Dinner and a Murder Mystery Games Get answers to your questions about Murder Mystery Games here

[2coolbaby]

Dinner and a Murder Mystery Games has now been an online business for 11 years! My name is Mary Lee and I am the owner of Dinner and a Murder. I have been a writer and avid role-player and murder mystery player for about 20 years. I spent 6 years in web design and web site marketing before I found myself pregnant at 39 (yes I spent 9 months in shock.)

I have 2 sons. My oldest son, Jimmy, was 25 in 2003 when he passed away. He fathered 2 daughters, ages 9 & 15, which I am fortunate to be able to keep, love and spoil every other weekend. We all miss Jimmy terribly & hold him very close in our hearts.

My youngest son is now 11. When I unexpectedly found myself pregnant with him I wanted to be a stay at home mother. I made the choice to start a murder mystery dinner show, which allowed me to work from home with my new baby boy. The problem I found was that most of the games I could find for the dinners were either too risque or just plain awful. Finally, after a particularly bad game that I bought off the web, I decided to start writing my own games. I took some elements from the games that I liked, and new ideas that I felt would improve the whole murder mystery game experience. I combined this all into a formula that I use in all my games. This formula insures that every game I write is a joy to play and easy to host. It must have been a good formula, as some have stolen my format to create their own games. Fortunately for me you cannot steal talent:wink:

After I released my first game, I ran into a problem. The demand for my games was so huge that I was bombarded with requests for more games. It didn't take me long to realize that I had to make a choice between writing games or having the dinner theater, as I didn't have time to do both. Since I really love writing the choice was simple. The response to my games has been fantastic. Everyday I receive emails from happy customers and it is such a rewarding feeling to know that one of my creations has brought joy into someones life. I will continue writing new games for as long as these fingers can type them out.

I worked long hours until at 9, my youngest son was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Our world was turned upside down for awhile while we learned to make this a part of our lives. We were just coming to grips with this when I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. I spent a year in terrible pain and the This post is spam please do not read! they put me on were not helping and causing their own sets of issues. I finally came off those things and started treating myself naturally. Overall, I am doing much better now. I still deal with all over pain, but the degree is now much less, with only an occasional bad day.

Fortunately, through all of this I had 2 great employees. My sister, Lisa, keeps my customers happy and she also produces the boxes and ships them. My mother keeps my books. I don't know what I would have done without them here to keep things together while I was down. I appreciate and love them both more than they could ever know.

I have recently been back in action. I am writing again and trying to get the website upgraded and looking good. While I can only work a few hours a day, I am making those some very productive hours.

The following passage was what I had written here before all of this happened to us:

Half my day is spent writing, the other half is spent in taking care of the business and the remaining 1/2 is spent loving my family:lol: Yes, I have a very busy schedule, but I am never too busy to help a customer or just answer a visitors questions. I am a demand service kinda gal. If I buy and pay for something, or am considering buying something, then I feel I should have my questions addressed immediately. I dislike it when I have to wait for days to get an answer about anything. This is why I provide a toll free phone number to answer your questions. It is my customers that have allowed me to be a happy stay at home mother making a living doing what I love! So Thank You!

If you have any questions about me or the business then feel free to reply here. I answer all posts!

I am no longer pushing myself as hard, as my body screamed NO at the treatment I was giving it. Despite this, everything else I said holds true. Replies here may take longer than I like, as sometimes I am down or I have so many other things to do in the business, or I am just on a writing streak. I am still here for you and I am fortunate to have others that are here for you also!

You can read below for more in depth detail on the drama that was my life, if you are curious. If you are the type to watch reality tv shows, then you will probably enjoy it

[2coolbaby]

I know many people are wondering why we have not put out more games recently or why it has taken us awhile to choose our contest winners. I thought I would update things here.

Unfortunately, the last two years has brought our family a lot of serious health issues.

In 2008, my then 8 year old son Chance, was diagnosed with ADD and we found that homeschooling him was the best way to handle his learning issues. Any prescriptions we tried caused severe emotional problems. In May 2009 he was also diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. This was very hard on us. Our life was dealing with and learning to deal with diabetes. Me crying (in private) 4-5 times a day when I had to give him a shot. In January of 2010 he got an insulin pump and that made things so much easier.

While all of this was going on, I began to notice myself experiencing a lot of pain. It was getting hard just to get out of bed, but I shoved it to the side and did the best I could. After Chance got his pump and got used to it, I had more time to start worrying about what was going on with me. I got to the point that I had a hard time sitting up, walking, typing or doing any work on my computer. I had migraines, chronic fatigue and such bad brain fog that I could barely think. I would forget what I was saying in the middle of a conversation. Talk about scary!

In the summer I was finally diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. In October, after many months of doctors, sleep studies and unsuccessful medications, I finally found, of all things, a Chiropractor that has helped me tremendously with Brain Based Therapy and discovering that I was intolerant to a lot of foods that were causing high inflammation, among other things. My recovery wasn't immediate, but every day I was able to do more and more. I still have the occasional bad day and I still have some lower back pain, but overall, life is doable for me again!

As a side effect of my treatment, I also lost 50 lbs (so far)! I am now a vegetarian who eats very healthy and does yoga every morning, (NEVER in a million years would I think I would say that).

My sons father had degenerative disc disease. While we were still together, he underwent several procedures, one of which caused nerve damage. This and the other issues we were dealing with were hard on our 13 year relationship. We separated in 2011 and I really do wish him the best in his life.

We are now seeing that dealing with all of these issues has had a very positive effect on my son and I. I am healthier, slimmer and more energetic than I have been in 15 years. My son is more responsible and has an inner strength the likes of which I never thought to see in him. We really are fortunate and thankful!

I am now getting back to work and handling the 6 months of work that my sister Lisa, who was a real lifesaver for me, could not handle. I am also starting to write again since my brain fog is almost gone completely.