This is a list of all the murder mysteries we sell and run. Most are designed to be played by a group all gathered in the same space. Some can be played remotely. All are games we can put together and run for different groups and occasions. Some can be bought by you from our sister company Murder Mystery Games and run by you without us being present.

The plots work in different ways. Some are Highly Participative, some are Watch The Action. Some are for smaller groups, some for bigger. Go here for more about different types of plot. Go here for plots for different size groups.

Plot Styles

These are the main plot styles we offer:

Highly Participative
For smaller groups. Everyone is given their own character to play. How much guests join in is very much their own choice. Perfect for private parties and corproate groups a way of getting people mixing and mingling.

Watch The Action
For medium and larger groups. These plots are broken up into different scenes and sections. The sections fit nicely around whatever your group is doing: a presentation dinner, an awards ceremony, a conference, a networking event, etc.

Downloadable
These are games you can buy online then download and run yourselves without us being there to supervise anything. Copyright restrictions mean these games are only available for private use: they can’t be run as money-making, commercial events. If you are a pub, restaurant, hotel or corporate event organiser and want to run your own murder mystery evening, contact us and we’ll explain how we can help you with this. If you are a private group and want to arrange a fun murder mystery for your colleagues/friends, then go to our sister site Murder Mystery Games and see what’s on offer.

To find more about these different styles, please go here. To know which plot might suit a group your size, go here.

All our murder mysteries

The games are listed in alphabetical order.

Auction, the

See under “The Auction“

Bad Blood at Bugsy’s

A Mobster Murder Mystery

Numbers: 25-250
Style: Watch The Action

Chicago, 1928 and we’re at Bugsy’s “Peace and Fellowship Temperance Club”. O.K., it’s a Speakeasy. Lucky and Lefty are on the door, making sure all weapons are handed in and no undesirables sneak past. People are here to enjoy themselves! No one wants anyone to get hurt!

A shocking murder, a life cut cruelly short, a right mess made of the carpet… who could have expected it?

Bugsy, Lucky, Lefty and the other main characters are all played by professional actors. They’ll treat you and your colleagues as if you are fellow gangsters and molls. But, so that you can enjoy your meal uninterrupted, most of the action will happen between courses when our actors will act out scenes, answer questions and, occasionally, die! In Bad Blood at Bugsy’s, you never know who will be “sleeping with the fishes” next.

We get you to solve the crime in teams. There is a prize for the best solution but, by the time Bugsy and his gang have finished with you, everyone is a winner: happy, relaxed and on a high!

Group Size, Timings and Dates

• For 25-250 people
• Indoors
• 3-3½ hours
• Broken up into different scenes between courses over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Watch The Action

Banquet of Blood

A Medieval Murder Mystery

Numbers: 25-250
Style: Watch The Action

You are a guest at a very special medieval event. Count Schloss is having a banquet at his castle. You are a Prince (or Knight, Duchess or Lady), so of course he has invited you to be there.

However, you aren’t the guest of honour. That title has been bestowed on someone who appears to be a drink-addled, fornicating crazy person. Which you know can’t be true. Because he is your King.

Some fatalities will no doubt occur during the celebration. No medieval party would be complete without them. A monk called Brother Mario will be trying to work out who has been killing who. He will ask for your help in doing so. But he won’t get in your way. When any food is in front of you, he and our other actor characters will leave you to it. Feasting is feasting and crime investigating is crime investigating. Mixing the two could easily start a hundred years’ war.

Near the end, Brother Mario will ask people to tell him who they think is responsible for any killings which have taken place. He’ll put you in teams for this. When you’ve all had your say, he’ll let you know where his investigations have taken him. Someone will be arrested. Depending on how sharp anyone’s knife is, there may be some disembowelings and hanging, drawing and quarterings. After all, Count Schloss knows how to throw a good party!

Banquet of Blood is a medieval version of our Dinner With The Ambassador plot.

GROUP SIZE, TIMINGS, DATES:

• For 25-250 people
• Indoors
• 3-3½ hours
• Broken up into different scenes between courses over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Watch The Action

Braithwaite’s Will

A 1920s Murder Mystery

Numbers: 20-250
Style: Highly Participative or Watch The Action

“It was on this day in 1926 that Lord Braithwaite died – shot with an arrow while he worked…”

Braithwaite’s Will has all the elements that make Agatha Christie’s writings, Midsomer Murders and other ‘traditional’ English crime stories so enjoyable: it’s a ‘sealed room’ mystery featuring village life and vicars, a Lord of the Manor and local bobby, wild rumours and rural wickedness.

