Turning a quarter century is no joke. I was pretty bummed out about turning 25 because this meant that I had to come up with a new 5 year plan. Let's be real people, ain't nobody got time to start thinking about 30!
My awesome friend Sarah saw that I was not in the highest of spirits and several German beers and pretzels later a brilliant idea was born: Why don't you have a murder mystery party!?
Alas, the adventure began and we looked online for ideas but none seemed to fit what we had in mind. I wanted to have characters that would suit the personalities of my friends, be diverse and have a plot that they could have a lot of fun with, so we thought to create our own.
The party was a success! So I thought, why not share the joy for FREE!?
Below you will find the 'Nancy and Sarah Murder Mystery Party Toolkit.'
Questions or feedback? Comment on this post!
PLOT
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It’s a cold and windy November night and several friends from all walks of life come together to celebrate Zoe’s 25th birthday. The group is mostly from the East coast and a few from the Midwest- most from affluent families. While all the people present have connections with each other, they soon discover an anomaly when one of their friends goes missing. [More developments on this will arise at the party]. Your job is to come in full masquerade (i.e. wear a mask) and formal attire; assume everyone is a suspect when the murder is announced and until the murderer is found and the mystery is solved. Make sure to think about your character before the party, who you are and how to best portray your character’s personality: try not to break character and have fun with it! Come ready to drink, eat and solve a mystery!
CHARACTERS
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Victim – George Selker 32, journalist
at public press, big sports fan, gambling problem, very attractive, drinker, > love triangle -How they know Zoe
(Birthday Girl) –grew up together in Lake Grove, Maine. [NOTE: HE NEVER ACTUALLY SHOWS UP TO THE PARTY]
Samantha Rodriguez-
part time lover full time friend
Grew up with George [and others from Lake
Grove] but started messing around with him 1 year ago, realized she didn’t want
to marry Matias but couldn’t tell him because her parents would disown
her. She has a fixed marriage to
keep the money.
Matias Thompson -
Boyfriend of Samantha very rich and jerky
Knows he has an arranged engagement. How they know Zoe (Birthday Girl) - engaged to Samantha who grew up with
Zoe in Lake Grove, Maine.
Sasha James- Samantha’s
best friend, is a lawyer, mellow personality who grew up with Samantha and
George. How they know Zoe (Birthday Girl) – grew up with her in Lake Grove,
Maine.
Victoria Jones – Editor of
the Newspaper “Public Press” is George’s boss, really can’t stand Harold or
David. She is very outspoken and a
bit of a control freak and a workaholic- always checking emails in the middle
of conversations, etc. How they
know Zoe (Birthday Girl) – Cousins with Zoe.
Vanessa Selker – George’s
sister 28 year old party girl aka HOT MESS. How they know Zoe (Birthday Girl) –
very good friends with Zoe, went to college together and interned at the public
press for a month and got fired for sleeping with Victoria’s love interest. Is a waitress at Tango on and off.
Harold White - Busy body
neighbor of Matias who is super conservative loves Fox news. He is always calling George at the
Public press with “tips” and writing letters to the editor. He is very opinionated but not very
reliable source. How they know Zoe
(Birthday Girl) – was invited by Matias [whose girlfriend Samantha grew up with
Zoe] at a golf game.
Zoe Garcia (Birthday Girl) – Owns tapas restaurant called Tango, Victoria’s cousin and very
good friends with Vanessa and knows most of the gang.
Tabitha Allen - How
they know Zoe (Birthday Girl) - Zoe’s
friend from college former flame of George. Book Worm – librarian at the university of Maine.
Bernard Allen – Tabitha’s husband who is a bus driver- is pretty
quiet but a drunk and really hates George. How they know Zoe (Birthday Girl)- through Tabitha.
Gwen Zapata – George’s
cousin and the one who does everything for everyone else. Recently moved to the area and wants to
get to know everyone. How they
know Zoe (Birthday Girl) –invited by George and has met Zoe at Tango.
David Chang- friends
with Harold and also local alderman, How they know Zoe (Birthday Girl) – knows
Matias through Harold, plays golf with Matias who invited them to the
party.
