About Baker Street Mystery — San Antonio’s Guest-Led Murder Mystery
We didn’t want to watch murder mystery shows. We wanted to be in one. So we built an experience where every guest gets that chance.
How Baker Street Mystery Started
A thrift store find that turned into a question we’ve been answering for ten years: what does a murder mystery look like when the guests are the story?
How Baker Street Mystery Started
It started with a thrift store find in 2014.
A boxed copy of Murder at the Mansion — old-school cassette tape included — and enough curiosity to host a party around it.
The night was fun. The company was great. And somewhere between pouring drinks and reading the instructions, David and Stephanie realized the murder had already happened before anyone arrived. It was in the box. Scripted, settled, and waiting. The guests weren’t solving a mystery — they were catching up to one.
That stuck with them.
They went looking for something more. An experience where you didn’t just read a character card — you became the character. Where the story wasn’t decided before you walked in the door. Where what happened that night depended on who was in the room.
They couldn’t find it. So they built it.
Baker Street Mystery launched its first public event on October 27, 2019. Six years and hundreds of events later, the idea that started it is still the one that drives every event we run: the best murder mystery isn’t the one you watch — it’s the one you’re in.
That first thrift store game is still around. A good reminder of exactly what we didn’t want to be.
The Research
We’re Always Looking for Something Better
After that first party, David started attending everything he could find — the kind of research that requires buying a ticket and showing up somewhere in a mask.
Over the years he’s worked through as much of the immersive experience world as he could find: Masquerade NYC — a full-scale reimagining of The Phantom of the Opera where guests move through an entire opera house as the story unfolds around them. Bridge Command. Escape rooms of every variety. Immersive theater workshops. The Kit Kat Club. Other murder mystery formats — from dinner theater productions to boxed games to interactive shows.
Every experience teaches something. The ones that work reveal what genuine engagement feels like when it’s designed well. The ones that don’t are just as valuable — they show exactly where the seams are between “you’re watching this” and “you’re part of this.”
That research never stops. Six years in, we’re still attending shows, still asking what works, and still trying to make each Baker Street Mystery event better than the last one we ran.
The Difference Between “Interactive” and “Immersive”
You get a prompt, a moment, a line to deliver. You participate briefly — and then you go back to watching.
You have a name. You have a history. Other characters know who you are. What happens tonight depends on decisions you make in real time.
The best moment from Masquerade NYC wasn’t the chandelier or the ballroom — it was when a performer made deliberate eye contact, extended a hand, and pulled a guest into the scene as if they’d always been part of it. That’s the feeling we’re chasing every time we run an event: not just participation, but belonging to the world you’re standing in.
What a night inside a reimagined opera house revealed about the difference between participating and belonging.
Read the post →Why the format matters more than the theme — and what separates a night people remember from one they forget by Monday.
Read the post →What We Believe
A Few Things We Take Seriously
If you came to watch, you came to the wrong place. Every guest gets a character with a name, a backstory, and a checklist of people to track down. The mystery doesn’t get solved unless everyone plays.
The checklist format isn’t just a game mechanic — it’s a design decision. You don’t have to perform. You don’t have to improvise, unless you want. You just follow the thread, and the night unfolds. More than a few guests have told us it’s the first event where they actually had fun instead of just surviving it.
Even guests who’ve done the same theme twice get a different experience. Different characters, different suspects, different outcomes. We rotate 15+ themes and each event feels completely unique.
Our hosts aren’t reading from a script — they’re reading the room, adjusting the energy, pulling people in, and making sure the story lands. Our 4.85/5 host rating across 285+ reviews is the number we’re most proud of.
The Team
Meet the People
David co-founded Baker Street Mystery and has hosted more than 300 events since the company's first public show in October 2019. He designed the format, trains the hosts, and still runs events personally — because the only way to keep improving the experience is to stay in it.
Before Baker Street Mystery existed as a business, he spent years attending immersive experiences to understand what real engagement looks like from the inside: Masquerade NYC, Bridge Command, the Kit Kat Club, escape rooms of every design, and more murder mystery formats than he'd care to count. That research is ongoing and shapes every decision about how events are built and run.
Favorite theme: Murder at the Masquerade
Every event that runs smoothly has Stephanie working behind it. She manages the operations, logistics, and finances that make Baker Street Mystery function — which means David gets to focus on the events, Jamie gets to focus on clients, and the hosts get to focus on the night.
Her background in finance means nothing falls through the cracks: bookings are confirmed, contracts are clean, and the details that guests never have to think about are handled before they ever show up.
Favorite theme: Murder in Margaritaland
Sam is the host your group will talk about on the way home. She has the rare ability to pull a reluctant participant into the story without making them feel put on the spot, and to keep a rowdy table focused without losing the energy that made it rowdy in the first place.
She loves the moment when a guest who "wasn't sure about this kind of thing" becomes the most invested person in the room — which, at a Baker Street Mystery event, happens more often than you'd expect.
Jamie is usually the first voice you hear when you reach out about a private or corporate event. Her background in hospitality means she asks the right questions, helps you think through the format, and makes sure the event you're imagining is the event that actually happens.
She's not trying to sell you a package — she's trying to figure out whether Baker Street Mystery is the right fit for your group and make sure it lands exactly the way you hoped.
We’re always looking for outgoing, enthusiastic people to join our host team. If you love keeping a room energized and making strangers feel like old friends — we want to hear from you.
285 Reviews
What 285 Reviews Look Like
“The host was excellent, had everyone involved and kept the storyline moving. My first murder mystery and it was a lot of fun.”
“It was actually a lot of fun. I can be a bit of an introvert and shy but it pushed me out of my comfort zone enough to be enjoyable but not so much that I hated it.”
“People were in tears laughing so hard.”
“So much fun, our second one with this crew. Always a great time.”
“Very hospitable and kind to someone who had no idea what he was walking into. I never did this before. A lot of fun.”
“Awesome time, very creative and great way to meet new people.”
Come See What the Fuss Is About
Stop Watching. Start Playing.
Public events throughout the year at partner venues across San Antonio and the Hill Country. Private events for groups of 6 to 100+ — birthdays, bachelorettes, corporate events, and anything in between.
Call or text Baker Street Mystery directly: (512) 761-6648