The plot is usually played out over a meal and every guest is given a character in it. Professional actors are there to play the key characters and share the crucial evidence with everyone. But most of the fun is created by you in your interactions with each other. The story will intrigue you and the solution surprise you. And, yes: one of you will be the evil murderer!

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 20-250 people
• Indoors or outdoors or both
• 3-3½ hours
• Over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Highly Participative or Watch The Action

Chocolate Bar Mystery, the

See under “the Chocolate Bar Mystery“

Cudham Riding Club

Join the horsey set for this awfully English murder

Numbers: 14-40
Style: Highly Participative and Downloadable

Nothing bad ever happens in Cudham. Its Riding Club is such a jolly organisation to belong to, filled with horses and hoorays. Who could want for more? Then a terrible tragedy strikes. Some rotter has killed one of the club’s best-loved members! Play a character in the plot and help us find out who the rotter is.

As well as solving the odd murder or two, guests have plenty of other ways of staying involved: electing a Chairwoman, buying and selling horses, and betting on the Isle of Man Handicap – an exciting horse race which takes place as the plot unravels. Our professional actors are there to play key characters, help everyone understand what there is to do and ensure they have great fun doing it!

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 14-40 people
• Indoors or outdoors or both
• 3-3½ hours
• Over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Highly Participative and Downloadable

Death By Numbers

An Original Sherlock Holmes mystery

Numbers:  25-250
Style:  Watch The Action

It is 1892. The Prime Minister, Archibald Primrose, has agreed to join the distinguished industrialist and moral crusader Sir William Bogle for an evening of refined celebration. Most of the other guests (yourselves!) are equally distinguished members of the Empire’s industrialist and aristocratic elite. Bogle has let it be known that the Empire needs more people like you to help embellish and improve it in ways which will reinforce correct moral attitudes among its peoples.

Guest of Honour at the celebration is none other than Her Gracious and Glorious Majesty, Queen Victoria, accompanied by her Private Secretary, Lord Ponsonby. An admirer of Bogle’s work, Her Majesty has appointed him her very own Magnificent Upholder of Properly Pious Emotional Tendencies.

Pleasure quickly gives way to calamity at the celebration as Bogle suffers a dramatic collapse. Murder is suspected.

On an occasion like this, discretion is of course paramount. An investigation must take place but who is fit to lead it? Only one person: Sherlock Holmes. Using his customary tact and intelligence, he soon uncovers many dark secrets. By the time he has resolved the mystery, several shining reputations have been besmirched beyond repair.

This highly-entertaining murder mystery is designed so that some key people can easily be included in the plot. We just need a little information beforehand about who you would like us to pick on. Feature! Feature, not pick on…

In Death By Numbers, our team of professional actors performs a series of dramatic, comic, scripted scenes. Key evidence is shared and plot issues settled. The scenes take place between courses so that guests have time in between to enjoy their food, talk shop and network. Or the scenes can be woven around some other activities – e.g. at a conference.

At the end, people get the chance to discuss in teams who they think the murderer is before making their accusations public. The murderer is arrested. Prizes are awarded to the team which comes up with the best solution and the guest who creates the most fun for everyone else.

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 25-250 people
• Indoors
• 3-3½ hours
• Over a meal or without a meal
• Broken up into different scenes between courses over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Watch The Action

Dinner With The Ambassador

A 1920’s Murder Mystery

Numbers:  25-250
Style:  Watch The Action

You are a guest at a very special event. The British ambassador in Ruritania is hosting a party at his embassy. You have been invited! When you arrive, you will be treated as if you are a Marquis or Earl, Baroness or Lady.

The guest of honour is slightly eccentric. You may be under the impression that he is a drunk, lecherous madman. Impossible. He’s King Rudolf IV of Ruritania!

There will, unfortunately, be a few tragic deaths before the party finishes. Inspector Klop will no doubt have some investigating to do. But he knows his place. He and our other actor characters will leave you alone when your meal is on the table, so you’ll be able to enjoy your food without interruption. If any Ferrero Rocher is served, so be it. It’s one of those sort of parties.

Over coffee, Klop will invite tables to put forward theories to explain who the killer is. When he’s heard from everyone, he’ll give his own theory and arrest the malefactor. And then the cream of Europe will be left to carry on doing what they do best: having a ball!

Dinner With The Ambassador is a 1920s version of our Banquet of Blood plot.

