Day 236 - Murder Mysteries

I love murder mysteries. I read part of one nearly every day. I love any mystery, even when there is no murder involved. Barbara Vine is my favorite non-murder mystery writer because of the psychological aspects of the stories she tells. I especially love murder mystery games, especially as a farewell party.  You know the type I mean - everything you  need for the game comes in a box with invitations, scripts, and clues, suitable for eight people to play. Each character gets a description of the role in advance to make dressing for the part possible. During the game, the characters are provided with additional clues so that the murderer can eventually be discovered.

Dinner and a murder players in costume

The first farewell party I attended that involved a murder mystery game was one my friends threw for me the day before I was leaving for Washington to begin my career in the Foreign Service. Initially I thought it wasn't a great idea - after all, I was LEAVING and they wanted to play some silly game instead of focusing all their attention on me. And besides, everything I owned had been packed up and put into storage so I didn't have costume clothing to conjure up my role as a 1920s English woman from the aristocracy. I just had casual clothing or go-to-work clothing.

Playing a game that kept our thoughts away from the drama (or non-drama) of my leaving turned out to be an excellent way to spend that evening. The game we played came with a recommended dinner menu which the hosts prepared for us to enjoy as we played successive rounds. There were 11 of us, not eight, but the three additional characters were given names and roles to play. We knew the murderer wouldn't be one of them, but otherwise they participated as fully as the rest of us. The evening felt like one where I was getting to know several new people all at once, a situation I knew I would soon be facing, another reason that it was an excellent event.

Dinner and a murder players in character (from left, the
stuffy teacher, the sultry miss, the cool playboy)

It worked so well that when I offered to host a farewell dinner for one of my colleagues in Stuttgart, I suggested a murder mystery event for that occasion. Since I had already played the game, this time I was just the host, bringing everyone together and serving the meal.

In Doha, during the summer when so many people left the country to escape the heat, I offered to host one of these events for the eight of us who were still in town.

I wasn't sure the public affairs officer, Martin, would enjoy this event. He and his family lived at some distance from the rest of us, so we didn't socialize with them much except for the obligatory representational events. And that wasn't socializing; that was work. But he really surprised me. Martin had drawn the role of Dr. Malcolm Practice, Mal for short. When he and his niece arrived, Martin was in character as he handed out business cards with his character name, Dr. Malcolm (Mal) Practice, M.D., as he introduced himself to everyone.

Martin, aka Dr. Practice, and Gloria, Dinner and a murder
 in Doha

As my tour in Barbados was coming to an end, the community liaison officer (CLO), a locally hired family member responsible for assisting employees and their families get adjusted to the new country, asked me what I would like to do for my farewell event. There was always an official event in the office, but separate events were also hosted with the departing employee deciding the guest list. I decided I would like to have another murder mystery event in my final week. This time, however, there were far more than six other people to invite, so I worked out a guest list with the CLO for 22 more people, allowing us to have three groups of eight play the game. I had found a location that would easily accommodate us which also had the look of an English stately home - the main dining room of the Edgewater Hotel near Bathsheeba on the east coast of the island. The CLO arranged for the kitchen to prepare the meal for us right out of the murder mystery script and on a Friday evening in July, we headed across the island for the event.

It was calypso king night during Crop Over, Barbados' big annual carnival celebration, when the best of the best calypso singers competed. We saw lots of traffic heading west as we made our way east. When we arrived at the hotel, we saw that we were the only guests that evening. That meant that the hotel and restaurant staff were on duty only because of our murder mystery and dinner event. There was a little grumbling among the staff. They would have preferred to be in Bridgetown.

Dinner and a murder in Doha with Martin (in background)
Steve, Gloria, and Jeff

The three sets of players sat at different tables as the games began. The ambassador and his wife were among the group. The ambassador also had the role of Dr. Practice for the evening. His wife had a role with just a hint of something shady in her past. Watching the two of them get into their roles was a great part of my entertainment.

After the first round, dinner was served, and that meant that the staff of the restaurant were drawn into our conversations, if only as eavesdroppers. As the second round continued, I saw the staff begin to whisper among themselves. Later I learned they were drawing their own conclusions regarding who the murderer was. They had the opportunity of seeing three different versions of the mystery while each table was absorbed in just one.

After the second round, we were served dessert. By this point, the restaurant staff were beginning to let us know who they thought the murderer was. At the end of the third round, when the murderer was revealed, the restaurant staff seemed as pleased as those of us playing the game. While they would always have an opportunity the next year to attend the calypso king competition, chances are they will never again host a murder mystery event.