The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph courtesy of Mystery by Design

Who Done It? Mystery by Design's Katie Hassett has written many mysteries for her dinner theater company, including 'The Butler Didn't Do It,' starring (top, left to right) Fred Hassett, David White, Jan Casper, David Fencl, and (bottom, left to right) Cath Sheldon, Debby Wright and Marilyn Berger. Hassett's most recent drama is set on a cruise ship.

Serving up death with dinner

Local resident's Mystery by Design takes participants on a murderous ride

By Cecily Barnes

At first glance, Pacific Fresh in Sunnyvale seems like any other upscale restaurant, complete with a hostess, bar and eating area. However, with special reservations, customers get more than just fresh fish and dinner rolls--they get a murder mystery, written and directed by Willow Glen resident Katie Hassett.

Upon their arrival, a hostess leads patrons into a private dining area, a.k.a. the S.S. Sieve cruise ship, en route to Hong Kong. Cruise director Guy DeBrooke greets "passengers" with a clipboard and a wide smile, asking where everyone is from and what they plan to do in Hong Kong.

Black-aproned wait servers run in and out lightfootedly, careful not to get in the way.

"They have to time their service as closely as possible with the different scenes," said Chew Wong, co-owner of Pacific Fresh. "They have to be very good with timing, and they are."

Crew members from the S.S. Sieve approach the tables, telling how they will provide musical entertainment on board or help folks improve their golf game. Dramamine is available for seasickness. The wait crew scurries in, takes orders, delivers drinks and scurries out. The show begins.

Striding between rows of tables, cruise director Guy DeBrooke addresses the room of nearly 120, as if talking to passengers on a ship. The crew members introduce themselves not only to the passengers but to each other. Turns out some crew members have a history together--love affairs gone bad and gambling debts owed.

"If I had known you were on this cruise, I never would have gone," Dora screams at her ex-boyfriend and gambling partner Phelan. Discussions for all to hear prove bad feelings are rampant among the crew members of the S.S. Sieve, who often shout hostile words and threats. To these, the audience responds with "oohs" and "aahhs."

Between scenes, servers run up and down the aisles, filling water glasses, delivering wine and exchanging salad plates for meals. During these intervals, "passengers" talk among themselves, about the "cruise" if they wish, or about the stock market and the showdown with Iraq.

Minutes after the main course arrives, the audience is startled by a loud shot, and Phelan staggers among the tables with blood on his shirt. The entire crew parades into the dining area to see what has happened, and accusations begin to fly. Since no one confesses to the crime, solution sheets are passed around and "passengers" are asked to determine "whodunnit." The customer who solves the crime is rewarded with a prize.

Willow Glen resident Hassett has been serving death with dinner for 13 years through her company, Mystery by Design. Besides weekly mystery dinners at Pacific Fresh, Hassett designs special mysteries for all sorts of Silicon Valley companies, including Silicon Graphics, 3Com, Apple and HP.

"When it's a private mystery for a company or organization, I get a lot of information about the company and people and write a special dialogue," Hassett said. "We're doing one for Selectron called Deadly Dancing, and we're doing Magic Spells Murder for Wireless Access."

Hassett got the idea for Mystery by Design while traveling in England, where theater groups hold weekend-long murder mysteries. "We decided we could do them in one evening," she said.

When Hassett started Mystery by Design, the performing arts were nothing new to her. At age 7, she traveled with the Midwest Orpheum Circuit, singing and dancing for the audience between movies. In her teenage years, Hassett moved on to singing at funerals and weddings, and in college she sang with a band. After college, Hassett married and went into the theater professionally, where she acted and directed. The entire time, she kept up with her favorite reading-- mystery novels.

"I started when I was a kid, with Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys," Hassett said. "I kept progressing to Agatha Christie, and now I read all kinds of mysteries."

She also writes her own, about one every two months. Hassett also hires all the actors and directs the performances. Rehearsals are often held at her Willow Glen home, where she's lived for the past 19 years.

"Somebody gets murdered every time, and it's up to the audience to discover who did it," Hassett said.

Apparently, Mystery by Design is a win-win situation for all involved. Pacific Fresh's Wong says the mysteries bring in extra business for his restaurant.

"I suspect the people who come here are a mixture of those who see the ads and those who find out about it when they visit the restaurant," Wong said. "This is a great success for the both of us."

[ Back to Contents Page | Willow Glen Resident Home Page | Archives ]