How it works
We will supply 3-5 actors (depending on the size of the group) who will present the opening scene during a reception drink.  One of the actors will then explain what the teams have to find out or do throughout the evening. The teams, once seated, will be given a certain amount of clues and an answer pad. The actors then return between courses to be questioned / interviewed. The finale is a scripted act to demonstrate the outcome and any twists.

Murder Mystery Scenarios:

Ebenezer's Misdemeanor (A Christmas Carol Sequel)
It's two years on from Scrooge's visitation by the three ghosts of Christmas. Unfortunately for Scrooge he has failed to change his miserly ways and so the Ghost of Christmas Future's predictions start to come true!

Ebenezer's death is inevitable but there is one thing that the ghost missed out; Scrooge's death appears to be extremely suspicious.

There are a lot of people the old man's upset, and they are now the suspects in a murder investigation...

Dubai Double Cross
The scene is a hotel.  All the guests are employees of The Paradise Resort, a newly opened hotel and leisure complex owned by entrepreneur, Benjamin E. Factor. Amongst the tables in the restaurant, one table is occupied by only two men. These are the company accountant, Maura Less, and a bodyguard, Manuel Labour. They are awaiting the arrival of Mr. Factor and his entourage. As he enters, with his new young wife, personal assistant, bodyguards, etc., everyone stands and applauds.

The young wife, Emma Wroyd, gives the accountant a kiss slightly more than a normal greeting, which Benjamin very obviously notices. He shakes the man’s hand and gives him a fatherly slap on the face, telling him he looks younger every day.

Benjamin motions everyone to sit down, coughs a little and begins a small speech welcoming them and hoping they will have an enjoyable evening celebrating the opening of the new complex in Dubai.

Half way through he stops and watches a mosquito circling. Suddenly he snakes out a hand and crushes it in his fist, looking round for approval from his group. ‘Look at that, like grease lightning, eh? Quick as a flash!’ They show appreciation.  ‘Keep myself fit, don’t I darling?’ Emma giggles. ‘Hand on the trigger! Nobody messes with Benny Factor, eh Maury?’

He clicks his fingers for a cigar from one of his assistants, who gives it to him and lights it. Benny continues with his speech, introducing his fairly new wife and some of his team.

Suddenly Benny doubles up, maoning and holding his stomach.  ‘Pills, pills!’ he shouts and Emma quickly fills a glass with water, fishes in her handbag and produces a phial of pills, two of which she gives to Benny, who swallows them with the water.

‘I was afraid this would happen,’ she says, smiling apologetically at the gathering.  ‘He always gets indigestion before a meeting.’

After a little while, Benny recovers and is just about to continue when the bodyguard, Manuel Labour, leaps up and pulls away from Maura Less, the accountant, who is holding his throat and choking. They all watch as he half stands, gurgling, then falls down across the table. He is dead.

Was it murder? If so, who murdered him, why and how?

The Hypnotist
Hugh Mungus is a rather seedy hypnotist scratching a living by hypnotising young girls for the titillation of a male audience. On one occasion in a hotel he has hypnotised a female volunteer and is approaching the sleazy part of his act when he is interrupted by a furious man who turns out to be her husband, and who, before being calmed down, utters violent threats.

Eventually the three of them sit down to dinner promising the management that they will discuss the situation like adults and sort out their differences amicably. Shortly afterwards, however, the husband rushes out of the dining room and his wife rushes after him only to return to announce that he has undergone a rather unpleasant death.

Your task is to discover whether the death was murder or suicide or neither; to discover the causes and the events that led up to the death. And is there a third suspect somewhere………?

Stick Together
It’s only a six mile walk and it’s quite a light night. We’ve got torches and a map, a few clues to find and then we reach the hotel for a drink. But I have a feeling somebody is following us and the map seems to be wrong…….

Minstead Mystery – New Forest
Minstead is an attractive village in the heart of the New Forest. Ponies wander down the street and roses grow around the doors of the cottages. But tread carefully when you walk in the churchyard. Here is the grave of Arthur Conan Doyle. But the village holds to it’s heart a mystery that even Sherlock Holmes could not solve. It is over a hundred years old know, the story of Alice Kytel. What happened to the nineteen-year old girl that night in September 1886? Only her head was found, and it is presented as your first clue. The answers lie in and around the village. Solve the case which has puzzled people for over a century.

Haunted Horror
There are many stories of Haunting in _______. Well, you would expect it since it’s been there for over a thousand years. Some of the houses have too. But there is one place which is more haunted than all of them put together. Seven people have died there over the centuries. All in the same room. It is said that they saw something. What did they see? And which room was it? It’s quite important we find out because we’re sleeping there tonight………..

Telepathic Terror
Have you ever wondered what would happen if somebody had advance knowledge of what was going to happen next? And somebody knew more about you than was healthy. What would you do? And what would you do if you were told that something awful was going to happen that evening unless you stopped it? Where could you run to? Who could you turn to?

Somebody in the room has developed extra-sensory perception. Fortunately there is someone who can help, someone who has access to that ‘other world’. Do you want his help or not? It may mean undergoing all sorts of trails and terrors, but if it will save somebody’s life…….

Cliffhanger
A pleasant dinner after a hard day. Good food, good wine and convivial company. You are just beginning to relax when voices are raised at one of the tables. Suddenly one of the guests stands up, takes out a gun and shoots his companion. Then calmly Walks out of the room. The manager and his staff rush in. One of the guests, a doctor, examines the victim. Blood trickles from his mouth. He dies in the doctor’s arms.

Just as you are getting back to normal the police arrive and you get a nasty shock. The inspector heading the enquiry is the gunman. He doesn’t believe you so you suggest he looks at the body. ‘What body?’ he says.

Duration: 
1.5 – 2.5 hours – over dinner

Required: 
Dressing area and light refreshments for the actors
Venue vetting – if not already known