Costumes, props and other murder mystery extras
Here are some suppliers, websites and organisations to go to, if you’re looking for anything else to add to your murder mystery. If you know of any other useful murder mystery links, please send them to us so we can feature them here.
Other murder mystery providers
If you are not a company and would like to put together your own event on a shoestring, you can download some of our plots c/o our sister company, Murder Mystery Games. They have been adapted to make it possible for you to assemble and run them yourselves and have been enjoyed by many different groups over the years.
Great Murder Mystery Games sells some of our games and many others on its site. Run by the magnificently knowledgeable and helpful Steve Hatherley, the site also has plenty of useful general information about how murder mysteries work and how to make yours work best.
Arsenic & Lies
We’re also big fans of a fine whodunit game for 5-10 people called Arsenic & Lies. Inspired by Downton Abbey and the works of Agatha Christie, it is very different to standard box set games in allowing players much more freedom over how the mystery unravels.
Perfect for those who love improvising, it can be played many times by the same group and will always have a different story and outcome. Clever and fun!
Costumes and Prop hire
Many fancy-dress shops and online sellers get their costumes and props from the same supplier. They are made from cheap materials and cost more than they should. For something which will look better, feel better and be much better quality, try any of the following:
- We love what the National Theatre does at its excellent costume and props hire service. The items for hire are ones used in National Theatre productions. The prices vary but are surprisingly reasonable. London SW9 020 7735 4774.
- Costume Studio, London N1 4BG 0207 275 9614. A wonderful collection of high quality costumes covering many different periods.
- The Dressing-Up Box, Great Dunmow, Essex 01371 875 545. Plenty to choose from and they will even make something for you.
Costumes and Props to buy
ebay is, of course, perfect for this. With some of its competitors – e.g. Etsy – you may have problems with sellers charging you to return an item which has been mis-sold (it happened to us with Etsy). We’ve not had that problem with ebay and still get many of our own costumes and props from them.
Though we think its costumes and props cost too much and can be disappointing in terms of looks and quality, we have sometimes used Smiffy’s in the past. It’s the supplier many online and actual shops depend on and has a bit of a monopoly on cheap and cheap-ish fancy dress goods.
“I knew now that I held the clue to the mystery in my hand, and all that remained was to secure the murderer.”
Sherlock Holmes, A Study In Scarlet
Leave a Reply