Group Size, Timings and Dates

• For 25-250 people
• Indoors
• 3-3½ hours
• Broken up into different scenes between courses over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Watch The Action

Farthingay Manor

An English country house mystery

Numbers: 6
Style: Highly Participative and Downloadable

It’s 1924 and a group of people have been invited to spend the weekend in an English country house. They don’t know why they have been invited…

This classic whodunit takes you into a world familiar from Downton Abbey, Gosford Park and the best of Agatha Christie. It can be played all in one go or broken up into instalments. The plot spans the entire weekend, with dramatic surprises and revelations occurring throughout it.

Each of you plays a character in the plot. A countess, perhaps. A butler. A suave businessman. A music hall star. As the story unfolds, secrets are shared, suspicions are raised and clues point towards what’s really been going on.

Think of the enjoyment you might get from watching a good Agatha Christie whodunit. Now imagine that, instead of just watching it, all of you are taking part in it. As it happens. Live. Farthingay Manor provides a highly original and thoroughly entertaining way to socialise with friends, family or work colleagues. Hard to beat, we reckon.

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 6 people
• Indoors or outdoors or both
• 2 hours
• Over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Highly Participative and Downloadable

Final Curtain, the

See under “The Final Curtain“

Finding Nessie

The Loch Ness Monster has been captured and is up for sale

Numbers:  10-20
Style: Highly Participative

The news makes headlines all round the world but no-one has actually seen the famous creature yet. You are part of a group of prospective buyers invited to the sale. You may be an undercover animal rights activist, an entrepreneur with a dubious Scottish accent, a pet shop owner or one of the other people hoping to buy Nessie. You’ll have secrets to uncover, objectives to pursue and mysteries to solve which can only be achieved by talking to everyone else. Wild animals can be dangerous and no one yet knows how safe Nessie is. But she won’t be responsible for shedding any blood at this event. Any fatalities will be entirely the work of humans…

If there is a water feature near where the event is happening, we may be able to put Nessie there for you all to wonder at (until someone deflates her!).

Finding Nessie is a unique, participative, murder mystery plot. Our professional actors will guide you but every guest will also have an integral part to play. The aim is to find the murderer in your midst and end up as Nessie’s new owner.

Group Size, Timings, Dates

• For 10-20 people
• Indoors or outdoors or both
• 2½-3 hours
• Over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Highly Participative

GRiT Awards, the

See under “The GRiT Awards“

Hamley’s Bank

Murder, Mystery and Mayhem in a Misfiring City Bank

Numbers: 6-20
Style: Highly Participative

A top City bank is rocked by scandal when £1 billion “disappears” from its accounts and its Chairman dies in mysterious circumstances. In this highly original and entertaining banking murder mystery, you get to play one of the board of directors. Some of you are trying to save the bank from extinction. Some of you are trying to bury it!

As well as solving the murder, each of you is given other objectives for your character to pursue. As a result, you get to mix, mingle and enjoy each other’s company in a way no ordinary group event can ever achieve.

Our experienced professional actors are there to ensure everything runs smoothly and that the humour level is always kept high. Will you become the bank’s next Chairman? Or will you end up in prison?

Hamley’s Bank is suitable for people with a flair for negotiating, blackmail, bluffing and intrigue. And who enjoy enjoying themselves!

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 6-20 people
• Indoors or outdoors or both
• 3 hours
• Over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Highly Participative

High Society

A Top Drawer, Top Class Murder Mystery

Numbers: 40-250
Style: Fairly Participative

Toffs, nobs, lords, ladies, the ultra-rich, sudden death and several tempestuous love-affairs: all you need for a great party! At the annual meeting of the High Society Society, everyone who is anyone is bound to show up – and scandalous tabloid headlines are sure to follow. It is the only party to be seen at this year.

You and your colleagues will be living it up as high-class, snooty aristos. Professional actors in your midst will play some amusing and unforgettable characters. Before long, a murder will happen in front of everyone and the hunt for a killer will begin. Plenty of tears, tiaras, tantrums – and that’s just the chaps!

The ingenious plot unravels until finally it is time for every table to decide on who to accuse of the deadly crime – and which of you has what it takes to be the next High Society Society president!

High Society is a modern-day version of our Murder at the Castle plot.

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 40-250 people
• Indoors
• 3-3½ hours
• Over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Fairly Participative

Improv Whodunit

Comedy Improv Murder Mystery

Numbers:  25-250
Style: Watch The Action

“Whose Line Is It Anyway?” meets Agatha Christie in this highly original, highly adaptable show. Murder, chaos, comedy and laughter all accompany your attempts to guess “Whodunit?”.

