Neil Patrick Harris on his sideline as the co-host of luxurious murder-mystery weekends

Neil Patrick Harris spoke recently with the Hollywood Reporter about one of his latest sidelines.

Harris is a well-known fan of puzzles, board games and escape rooms. In the last couple of years, he teamed up with Capital One Dining to host immersive, luxury murder-mystery events.

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The first such event, in 2024, took place at Canyon Ranch in Lenox, Massachusetts. It had 100 guests, including friends of Harris and select Capital One Dining cardholders.

Harris’ husband, David Burtka, was among the performers who took part in the murder mystery element of the weekend. Chef Dominique Crenn curated the weekend’s menu.

Little Palm Island

A second event in 2025 was even more lavish. It took place on Little Palm Island in the Florida Keys. The cost was $10,000 per person. Harris and his guests took over whole resort, which made for a suitably White Lotus-like experience.

Harris played the role of Garrett Brown, a desperate man searching for the daughter he hasn’t seen in decades. He and the other actors, as members of a wellness cult, didn’t slip out of character for the entire weekend.

Burtka again played a role, this time via video as an AI wellness guide.

Guests enjoyed the sandy beaches, candle-lit dinners, and the detective work for which they had gathered.

Reviewing it for Condé Nast Traveler, Juliet Izon said, “I say this without hyperbole: I have never been on a trip as curated, personalized, and fun as this one. In the mornings, we were free to use the hotel’s pool, spa, and beach, as one would on any regular Florida vacation. But our afternoons were tied to the murder mystery party through opportunities to go on ‘gambits’—carefully planned excursions with characters.”

She found the actors’ commitment to their roles “staggeringly impressive.”

“I didn’t realize how much people were drawn to nefarious activity,” Harris told the Hollywood Reporter. “Favorite things seem to be breaking and entering, illegal gambling, crawling around under beds, hiding, hoping that you don’t get caught. It was also quite an amazing, singular experience for me to stand out of sight at the big dinner where the murder took place and watch Michael [Serrato], my friend, stumble in with blood all over the back of his head and collapse, and I could hear everyone screaming at the top of their lungs, like there had been an actual murder.

“I wasn’t sure if people would be rolling their eyes and thinking, ‘Oh boy, when is dessert?’ It made me feel like people were in our world.”

Unique vacation experiences

Harris said that when he partnered with Capital One, he wanted to create authentic, high-quality experiences. The credit card company saw it as a way to offer cardholders something unique, alongside its other planned luxury travel experiences.

Capital One says it’s not yet set a date for the next murder-mystery weekend. However, Harris is already planning and looking forward to it… and potentially expanding the concept.

“I think the next steps will be trying to scale it up,” he said. “It is fun to get a group of performers together who like to do these things. I’ve had a fair amount of really talented actor friends reach out after seeing it, saying, ‘I want to play in the sandbox.’”

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