"Cocktails & Costumes: A Murder Mystery Rooftop Experience in Detroit"
The Murder Mystery Co.
Detroit, Mich.
June 27, 2025
Games and dress-up are two of my favorite activities, so I’m always down for a glamorous murder mystery night like the debut “Cocktails and Costumes” event Friday from The Murder Mystery Co. (MMC) and Rock Events. With a masquerade ball theme, guests dressed to the nines for an interactive whodunnit on The Madison Rooftop in downtown Detroit.
I’ve done a handful of murder mystery experiences in my life, and they follow a pretty standard format: Costumed guests are divided into teams, tasked with solving a “murder” that is committed at the beginning of the event. Participants are introduced to a cast of characters and suspects, each with his or her own backstory to learn. The cast is a mix of official actors involved in the experience and volunteer guests. Each team receives a different binder with the backstory of a particular character, plus play money to use to gather clues.
The information in the binders is revealed in rounds, one page at a time. In between, guests mingle with other tables, interviewing and paying off individual characters to learn about their occupations, relationships and whereabouts to determine possible motives and access to the victim and weapons. In the end, teams gather to decide who the murderer was, why they did it and how they did it.
Our mystery was set at a masquerade ball for an exclusive Billionaires' Club. The president of the club “died” at the beginning of the evening after apparently drinking a poisoned shot. We met our suspects: a TV show host, a plastic surgeon, an insurance adjuster, a college friend and other rich club members, plus the butler and the maid. As we conducted our interviews, we learned of illicit affairs, blackmail attempts and failed ambitions that offered a range of murder scenario options.
While my team did not, in fact, guess correctly, the evening was a lot of fun. My friend and I joined a team with about eight people. We got along well doing our best to divide and conquer the clue-gathering work and put the puzzle together at the end.
Murder mysteries are ultimately a group project. For those who just want to dress up and have fun, all is good. For those on the more competitive side, it can be a bit chaotic to follow all the storylines and share and analyze information with strangers. After my first murder mystery experience, I tried to move myself closer to the former of the two options, though I’m competitive and an avid puzzle-solver at my core.
When half the suspects are guest volunteers (instead of the trained actors), you’re at their mercy to deliver the clues correctly, hopefully with some sort of enthusiasm and articulation, which can be a challenge. The trained actors did a good job of guiding participants where they needed to go. But I was completely thrown off when one of the volunteer characters misunderstood the information on his card, which was frustrating. In my ideal world, all the suspects would be paid actors who understand what’s going on, though that has not been the norm in my experience.
Just being out on rooftop was lovely. We enjoyed delicious complimentary desserts like gourmet cheesecake bites, brownies, mini cupcakes, and chocolate-covered strawberries, and drinks were available for purchase. At the tail end of an insane heat wave with the threat of thunderstorms looming, we lucked out with comfortably warm weather and clear skies that gave us a beautiful sunset as the night went on, plus views of downtown Detroit.
MMC is offering a second rooftop “Cocktails and Costumes” murder mystery event July 25, this time with a 1920s theme. They also offer customized private parties with themes like Old Hollywood, the 1980s, the 1950s, and the 1990s.
While it might not be a cutthroat competition for die-hard mystery-solvers, “Cocktails and Costumes” is a playful, glamorous way to challenge yourself and connect with others. But if you’re going to be a volunteer character, please embrace your inner thespian – or at least read the card correctly.
