Stealing the Scene

The mystery about the ever-popular mystery parties is, who started them? That would be Santa Clarita resident Sean Wright--creator, writer, director and often performer in the Plot Thickens mystery train rides and parties.

According to Wright, who has been a researcher and writer for “Jeopardy,” “Quiz Kids Challenge” and other game shows, he produced the first mystery train trip--from Los Angeles to San Francisco--in 1983. This garnered worldwide press coverage, and suddenly business was booming. He began working by appointment, creating mysteries to fit each client.

“My idea prompted many little theater groups around the country to get into the act,” Wright said. “But they usually prepared one specific mystery at a given location.” The same, he said, is true of of most of his competitors.

“My parties are different. I write the story for the people who hire me and I use good, professional actors. There is always a detective involved and it isn’t always Sherlock Holmes,” he said. “It can be Sam Spade, Lord Peter Wimsey, Hercule Poirot and Nick and Nora Charles. There are no TV detectives, no Columbo. We employ literary detectives, exclusively so.”

Wright comes by this dramatic specialty naturally. He was founder, in 1970, of the local Sherlock Holmes Society, the Non-Canonical Calabashes. The group was a scion society of the Baker Street Irregulars, the national association that has about 300 groups throughout the country.

According to Wright, Dr. Watson insists that Holmes is now 144 and lives in Sussex, where he keeps bees. (No one has seen an obituary notice.)

Although Wright has been away from the Holmes group for six years, it was the events they held that led to his creation of the mystery parties.

In 1976, he decided to have members solve a murder mystery at a dinner in a Los Feliz restaurant. One of the members killed Wright’s character when the lights were out.

The next year the society was kidnapped from the downtown bar where its members were meeting and taken by bus to the Big Yellow House restaurant in Summerland.

At another meeting, the guest speaker was kidnapped (he was in on the plot, fortunately). The people attending had to find the clues to solve the crime. The experience was so enjoyable that Wright continued these events. Word spread and soon he was creating murder mysteries for people not in the club.

That led to his 1983 mystery train trip, which proved so successful that it was followed by a four-day trip to the Grand Canyon.

Wright has done mystery parties for a single couple and for as many as 1,000 people. Clients have been IBM Real Estate, TRW Space and Defense Systems, Pacific Bell, Century Plaza Hotel, Embassy Suites, George Barris Ferrari Car Club and many more.

The mystery for the couple began at their home. Then they took a limousine to the Queen Mary and surrounding sites where they met the suspects, ending with a dinner at the Magic Castle.

At another private party, a man wanted to give his wife a $3,000 pearl necklace, so the clues were hidden around the house. A waiter revealed he was Sherlock Holmes and searched the home. It took an hour to find the necklace based upon the story Wright created.

In Valencia, an unusual mystery wedding involved 30 guests on horseback, because the couple had met at a riding stable. Just before the “I do’s,” someone grabbed the bride and rode off with her. The guests had to find her.

At Wright’s mystery party for a brokerage firm, 1,000 employees had to solve a crime that took place at the dome of the Spruce Goose in Long Beach, done in conjunction with the promotion of the attraction.

While some of Wright’s clients have been demanding, he has always been able to fill the bill.

“We’ve had lawyers call and want a Perry Mason story. One started at law offices downtown and then went to a mansion in Pasadena and had a dinner party. One of the actors was the murdered person at the office and then was seen again at the mansion as the twin brother.” Wright played the judge and at first ruled for Perry Mason. “It was funny and the lawyers loved it,” he says.

“I’m always writing a new mystery that reflects an aspect of your life or business and friends and employees. If someone has a hobby, I write it into the mystery. There are always funny things that occur. It moves action along, but we don’t treat the production as a comedy. It’s not a performance, it’s environmental theater. We also do it to educate. There are usually 10 actors. A few die leaving many suspects.”

The whole event, he added, is make-believe for adults, who are given various means of preparing themselves. “It’s like you’ve read the first half of a mystery novel and you get to leap into the pages and become a character yourself.”

He wants the guests to be participants and characters in the mystery. “At the beginning, everyone gets a notebook and pen to note clues and suspects. And we always send the guests a synopsis of the mystery ahead of time. They read thumbnail sketches of the suspects they will meet and we encourage our guests to question the suspects and go over the details with our detectives.”

It is this attention to detail, Wright insists, that makes his company unique. “I have the people come to a seance, reading of a will or some event that they become part of. It could be in an office or on a train. We give them a reason for attending.”

But all the effort produces an elaborate, and often pricey, event. For example, a three-day, two-night mystery train trip can cost from $650 to $700 per person. But this does include the train fare, excellent hotels, restaurants and food.

A mystery train trip to San Juan Capistrano or Ventura from Los Angeles, including dinner at a French restaurant, can run $150 per person for 40 people or more. With fewer people the price goes up.

While many of his competitors undercut his price, Wright insists that clients get what they pay for. “People get the idea that every mystery is $50 to $65 because many restaurants offer the event for this price and call it a mystery meal. They don’t know all the background work that goes into mine. He’s quick to reiterate that he originated the whole concept. “I refuse to do it on the cheap. I want to do it with class.”

Wright prefers to do the mystery on the move, such as on a train, because more can be done. During one overnight trip, guests spent time playing hearts and other games with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

Though Wright doesn’t spend money on advertising, the business is coming in. Now he is preparing special mystery nights for the holiday season.

“People call having been conditioned not to ask questions,” he said. “I ask questions about the occasion. People have a unique chance to fashion their own story. Guests will remember the event as your mystery. It reflects on the host or hostess.”

As for future plans, Wright says, “I want to do a millennium mystery from Los Angeles to Greenwich, England, and be there at the prime meridian at exactly 2000.”

BE THERE

Sean Wright, the Plot Thickens, (805) 222-7363, (213) 465-6374.