This is a unique form of live entertainment. Our actors pick up on audience suggestions and create a richly rewarding instant murder mystery in front of your eyes. Title, theme, characters and story are all developed on the spot, clues and red herrings collide, dark secrets are uncovered and age-old murder mystery conventions recur. Did the butler do it? Is there a butler? Was it a crime passionel or was it only love of money that caused the criminal to commit the crime? It’s anyone’s guess what might happen next.

If you’d like Improv Whodunit to be tailored to a particular theme or occasion, this can easily be arranged. Our M.C. will prompt the audience to come up with relevant suggestions which will then be seamlessly woven into the plot. We can set the murder mystery in a period chosen by you and incorporate other preferences you might have.

The audience gets the chance to make its own accusations before the truth is finally revealed. Our detective attempts a satisfyingly coherent solution, the murderer is caught, the heinous crime is punished and everyone goes home feeling justice has been done and life is again back to normal. Until next time…

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 25-250 people
• Indoors
• 1½-3 hours
• Broken up into different scenes between courses over a meal or without a meal. Or can all be run together, with an interval in between.
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Watch The Action

Last Gasp, the

See under “The Last Gasp“

Last Orders

A Glitzy, Glamorous Murder Mystery

Numbers:  25-250
Style: Watch The Action

It’s the opening night for Le Coq d’Or: an exciting, glitzy new restaurant where supermodels come to graze on lettuce and movie stars like to be seen. Everyone who comes here is either a celebrity or mistaken for one.

The action starts before dinner and continues between courses, as our main characters (all experienced, professional actors) mingle with the guests, spread clues and commit murder.

Ideal for corporate get-togethers, private parties, ticketed events at hotels and club social evenings, our Last Orders murder mystery works both for those who know each other well and for those who’ve only just met. The plot allows every guest to decide for themselves how much they get involved and concludes with a prize-giving for the team that comes up with the best solution.

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 25-250 people
• Indoors
• 3-3½ hours
• Broken up into different scenes between courses over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Watch The Action

Murder Aboard

Lives capsize and reputations are sunk in our seafaring whodunit adventure

Numbers: 7-16
Style: Highly Participative and Downloadable

Low morals on the high seas as a trip on a luxury yacht takes passengers to places they weren’t expecting to go. Anyone for murder? Find out what’s really going on when the good ship Dolphin makes its final voyage.

Duchesses and lords rub shoulders with film stars and millionaires – all characters for you and your guests to play. The voyage has already been eventful. Fortunes have been won and lost in the casino. Hearts have been broken.  Last night, a passenger fell overboard. “Fell?” Or was he pushed? Soon, a murderer is on the loose. On a yacht, there is nowhere to escape.

As well as identifying who the murderer is, your character will have other fun objectives to pursue. Settling old scores, perhaps. Acquiring some much-needed cash. And, if the yacht springs a leak, making sure you have a lifebelt. But this is a luxury yacht. Safe as The Titanic, surely…

Explore with us a world of ship-board romance, blackmail and dastardly wrong-doing on the all-at-sea Dolphin. While scattered waters rave, there’s a death on the ocean wave…

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 7-16 people
• Indoors or outdoors or both
• 3-3½ hours
• Over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Highly Participative and Downloadable

Murder At The Castle

A Colourful, Medieval Murder Mystery

Numbers:  40-250
Style: Fairly Participative

Lord Berkley has invited you to a grand feast at his castle. You will be a medieval lord or lady, baron or knight, prince or queen. Soon, you will become involved in high-level court politics, low-down skulduggery, crafty negotiating and perhaps even murder.

Helped by an array of amusing actor characters, guests also apply themselves to the task of identifying the biggest villain in the castle. And, depending on what their fellow courtiers think of them, they may become the new Master or Mistress of the Order of Righteous Nobles.

Murder at the Castle concludes with each team offering their solution, the wicked perpetrator being apprehended and prizes being given to those whose wit or intelligence has most impressed. It is a Medieval version of our High Society plot.

The plot lends itself well to being put in a Medieval settings: a venue like Coombe Abbey or Ashdown Park. We’ve also run it in hyper-modern hotels for guests who are still in their work clothes. It still works fine!

