Lights illuminated the dining room of Walker Homestead Farm and Winery on Friday night, casting a glow over the table settings and the guests seated at each one. Care was given to each table with poinsettia flowers, red and bright with holiday cheer, on display. The room is the perfect setting for a classy dinner, only this night, it was also the scene of a crime.
The Homestead hosted the “Very Vineyard Christmas Murder Mystery Dinner,” where guests were invited to step into a written-up character for the night as they attempted to work together to unravel clues and discover who among them orchestrated a murder.
Kristy Walker is the president of Walker Homestead and is an associate professor at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business. She is also the mind behind the murder mystery and wrote the setup, character bios, and resolution of the mystery story.
“I love theater, I love food, and I love company. Iowa City has such a creative community, and pulling people together to have this immersive experience has been such a joy,” Walker said. “This is how we fill our halls with joy during the wintertime.”
2025 marked Walker’s third year of hosting a murder mystery party. She writes everything beforehand and uses the people in her life as inspiration for the character roles. Each character has three rounds of cards. Each card gives them tasks: people to talk to, secret information about their character backstories, and confessions to make.
“I was excited for the reveal, because it should be obvious, but it’s also not at all,” Anna Miller, Homestead’s front of house manager and events coordinator, said. “It’s hard to figure out, because you’d think it wouldn’t be them.”
Miller, an alumnus of the UI, said the difficulty of sleuthing at the dinner comes from the background and connections each character has to the others, including resentment and vendettas.
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Many of the guests, while in character, convey this while talking with one another, with many blatantly saying they are happy to see the victim gone.
“I’m the neighbor, and I’m a fourth-generation farmer. I know a lot of people didn’t like her, but I don’t really know for sure who would want to do that,” Aaron Bartels said, while playing farmer Noah Wright. “I’m glad Eleanor is gone. No one misses her around here, even the neighbors. I’ve talked to a lot of the other neighbors. We don’t miss her, but that being said, I had nothing to do with the murder.”
After the dinner was over and the murderer unmasked, Bartels was awarded the prize of Best Actor for his commitment to his character and brought home a bottle of wine for his efforts.
“Iowa City is really a special place for a lot of reasons, and I think that living in our town, we choose to create these fun, magical moments, because it makes living here worthwhile,” Roger Struble, an attendee at the event, said. “My character loves art, and I appreciate art forms. Getting to do something fun and special, it’s something different and really fun.”
Struble, who played a photographer character, Peter Lang, had been to the Walker Homestead for a few events before this one, including a few weddings. He enjoys the food and drinks and is impressed with the owners at the Homestead and the creative events that take place in the space every year.
His strategy for figuring out the murderer’s identity was to be inquisitive and try and take everything in, using his intellect to try and put patterns together.
To end the night, Walker thanked everyone for participating and portraying their characters throughout the night. She also invited people to check out Walker Homestead’s events in the future and keep an eye out for future mystery capers.
“Life is short,” Walker said. “You have to do things like this and have fun.”