I met my college friends, Katie and Tom, in Stratford on Saturday afternoon for a Murder Mystery Weekend. This was through a company we’ve not used before, The Killing Game, and the main attraction was that it offered single-night packages. Previously, we’ve been away for a two night murder-mystery break, which was a lot of fun. However, work is so busy at the moment that it would be tricky to find the time or energy for a full weekend. One night, in a comfy hotel within reasonable travelling distance of both of us, seemed a good compromise.
The hotel turned out to be a very interesting 17th century timber-framed building right in the middle of Stratford. I got there early afternoon, and since the others hadn’t arrived yet I went for a stroll around the town. Big mistake – it was absolutely heaving! The weather was glorious, and it felt like every tourist in the Midlands had descended on Stratford. I escaped from the crowds by going into Lakeland, and managed to “accidentally” spend rather a lot of money on kitchenware, which just happened to be on offer. Which would have been fine, except that I’d travelled by train, and now would have to carry home a roasting tin, two heavy baking sheets and some pot-holders……
I thought I’d better go back to my room in the hotel and wait for the others there, before I bought anything else that would need carrying home. Usually on these sort of things I find that the single rooms, despite attracting a supplement, are small, dingy and usually overlooking either the kitchens or the car-park. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that I’d been upgraded to a very pleasant double “Prestige” room, overlooking the gardens, with a complimentary Nespresso machine so I could make myself a decent coffee.
The entertainment kicked off with a cream tea in the hotel ballroom, to introduce us to each other and the characters. The scones, jam and cream were very pleasant, but I was glad that I’d stuck to tea rather than anything harder, as the gin’n’tonic was clearly poisoned! One of the characters collapsed and died in front of us – but Whodunnit? Unfortunately, my main suspect only made it as far as coffee after dinner, before being found stabbed in the hallway!
There were probably about 50 or so guests attending the event, and we’d all been given part of the back-story with our joining instructions, but had to talk to each other to find out the missing pieces. The cast was very good at moving from table to table between courses, so that everyone got a chance to quiz them informally. On top of that, they kept staging arguments / conversations with each other at various times through the evening during which vital clues were revealed. However, the plot was very convoluted, and of course everyone had a motive for murder!
A further murder happened after breakfast on Sunday, and then we had to write down our best guess as to who did it, including motive, means and opportunity. There was then the big reveal, when the (remaining!) cast members explained what had actually been going on, who did what, and why. I got about a third of it right, Tom and Katie did rather better, getting two-thirds right. But the other couple on our table won the prize (a bottle of fizz) for getting the closest answer.
All in all it was a lot of fun – a very enjoyable way of spending a weekend.
