Crystal River Inn B&B Offers Murder Mystery Weekends
crystal river inn b&b;san marcos, culture,
Mike and Cathy Dillon started their “murder mystery weekends” at The Crystal River Inn bed-and-breakfast as a way to boost business during the slower winter months.
That was more than 20 years ago, and the special events are so popular that the inn hosts up to 10 each year.
The Dillons now write the scripts themselves and get the San Marcos police department in on the fun. Guests are dispatched throughout town to look for clues to solve fictional crimes involving real characters in San Marcos.
The couple started Crystal River 24 years ago because Dillon wanted a job that allowed her to be home with her infant daughter. Both the daughter and the inn have the same birthday – Valentine’s Day, 1984.
“It is nonstop work,” Dillon says. “I have raised my family amid it all.”
The breakfasts are legendary – apricot-stuffed French toast, eggs Benedict and a Southwestern concoction called Texas lasagna.
Crystal River, located at 321 West Hopkins, offers a spa and package weekends, and the Dillons recently bought a second Victorian building next door that added four guest rooms to the existing eight.
“It makes it more fun to always have something different,” Dillon says. For more information and room rates, visit, www.crystalriverinn.com.
Story by Pamela Coyle
Photo by Jesse Knish