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 40-250 people
• Indoors
• 3-3½ hours
• Over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Fairly Participative

Murder At The Golf Club

A 1920s Murder Mystery In Which Everyone Gets To “Play” A Round Of Golf

Numbers:  20-250
Style: Highly Participative or Fairly Participative

A blend of P.G. Wodehouse, Noel Coward and Agatha Christie, this 1920s murder mystery is ideal for corporate get-togethers, golfing social events and private parties. Excellent at breaking down barriers, it provides a great way for people to talk to lots of other people free from any awkwardness, strain or stress. During it, everyone also gets to “play” a round of golf!

Besides having a murder to solve, there will be some other club business for you to attend to. The position of Club Captain is up for grabs and some of the lady members feel the club isn’t treating them as well as they should be. No doubt their concerns will be listened to carefully and dealt with politely…

Exactly how much people become involved is their choice, but our professional actors are there to ensure everyone has all the help they need, gets completely into the swing of things and leaves feeling on top of their game!

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 20-250 people
• Indoors or outdoors or both
• 3-3½ hours
• Over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Highly Participative or Fairly Participative

Murder In The Red Room

A modern masterpiece is about to be auctioned of. Is that paint on it – or blood?

Numbers:  Best for 8-25
Style: Watch The Action, Virtual Online and Downloadable

Everyone at this auction is either an art collector keen to bid, a key character in the plot or a crime-solving observer. Before the bidding starts, a tragic death occurs…

Is local lowlife Luke Mullet resposible for it? Or is it his rich, tearaway girlfriend, Chelsea? Or did Bill the Butler do it?

Murder in the Red Room is part scripted and part improvised. Suspects are questioned publicly and new evidence is shared as it becomes available. Plenty of intrigue and surprises along the way mean you’ll have a fascinating mystery to solve at the end.

 GROUP SIZE, TIMINGS, DATES:

• Best 8-25 people
• Indoors or outdoors or both
• 90 minutes – 2 hours
• Over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Watch The Action, Virtual Online and Downloadable

Murder On The Orient Express

A First World War Murder Mystery

Numbers:  20-30
Style: Highly Participative

In June 1914, a group of travellers is fleeing the onset of war in the Balkans. Archduke Ferdinand has just been assassinated in Sarajevo. Yugoslavia is not the place to be – and there are few routes out. The last chance for safety is the luxurious Orient Express, about to depart for Paris. Before they can board the train, one of the passengers falls to the ground. A murder has been committed!

We take up the story at Belgrade. Before the event, guests receive an invitation with information about which character they are playing, what they know and who else will be joining them. Every guest’s character is somehow caught up in the story. Our professional actors lead the action and assist in the solving of the mystery. Murder on the Orient Express is designed for small groups. Originally written to take place on a train, it works just as well somewhere that doesn’t move – like in a hotel or restaurant.

The last train from Sarajevo has arrived. Will you be catching it?

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 20-30 people
• Indoors or outdoors or both
• 3 hours
• Over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Highly Participative

Murder Stories

Storytelling Murder Mysteries

Numbers: 10-250
Style: Watch The Action

Diamond Geezers/Daniel Blackheart

The simplest of all our murder mystery formats. We begin with a few fun ice-breakers which get everyone thinking, talking and laughing. Then two absorbing murder mystery tales are read out to everyone, with actors re-creating the key moments in each story. Terrible crimes are committed in both of them but the stories end before the names of the perpetrators are revealed. And, because we’ve written them, they aren’t stories you will hear anywhere else.

Copies are given out along with some extra clues. Working in teams, people use the information they’ve been given to try and come up with correct solutions to both crimes.

After they’ve made their accusations, the whole truth is revealed…

From “Daniel Blackheart”:

The figure in the black cape held his horse steady in the middle of the road, blocking the path of the coach. He pulled a pistol from his belt, aimed it at the coach driver and, in a voice loud enough to wake the dead, cried:

“Stand and deliver!”

“Odd’s teeth,” thought the driver, “why are highwaymen always so unoriginal?”

He pulled hard on the reins and brought the coach to a sudden, jarring halt…

From “Diamond Geezers”:

Harry, Larry and Barry is all successful businessmen what have got the best connections. Everyone what’s got a violent past knows, respects and fears them – and is most like on their payroll, too. Frankie “Big Boy” Blake, for instance; Ernie Tubbs; Fred Lockitt; Wild Bill Copley. All of them knows their place and knows better than to take on the boys. Besides rackets, heists, armed robbery, etc., what the boys really enjoys is diamonds…

Running order

The timings are meant as guidelines only.

2 p.m. Intro and audience warm up.  Our actors introduce themselves, get people into teams, set the scene and warm everyone up with a few quick icebreakers.

