on the arm of Joey, and up to our table where she proceeded to gush and dither while Joey preened. My kids, who are 10 and 12, are used to going to all sorts of odd events with me, but as Bambi and Joey strutted off to visit other diners, and Tilly wafted in, trailing scarves, holding an ear trumpet, followed by her glowering Al, Sam, looked at me and murmured, "Now for something completely different, Mom." Five minutes later, Gina had signed them up for the ship's talent show. This show-within-a-show is provided by the diners, at least those who want to make spectacles of themselves. This particular night disclosed an impressive array of hidden talents in the diners: One man recited a passage from "Julius Caesar," and another did imitations of Nixon,. A woman danced, outdoing even Tilly, but then she didn't have to carry an ear trumpet. Sam and Ariel told jokes, and won a prize, a detective's magnifying glass to help solve the mystery. They didn't figure it out, but then neither did anyone else in the restaurant. The closest guess was the person who said the meatloaf did it. Far be it from me to disclose who it is that staggers out of the kitchen, between the main course and dessert, splattered with -- is it blood or is it tomato sauce? As for who did it -- you'll have to see the show. It's a farce, it's inane, and it's rollicking good fun.
Times-Herald, April 25, 2000 by Rachel Raskin-Zrihen There's going to be murder and mayhem on the Napa River all summer, and residents and tourists alike couldn't be happier about it. That's because, in this case, the Play's the thing, as Benicia's GibsonHouse Mystery Performers team up with the California Wine Ship to offer Mystery Dinner Cruises. Beginning May 5, the mystery dinner troupe, which has been performing regularly at Gina's Benicia Bay Restaurant since February, will be taking its act on the road (or on the water as the case may be), offering a dining/theater experience on an authentic paddlewheel river boat cruising along the Napa River. Friday and Saturday evenings during the summer, guests who have bought their $59 tickets, will board the California Wine Ship at the ferry terminal in Vallejo for a two-hour cruise and three-course dinner, where they will try to figure out "Who Done It" from their seats in the ship's 96-seat formal dining room on the top deck. Boarding begins at 6:30 p.m. for a cast-off at 7:30 p.m. "Around 7:30, some interesting characters will begin appearing on the ship, and encouraging people to go into the formal dining room," said GibsonHouse director, John Gibson. "These will be the performers in character. This is Mystery Dinner Theater, so the premise is that a murder is committed -- sometimes two, and the guests have to guess who the culprit is. Solution cards are distributed to the guests, and points are earned for prizes. Guests are not only entertained by a great mystery play, but enjoy a great three-course meal at the same time." Gibson explained that the entire dining area serves as the stage, as the actors perform the fully-scripted, interactive plays, dropping clues within the dialogue. "Guests don't have to travel around the boat looking for clues," Gibson said, "and there are written clues, like newspapers, to be found on the tables, as well." One of Gibson's 100 or so performers from around the Bay Area hit on the idea of the collaboration while taking one of the California Wine Ship's regular cruises back in April. The subject of the Mystery Dinner Cruise was broached with the ship's owner, who contacted Gibson, and the partnership was born. "A lot of thought and groundwork has gone into this," Gibson said, "and this is unique in the area. There is something similar on the Sacramento Delta, but that ship never moves. This is the first one to actually move up and don the Napa River. It's going to be fun. I think it's exciting." The plays performed are all original works, using a wide variety of plots, each "full of intrigue, jealousy, treachery, suspicion, greed, love triangles and suspense," he added, "they're all farcical, fun, interactive and always in good taste." The California Wine ship is docked at the Vallejo Waterfront, next to the Ferry Terminal, 295 mare Island Way in Vallejo. For reservations, call (800) 750-7501.