Tag: cozy-mystery

Finding J Mitchell is a Fun, Light Whodunnit With a Nicely Constructed Script.

Finding J Mitchell is a new comedy murder mystery play by Kiernon James having its world premiere this month at the Gremlin Theatre in St. Paul. The setting is the Shady Oak Lodge in Wisconsin run by Shelly and Jerry Brenner. It’s a quite place, where nothing ever happens at least according to the young errand girl, Molly. That is until now, with thirteen characters two of which will be dead before the end of the play there are plenty of suspects and lots of clues to mislead the audience.

Alison Anderson, Edwin Strout, Ward Eames, Nicole Wood Photo by BTE Media

Rounding out the locals are Chuck, Jerry’s hunting buddy who is also the town Sheriff and his deputy and Molly’s father Rob (no relation). Guests include Diane, a Senator whom Shelly used to be an Aid for; Kyle, her current aid; Alex, a P.I. from Chicago whose on the trail of a burglar known as J. Mitchell; Belinda, who is Alex’s client and wants the burglar who also killed her husband caught; Victoria Reichert, the governor’s wife who arrives a day early unexpectedly; Nate, her driver; Heather Sullivan, a journalist on the trail of a story; and a mysterious psychic named Jolie Donavon who arrives without notice. There is a survey in the program that allows you to keep track of the characters and make your guesses during intermission to compare with your friends afterwards. I got one of the who dunnits right, but didn’t quite have the motive figured out. It’s a very well scripted mystery with red herrings and real clues aplenty. The solution(s) make sense but are anything but simple and straight forward, which makes it hard to solve, but possible, which is the best kind of mystery.

The performances are good enough for what this is. Special shout out to my favorite performer of the show, Elliot Mayne who plays the young errand girl Molly, whom I’d guess was about 10 years old give or take 2 years, great job! If you like whodunnits, which I do, this is something to check out. If you do not, there’s not going to be anything to recommend this to you. There is definitely a community theater feel to the production. It has a solid set design by Marvin Jonason, some nice lighting effects and sound design from Ariel Pinkerton and Robert Hoffman, I’m a sucker for an effective thunderstorm. The costumes by Genevieve Kafka are nicely realized I really thought the garb worn by Jerry and Chuck helped telegraph their characters nicely right from the start. The show is directed by Brian P. Joyce effectively moving the multitude of characters in and out of the space leaving you always a little off balance in terms of remembering who was where and when. I brought the Aged P with me for Mother’s Day and we both really enjoyed the mystery and trying to figure out the solution. It’s a show best suited for Britbox junkies and Murder She Wrote fans, if that sounds like you, this should be a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.

Finding J Mitchell runs through June 1st at the Gremlin Theatre in St. Paul. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://kiernonjames.com/fjm-show/

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Alma Murder is the Best Class Reunion You’ll Ever Attend, Murder Included at The Mystery Cafe.

Faithful readers will know that this is not my first time trying to assist a bunch of actors solve a crime. But it is fair to say I’ve never successfully unmasked the killer/thief. Tonight was no exception. Yes I love a whodunnit but no, I’m not very good as a detective. Which would only matter if I was competitive, which I’m not. Just like board games or trivia nights, I don’t care if I win, I just like to play. This is my fourth Mystery Cafe adventure and it’s surprising how different they can be. This one set at an all years class reunion for Mellencamp High School, “Go Cougars!!!” differed from the others I’ve attended in that it featured less of the broad humor I’d come to expect from The Mystery Cafe. There is still humor so don’t be disappointed when you read that, but this one isn’t quite as overflowing with the kind of Dad joke, punny, and broad humor that I’ve noticed in the previous productions. That’s not a good or bad thing, just a difference. This one like all of them is possible to solve, my problem is I get hung up on motives when everyone has one. The key is to think about who had opportunity, who knew things that others didn’t, who lied about something. If you ask yourself more than just who had a motive, you can logically get there.

The cast of this production is a lot of fun. You have Adam Fielitz as Jack to Heather Meyer’s Diane. Jackie was gon’ be a football star, Diane’s debutante backseat of Jackie’s car, along with Class President, head cheerleader, Prom and Homecoming Queen. But that was years ago, now they are a middle aged married couple. Diane is still trying to run the world including organizing the Class Reunion, while her ex-jock husband who seems to have suffered a few too many concussions runs her father’s car dealership. Pete Colburn plays Principal Blake who is devastated by the fact that come Monday morning they are tearing down Mellencamp Senior High, where he has spent the last 40 years. Standing by him to wipe his nose and keep the school organized is the school secretary Ms. Belleweather played by Brittany Oberstadt, who has a secret crush. Acting as D.J. is Patina played by Jessika Wheeler who has some pretty funny music queues, but also spins some fun tunes. As Stanley, the class nerd who made it big, is Josh Carson fresh off his sold out run of the final season on A Very Die Hard Christmas. Stanley wants revenge on everyone who went to the High School. When secrets are revealed and it’s clear that he has something horrible in store for everyone of the other characters, you begin to think to yourself. He’s the baddie, he’s definitely going to get killed because everyone here has a motive to kill him. And that’s all I’m going to say about the plot of the show.

If you enjoy trying to solve mysteries, eating a nice meal while interacting at whatever your comfort level is with actors, and getting caught in the rain, you’ll enjoy any of The Mystery Cafe Shows. They have another show running through January as well called Til Death Do Us Die which I saw and enjoyed last year click here to read that review https://bit.ly/41TqaJh . For more about Alma Murder: A Killer Class Reunion and to purchase tickets go to https://www.themysterycafe.com/alma-murder. The Mystery Cafe can also be hired to perform for private functions whether it’s a family reunion or office party. The stories and humor are always PG and just good clean fun for everyone. I enjoy them immensely and have given tickets as gifts two years in a row now. Hopefully there is a new show or two next year so I can make it into a tradition.

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