2.20 p.m. Daniel Blackheart/Diamond Geezers.  The two stories are read out, with actors re-creating the action contained in them in tableau form. Copies of the story are given to each team, along with some extra clues. Teams are invited to try and work out who committed each crime.

2.40 p.m. Incident Room  Our lead detective (actor) takes questions from the teams publicly, then gives them a few more minutes to come up with their solutions.

2.50 p.m. Solution.  Volunteers from each team join the actors onstage and stand in groups, according to who they think the murderer in Daniel Blackheart is. The correct solution is given by our detective and we make a note of the teams which got the answer right. The same process then happens with Diamond Geezers. If several teams get both answers right, there is a public play-off until one team is declared the overall winners.

3.00 p.m.  The End!

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 10-250 people.
• Indoors.
• 1-2 hours.
• Over a meal or without a meal.
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability.
• Style: Watch The Action

Office Murder

A Plot Which Can Be Tailored To Include Information About You And Your Company

Numbers:  40-250
Style: Fairly Participative

O.R. International is a company that apparently can do no wrong. Its area of business is identical to the one you are in and, for this event, you and your colleagues will all be O.R. employees. You are attending the Annual Forum where everyone in O.R. gets the chance to say what they really think and become embroiled in some amazing office politics.

The forum gets off to a roaring start but soon disaster strikes; two much-loved employees drop down dead in front of you! Are their deaths accidental? Are they connected? Is O.R. harbouring a serial killer? It is up to you to discover the truth.

Office Murder works with or without a meal. Our team of professional actors run the event for you and at least five guests also become involved in the action as suspects or victims. Every table is a team with its own clues and fun money to trade. The plot can be adapted to fit almost any organisation or event.

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 40-250 people
• Indoors or outdoors or both
• 3-3½ hours
• Over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Fairly Participative

Reading of the Will, the

See under “The Reading of the Will“

Sherlock’s First Case

Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Is Spoiled By People Dying. She Is Not Amused!

Numbers:  20-250
Style: Highly Participative or Fairly Participative

Our Sherlock Holmes murder mystery is set in 1887 when Queen Victoria celebrated her fiftieth year of reigning over us. The plot is designed for 20-250 people and during it everyone assumes the role of a noble, distinguished member of the court. The Prince of Wales, perhaps. His charming wife, Princess Alexandra of Denmark. Or maybe Her Majesty Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith and Empress of India.

Perfect as a corporate team-building event or for private parties, the plot transports you back to a gala celebration for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in which a dreadful crime occurs. A guest steals a gift meant for her then moments later drops down dead. Infamy! Treason! Murder! Fortunately, someone is present who can help everyone investigate what lies behind this heinous act: step forward, Sherlock Holmes…

Usually run over a meal, Sherlock’s First Case can also take place on its own and generally lasts about three and a half hours. Dressing up isn’t compulsory but can add considerably to the fun. Will Sherlock save Her Majesty from Wickedness, Wrong Doing and Jeopardy? Or will the Forces of Evil triumph? Queen Victoria might not be amused – but you will be by this elegant, absorbing, intriguing and thoroughly entertaining Sherlock Holmes murder mystery.

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 20-250 people
• Indoors or outdoors or both
• 3-3½ hours
• Over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Highly Participative or Fairly Participative

Shotgun Wedding

One Disastrous Wedding Reception, Two Warring Families And More Crimes Than Confetti

Numbers:  25-250
Style: Fairly Participative or Watch The Action or as a Virtual Online game

Before the congregation has left the church, the vicar has been shot dead, the bride is hysterical and the bride’s father is drunk. Could things get any worse? In Shotgun Wedding, oh yes…

Every table at the “reception” is a team trying to solve the mystery. Our actor characters mingle with the guests, sharing clues, answering questions and treating them as if they have known them for years.

At the end, each table gets the chance to put forward its theory before our police inspector reveals the truth, arrests the evil murderer and tries to sort out what should happen to all those lovely wedding presents.

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 25-250 people
• Indoors
• 3-3½ hours (if you are all in the same space) or 2 hours (if virtual/online)
• Over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Fairly Participative or Watch The Action or Virtual Online

St. Cakes

A whodunit game set in a school where murder is on the syllabus

Numbers: 40-200
Style: Fairly Participative and Downloadable

Be a pupil or teacher at this year’s St. Cakes School Founder’s Day celebration. And don’t be surprised if some things don’t quite go to plan. It’s that sort of school…

Bishop Cakes founded the school in 930 A.D. Today, the pupils will all do their best to make it a day to remember – and one the headmaster would sooner forget! Everyone here belongs to a team or “house”. Someone will commit a murder. Everyone else will try to identify them. There is also a “St. Cakes Challenge” for each team to have a go at. Part of it consists of writing of a new school song. The mystery concludes with teams making their accusations, the murderer being identified and the new school song being selected. Fancy dress is optional but does add greatly to the fun.

