I've been to one, and it was great fun. I had to dress up as a femme fatale! Sort of "murder on the orient express".

The hostess made it easier on herself by asking guests to bring a starter or dessert. During starters, we had some wine and went over the various scenarios of the game. We tried to stay in character (we were given our "parts" in the mail with the invitation).

The hostess made the main course, and that is where the bulk of the "questions" were asked. It was simplek---cornish hens with baked potatoes and veggies; nothing fancy to stress her out.

Dessert was back in her family room with eventual "who dun it" solved.

Not sure you can ask guests to bring stuff, but make it as simple as possible. Your food will not be the focal point of the party; the guests and their alter-ego will!!

Good luck!

Cinderella,
How did your party go? I will be hosting a party with a who-done-it theme this month. Do you have any suggestions for me?

Our party was great! We had food out the whole time so everyone could snack as they played.
I would suggest that you have one person that knows everything that is going to happen but isn't involved with the game. We had DS's girlfriend (who planned the whole thing with DS) be a bartender and she just watched to see that things were progressing as they should and she also handed out any notes, plots etc as the game moved on.
I went to the Dollar Tree and bought steno pads with hard covers and cheap pens so that each person could carry something around to write notes it. It was just a fun evening. We did the 'murder mystery' and then moved on to just plain partying. The whole evening was a great success. If you have any specific questions, just ask!