Before March, Karmen Ailes and Rebekah Ward had led lives without mystery.
During the day, Ailes was working full time as an insurance agent. Her daughter, Ward, was taking a full course load at Ivy Tech Community College.
But starting this spring, in addition to their day jobs, the mother-daughter duo began hosting dinner parties every other month — always with a side of murder.
As part of their small business, called Appetite for Murder, the two stage murder mystery dinner parties, complete with a fully catered dinner.
"[The events] are never scary," Ward said, "and no real or fake weapons are involved."
Ailes had also done a few murder mystery events at conferences for her job at United Insurance Agencies as the preferred insurance agent for the Indiana Bed and Breakfast Association.
The mother and daughter participated in a murder mystery dinner during a Spring Break trip and loved it so much that they brought back the idea to host a 1920s-themed murder mystery game for Ward's 17th birthday party.
"It's something we'd seen done at hotel resorts along the coast but didn't know of anything like it [in Muncie]," Ward said. "Everyone had a blast, and it's something fun to do together."
Ailes and Ward channeled their murder mystery interests in March and spent late nights talking about selecting murders to create their own participatory murder mystery dinner business.
Soon after, the pair decided on a name for their venture, Appetite for Murder, and began looking into making themselves a limited liability corporation.
Because of work and full-time classes, separating responsibilities for Appetite for Murder is essential for productivity, said Ward, who manages the business's Web site and advertising.
"There will be days when [Ailes] will be at work and I've been at school and work; then when she's in bed I'll work on the Web site," she said. "Or we'll dedicate a day and we'll do some stuff together. We do a lot of things together anyway."
On good days, working together on the business with Ward is a bonding activity, but working as a mother-daughter team can have its ups and downs, Ailes joked.
"More so than not, what happens is that we both have the same personality, so when it gets down to crunch time we bicker and yell about getting things done," she said. "Then when it's over and the event was successful we kind of sit and laugh about it."
Ailes and Ward took a break from Appetite for Murder over the summer and are gearing up for a new season of business.
"It's our little thing that we get to do as mother and daughter. She's teaching me about what it takes to run a business, so I'm learning stuff with that — interviews, advertising and networking — every day," Ward said.
So far they are still working to break even from purchasing office equipment and advertising to promote the business. They have one public murder mystery event planned every other month for the rest of the year, Ailes said.
"The profit margin is not huge on this," Ailes said. "This is something we do because we enjoy doing it. It's not a huge money-maker."
Ailes and Ward host their murder events from a boxed mystery game made by an outside company called Dinner and a Murder. The premise and outcome of each game is already predetermined, but each game is dependent on how participants interact with each other and interpret their characters, which are assigned to guests before they arrive at the event.
Themes range from The Four Deuces, a murder set in the 1920s, to the spa-themed Death By Chocolate mystery.
Participants are also encouraged to dress up in themed costumes that fit their character's persona.
Friday's murder mystery event, "The Immortal Murders," is set at a costume ball and features vampire, werewolf, fairy and magician characters, Ward said.
"[The theme] is very Twilightish," Ailes explained.
Ailes described the events like a real-life Clue game: Participants are issued fake money and are encouraged to use it for bribery, extortion, blackmail and to buy secrets or weapon cards.
"You might be able to come across a murder weapon, that if needed, you can use in order to murder someone, but you must have a motive," she said.
At least one person always solves the mystery by the end of the night, and on average 20 percent of people from the event tend to figure out who committed the murder, Ailes said.
She said what keeps the game exciting for them is the fact that besides a few confrontations that must happen to move along the game's plot, all events are unscripted.
"A lot of people come who don't know each other," she said. "One lady in a confrontation started screaming at this woman who she didn't even know. Everyone started feeding off that and got into this big confrontation, but it's just all a part of the game."
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
