How a murder mystery party works
Dinner at your place. Your friends are the suspects, one of them is guilty, and the table has until dessert to work out who.
Sample
Saturday, 7:00 pm. Dinner, and a death.
You will come as
Cellar master of the Aldercourt vineyard. Loyal, proud, and owed three months of wages.
Wear
A leather apron, rolled sleeves, a cork in your pocket.
Your secret opens on your phone when the evening begins.
Before the party, every guest gets one of these by link. Each names a different suspect.
The night itself
One way to play it over dinner. About two hours of play, around three with dinner.
7:00 pm
Your friends walk in as a countess, a chauffeur, a nephew with debts. Drinks, starters, and everyone is already hiding something.
7:20 pm
You tap a glass and read the news. Someone is dead, and nobody at this table has left the house.
7:25 pm New clues
Each suspect tells their evening. The stories do not quite fit together.
Then the main course.
8:10 pm New clues
Letters and receipts land on every phone. Somebody has to explain themselves, and the whole table cracks one puzzle together.
8:40 pm New clues
What is inside turns the story over. Now the case can be proved, by anyone who was listening.
9:10 pm
Everybody names the culprit in secret, on their own phone. Friends point at friends.
9:25 pm
You read the ending aloud. The culprit stands up and reads the confession.
Dessert, and awards for the sharpest detective.
If you are the host
If you are a guest
A secret to keep. A line to say. Someone to accuse. Try a character.
Sample
Private
Cellar master
Everyone knows
You argued with old Mr. Alder during the harvest toast, loudly.
Only you know
The cellar key was in your pocket all evening.
Round one
Say: “I was in the press house from eight until the bell. The pickers saw me there.”
Ask: “Mrs. Halloran, why was your coat wet before the rain began?”
Feeling bold? Tell the table who you think is lying about the bell.
Round two
Say: “Yes, he owed me three months of wages. I have the ledger page to prove it.”
Ask: “Who relit the lantern on the terrace?”
Feeling bold? Wave the ledger page at whoever doubts you.
Round three
Now you remember
The cellar door was already unlocked when you went down.
Say: “I never unlocked that door. So who has the second key?”
Ask: “Doctor, you asked me for a corkscrew at nine. What was it for?”
A sample character.
Your table, your phones
Each with their own character.
The evening goes ahead. Another guest takes the part, or you read the missing suspect's written statement to the table.
And an internet connection at the table. A tablet is handy for the host; a phone does the job too.
Put the clues and the table's case board on a television, if you like.
Characters do not have to match your guests. Half the fun is who ends up as whom.
Prefer paper?
The complete printable kit is included with every game. Booklets in your guests' hands, an envelope for every round and a sealed ending.
On your table. Open them.
Envelope 1
On top, the investigator's briefing for you to read out. Under it, a floor plan of the house and the first papers from the scene.
Envelope 2
Documents that someone at the table hoped were lost: a letter, a receipt, a page from a diary. Each one points at a different guest.
Envelope 3
The investigator's report and the last clues. The proof is in here and nowhere earlier, so the table argues right up to the end.
Opened last
The answer, the culprit's confession and the awards. Until this moment not even the culprit's best friend is sure.
That is all of The Séance at Crowmere: booklets, evidence, ballots and your run sheet. Black and white is fine.
| Game | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Séance at Crowmere | 86 | 92 | 97 | 103 | 108 | 114 | 119 | 125 | 130 |
| The Last Toast at Hollybrook Lodge | 89 | 95 | 100 | 106 | 111 | 117 | 122 | 128 | 133 |
| Midnight at the Masquerade | 83 | 89 | 94 | 100 | 105 | 111 | 116 | 122 | 127 |
| The Vanishing of the Midnight Star | 89 | 95 | 100 | 106 | 111 | 117 | 122 | 128 | 133 |
Columns count guests, including the host; figures are single-sided sheets.
Print it at home tonight, or send the one ready file to a print shop.
Back to Midnight at the Masquerade · $59
Or another evening
Crowmere Hall, Halloween night 1926, cut off by a storm
The spirits promised to name a thief at midnight. Somebody could not wait that long, and it was no ghost.
Meet the suspectsHollybrook Lodge, Christmas Eve, snowed in
At midnight he was going to open the red box. Before midnight, someone made sure he never would.
Meet the suspectsThe Marchand Opera House, New Year's Eve 1926; the doors stay locked until the unmasking at midnight
At midnight every mask comes off. Before the clock gets there, someone makes sure one face will never be seen again.
Meet the suspectsLarkspur Peak Observatory, a clear August night, the cable car stopped by the wind until morning
Ten minutes of darkness on a mountaintop. The alarm never rang. The bluest gem in the world is gone, and nobody can leave.
Meet the suspects