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 40-200 people
• Indoors or outdoors or both
• 3-3½ hours
• Over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Fairly Participative and Downloadable

The Auction

Be part of an Auction where many sparkling reputations come under the hammer

Numbers: 12-40
Style: Highly Participative and Downloadable

Rich folks and relatives gather when a deceased old lady’s prize possessions are up for auction. The fabulous Von Munchen Treasures are up for sale. Who succeeds in bidding for them is just one of the mysteries that will be resolved during the course of the game. As people raise their hands to bid, do any have blood on them?

Every guest gets to play a unique and interesting character in the plot, from ultra-rich antiques collectors to quirky, wayward rogues and rascals. Our professional actors orchestrate the action and keep everyone on track. Deaths, surprises, clues and possible solutions abound.

Towards the end of the event, the auction takes place: treasures are won and lost in a flurry of bidding. Then it only remains to discover the identity of the killer. Everyone has a chance to accuse before the truth is revealed.

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 12-40 people
• Indoors or outdoors or both
• 3-3½ hours
• Over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Highly Participative and Downloadable

The Chocolate Bar Mystery

A mystery in which people get killed and chocolate gets eaten

Numbers: best for 8-25 people
Style: Watch The Action, Virtual Online and Downloadable 

The launch of a new chocolate bar proves calamitous for its makers, Grabshaws. People who eat it keep falling ill. Can the company sweet talk its way out of trouble? Or is it time to shut up shop?

You will be one of the senior managers attending an emergency board meeting to decide the company’s future. Calamity becomes catastrophe as some of the managers also mysteriously begin to fall ill.

Set in the 1920s, the plot encourages those taking part to eat at least one piece of chocolate during it – although no-one will be required to against their will! The Chocolate Bar Mystery is part scripted and part improvised. Our private investigator questions each suspect in turn, teasing out enough information from them so that, by the end, everyone can have a go at identifying the culprit.

 Group Size, Timings, dates

• Best 8-25 people
• Indoors or outdoors or both
• 90 minutes – 2 hours
• Over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Watch The Action, Virtual Online and Downloadable

The Final Curtain

Real-life tragedy catches up with the Littledean Theatre Company

Numbers: 7-20
Style: Highly Participative and Downloadable

Lead actor Vincent Royle isn’t pretending when he dies onstage during a performance. Join the rest of the cast and crew as you try to work out who pulled the curtain on Vincent’s life.

Set in 1926, our Final Curtain plot is packed full of scandal, gossip and intrigue. Everyone gets to play one of the characters in it and is somehow connected to the theatre company. If you want to take centre stage, you can. Just play one of the Littledean Theatre’s star actors and a moment in the spotlight will be yours. Or if you’d prefer to observe more and participate less, other roles are there for you. As the dresser, perhaps. Or box office manager. Or assistant stage manager. There is something for everyone!

As the plot unfolds, you’ll find plenty to talk about with everyone else in the room. Finding out what they know. Hiding any shameful secrets your character may have. And trying to find out who the murderer is.

It’s all great fun and very informal. Near the end, people are put in teams and decide who they want to point the finger at. Accusations are made then the actor playing the Inspector shares the truth with everyone. A murderer is arrested. Justice prevails and a great time is had by all.

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 7-20 people
• Indoors or outdoors or both
• 3-3½ hours
• Over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Highly Participative and Downloadable

The GRiT Awards

A Groovy 1970s Murder Mystery

Numbers:  40-250
Style: Fairly Participative

The year is 1977. Flares flap and hot pants hug as you and your colleagues arrive for the rock event of the year: the Giants of Rock Innovation and Technology Awards (the GRiTs). A sudden death puts festivities on hold for a while as Jason Side-Vent (Scotland Yard Vice Squad) takes control.

Jason and the other main characters are played by our elite team of professional actors. There are also a few guest characters and everyone else is treated as if they are a ‘70s rock icon, record producer or groovy, funky hipster.

The GRIT Awards is usually run over a meal. During it, each table works as a team of detectives, trading clues and gathering information. At the end, a spokesperson from each team puts forward their theories before Jason sums up the case and reveals the amazing truth…

This plot lends itself very well to having some music to follow it: a live 1970s tribute band, a disco, a karaoke. Our own favourites are the nicely bonkers Poxy Music, who perform a terrific range of ’70s classics (Bowie, T. Rex, Sweet, Roxy Music and others). Their website is here. Or ask us for more about this.

