PASSENGER TRAIN SETS SCENE FOR MURDER

Victor Stanhous, played by Rob Beckerman, stops to puff on his cigar and reveals a little more of the plot before the art auction.

Bob Steiger, played by Ron Lipp, informs Stanhous there has been a murder on the train.

Xena Prince, played by Nicki Klein, confronts Stanhous after he double crosses her at the auction.

The caboose of the St. Louis Iron Mountain & Southern Railway. This is where the murder was supposed to have occurred in "The Fine Art of Murder."

The St. Louis Iron Mountain & Southern Railway engine No. 5 is a steam engine that uses coal. It is a 1946 HK Porter model steam engine. It was purchased in 1984 by Shelby Brown and other stock holders. Its first operation was on April 18, 1986.

Each month passengers on board the St. Louis Iron Mountain & Southern Railway in Jackson get the chance to play sleuth and solve a mystery served up by the Steiger Haus Players from St. Genevieve.

This month's mystery revolved around an art auction and a host of drug trafficking art lovers.

The actors that play the key roles in the murder mystery circulate around the train telling each passenger their story.

There is to be an art auction after the dinner that is served on board the train.

There are three paintings to be auctioned off by a notorious drug trafficker named Victor Stanhous, played by Rob Beckerman. Stanhous has employed an auctioneer, named Ben Justin, with a reputation of taking care of certain clients.

As the auctioneer, played by Josh Pullins, circulates around the train, he gives each group of passengers an auction number and on the bottom of it is the amount which the passengers will be allowed to bid.

The art to be auctioned off was found in the attic of a bed and breakfast owned by Bob Steiger, played by Ron Lipp, at one time. He got into debt and was bought out by Stanhous.

Stanhous kept Steiger around to do his dirty work for him. Steiger dislikes Stanhous for this.

Another interesting character was a woman dressed in a very formal dress, her name was Xena Prince, played by Nicki Klein. She had a special deal with Stanhous. She never smiled.

There are only two other characters left to meet. Beverly Mason, played by Kris Arnold, and Elayna Cortafino, played by Julia Wibskov.

Beverly holds a black briefcase and a phone. She is the working arm of a rich, eccentric, art loving hermit named Hugo. She has come to buy the paintings for Hugo.

Elayna works out of Miami in an import/export business which she never specifies, except to say she imports and exports agricultural products.

As the train stops in Gordonville, passengers are invited to tour the engine.

After a brief stop, the train is off again. Dinner is served. The passengers are treated to barbecue ribs, corn on the cob, potato salad, baked beans, rolls, a salad, and tea, lemonade, or water. Dessert is also served.

The actors come to some tables during the dinner and keep adding to the plot.

During dinner young Bob Steiger runs to the dinner car to scream that there has been a murder in the caboose. Stanhous goes to check it out and then comes back to inform everyone that there hasn't been a murder. Someone has just hit their head while in transit.

The art auction follows the dinner. Beverly buys the first art work for a cool half million. Xena finally outbids one of the passengers for the second art work that comes in at a price of $505,000.

The third and final art work to be auctioned off is a reprint, but it seems to have some very interested buyers.

Stanhous informs Xena not to worry and he has her hold off on bidding. Beverly ends up with the reprint and Xena is noticeably furious with Stanhous. Why was she furious?

It was later acknowledged that the reprint had a map taped on the back of it showing where drugs were hidden on the train.

After the auction, the passengers are informed that there really has been a murder in the caboose and the person that was killed was the presumed dead artist of the paintings that were auctioned off.

Just as the passengers learn that there was a murder, they see young Bob Steiger arrested by Elayna, she was a FBI agent on a sting operation to bust up a drug ring.

Then the actors leave and the passengers are told that they can now ask questions of the actors and the actors will have to be honest with their answers.

Before the actors were in character and could lie to the passengers if they so chose to.

The passengers are not allowed to ask the all important question, did you do it?

Whodunit? Why did the artist fake his death in the first place? Who gained from the artist dying a second time?

The artist faked his death because he was a part of the FBI sting. Now, the question is why was he on board?

He was there to warn one of the art buyers about the sting.

So, now who was guilty of the murder?

Was it Stanhous? He would gain much more money from a dead artist than he would a live artist. Maybe, he was angered by the artist faking his death and realized that the paintings were no longer his to auction off and they would be worth considerably less if anyone found out the artist was alive, and he had to kill the artist.

Was it Xena? She was a cold woman that had numerous affairs with older men. Maybe, she uncovered the sting operation. She has been known to commit crimes in the past.

Was it the auctioneer? He stood to quadruple his commission for the sale of a dead artist's paintings. His commission would be considerably less if the artist was alive.

Was it Elayna, the FBI agent? Maybe, she uncovered the artist's plot to alert one of the art buyers of the sting operation. Maybe she killed the artist to save herself, or maybe she was on the take.

Was it Beverly? The girl that did all of the rich and eccentric Hugo's work through a phone. She wasn't as innocent as she looked. She was using Hugo's yacht to transport drugs.

Was it Steiger? He was angered by the loss of his bed and breakfast and the artist that faked his death was now working for the FBI to uncover the drug ring that Steiger was now an integral part.

They all had a motive. The question is who committed "The Fine Art of Murder."

That will remain a mystery for now.

Rob Beckerman, a Steiger Haus Player and writer of the mystery, said that this was his 780th mystery he has performed.

He owns a bed and breakfast in St. Genevieve named the Steiger Haus and they hold murder mystery parties there at least six times a month.

"The train offers a very difficult environment to perform a murder mystery," Beckerman said.

Each month there is a different murder mystery on board the train.

The St. Louis Iron Mountain provides many other theme trains and excursions that take its passengers to Gordonville, Allenville, Delta and Dutchtown.

Trish Wischmann, marketing director and coach operations director, said that on other excursions of the train, more history of the train is given to the passengers as the sit back and enjoy the train ride.