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 40-250 people
• Indoors
• 3-3½ hours
• Over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Fairly Participative

The Last Gasp

A Victorian whodunit game in which a wicked Earl gets his comeuppance

Numbers: 14-40
Style: Highly Participative and Downloadable

The wicked Earl of Coddingham is throwing a farewell party. Royals and roughnecks rub shoulders during it. Scandals soon surface and a murder soon occurs. By playing one of the party guests and questioning the other characters, you can try to work out who the perfidious perpetrator is while preventing any suspicion falling on yourself.

A dissolute nobleman, a dashing cavalry officer, a butler and a male ballet dancer: which one of them penned the curious message found on the dying man?

“Who am I? All cut to pieces…”

This is the perfect murder mystery for those who like intrigue, infamy, stiff drinks and stiff collars.

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 14-40 people
• Indoors or outdoors or both
• 3-3½ hours
• Over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Highly Participative and Downloadable

The Reading of the Will

A “sealed room” murder mystery in which everyone is a suspect

Numbers: 6-8
Style: Highly Participative and Downloadable

A murder takes place inside a locked bathroom. How did the murderer get in? How did they leave? Play a character in this deadly family saga where dark secrets keep being uncovered and no-one is quite who they say they are. The Duke of Felthorpe has invited you to his grand country estate. But will you survive the weekend?

Everyone’s character works for or is related to the Duke. They hope to benefit from the reading of his Last Will and Testament. Some are surprised. Some are disappointed. Some may be driven to murder.

The mystery is broken up into different sections. It is usually run over a meal but can take place without one. New evidence emerges as the story unravels in real time. Did the butler do it? Or was it the Duke’s maid? The Duke’s idiot son, perhaps? His son’s scheming wife?

People get the chance to put forward their own theories then the murderer is exposed. In our plots, the solution is never random or silly. When all the facts have been assembled, only one person can really be guilty. Can you work out who it is? Or is it you?

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 6-8 people
• Indoors or outdoors or both
• 2 hours
• Over a meal or without a meal
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Highly Participative and Downloadable

Who Killed Father Christmas?

A Seasonal Santa Murder Mystery

Numbers:  15-250
Style: Highly Participative or Fairly Participative

The perfect way to brighten up any Christmas party. In Who Killed Father Christmas?, everyone is encouraged to pass themselves off as the star they most resemble. You’re all lookalikes attending the Bigshot Lookalike Agency’s annual party.

Do you resemble Elvis? David Beckham? Victoria Beckham? Prince Harry? You can decide who you want to be. And your sleuthing skills will also be put to the test: Father Christmas will meet an unpleasant end…

Our team of professional actors makes sure everyone gets into the party mood and leaves feeling festive, happy and full of seasonal goodwill. Prizes will be given for the best impersonator as well as for the best detective work. Red-nosed reindeers will be admitted.

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 15-250 people
• Indoors or outdoors or both
• 3-3½ hours
• Over a meal or without a meal
• Any date in December which suits you, providing we have availability
• Style: Highly Participative or Fairly Participative

Wrench Horror

A Spooky, Ghastly Murder Mystery

Numbers:  20-50
Style:  Highly Participative

Remember those creaky old B-movies where vampires sucked, virgins screamed and Van Helsing did strange things with wooden stakes? In Wrench Horror, you’ll find yourself part of a murder mystery about the making of one of those films.

Wrench Horror Productions is infamous for its low-budget, spooky gorefests. (Yes, Hammer Horror was our inspiration!) At the end-of-filming party for their latest mess “Dracula’s Dungeons”, the actors and crew get to let their hair down and say what they really think about each other. The gloves are off, the knives are drawn – and then a body is discovered…

Every guest is a character in the plot. You might be a film star, an extra or a stunt double. You might even be the murderer! Enjoy camping it up as a Z-list film star as you try to work out who the real villain of the piece is. The moral of the story? Never allow people you don’t know to bite you on the neck….

Group Sizing and Timings

• For 20-50 people.
• Indoors or outdoors or both.
• 3-3½ hours.
• Over a meal or without a meal.
• Any date which suits you, providing we have availability.
• Style: Highly Participative

“I really don’t know what to say. I have a fairly long list at present.”
Dr. Watson, The Boscombe Valley Mystery