Tyriq Mendez – bartender
at Tango restaurant and close friend of Zoe’s. How they know Zoe (Birthday Girl) works at Zoe’s restaurant.
Cori Cohen – New Chef at
Tango How they know Zoe (Birthday Girl) – Works at Zoe’s restaurant Tango.
Jose Cortez – Tyriq’s
cousin, is a bookie, takes bets at Tangos bar. How they know Zoe (Birthday Girl) – hangs out at Tango a lot.
Rebecca Goldberg –
accountant of George and David who is embezzling county money. She is covering up the embezzling
because she is getting a pay cut.
– (use info for clues.) How
they know Zoe (Birthday Girl) – Also went to college with Zoe. Eats at Tango a lot.
Maria Berkowski
- ex flame (stalker) of George, she was the
love of his life 7 years ago, cheated on him. Later wanted him back by any means necessary. Sister of Tyriq who is the bartender at
Tango. -How they know Zoe
(Birthday Girl) –Her brother works at Zoes resturant – was invited by Tyriq.
Marsha Xi – new girlfriend of David
Chang; very outgoing, has a very unique laugh. How they know Zoe (Birthday Girl) – Invited by David
Chang who plays golf with Matias who is the Fiancée of Samantha.
Karl Rogers- Maria’s date. Doesn’t really know a
lot of people but then runs into David Chang who he went to high school with. You
are very outgoing and train for local and national build competitions. You are also a private detective and a
former cop. You used to work for the
show called Cheaters and that’s how you met Maria- when she was stalking
George.
Venecio Lara- From El Salvador,
lives in London, long time friends with Dexter (artist from El Salvador who
will also be at party) and plays in a band called “auditory rape” and they just
wrapped up their tour in Western Europe. He is Antoinette’s boyfriend.
Antoinette Abbey – Met Zoe during a study abroad trip and has kept in touch and is in
town because her youngest brother is getting a married to a woman from
Connecticut. You have a British
accent, are a writer and teach guitar at a small university in London.
Dexter White-
Hotel Manager at the Hilton and a family friend of Elizabeth and Antoinette. Dexter is from El Salvador but has been
living in London for 4 years and is an artist, which is why he moved to London
but works at the hotel as a day job.
Elizabeth Abbey- Antoinette’s younger sister.
You are in town because your youngest brother is getting a married to a
woman from Connecticut. You have a British accent and your sister Antoinette
knows the birthday girl but you don’t know anyone. You are a former hippie and
own a small jewelry design company.
Paulina Cuellar- You
are the wife of Jacob and you come from a very wealthy family from Boston (your
father was a chemist). You are
quite the socialite and know Zoe since you and Jacob eat at her restaurant
frequently. You speak 3 languages
and your mother is from Colombia and your father is from Germany.
Jacob Cuellar - You
are a small business owner that owns a chain of autoshops in the area. You are a long time friend of David
Chang and donated money to get him elected as alderman; and he is the one that
invited you to the party. You also
know Zoe because you have worked on her car and some others at the party are
also familiar faces whose car you’ve worked on.
Murder scenarios
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(Choose whichever one you want: we chose the one in bold and the clues below are according to this particular murder scenario)
Scenario 1 – Matias – weapon – knife, reason
– love triangle “Jealous Lover”
Scenario 2 – Jose –weapon – gun, reason –
owed him money “Gambling Money debt”
Scenario 3 – David – looks like a suicide (SLIT WRISTS) – KNIFE,
reason – found out about embezzling “corruption”
Scenario 4 – Marina – Weapon –poison, reason
– accidental was trying to knock him out “stalkerly love”.
How the night will pan out/ CLUES
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CLUE 1- *Harold* You just called the Public Press to
ask about your letter to the editor; wondering if it will be published. An intern answers the phone and puts
you on hold while he looks for George Selker, the only reporter still at the
office- he comes back on the phone within 30 seconds and he screams into the
phone…”He’s dead!!!!” You are able to surmise from the intern’s distraught
banter that it seems like a suicide since his writs have been slit. [You proceed to tell people at the
party that: George…he’s dead!]
CLUE 2- *Karl* As soon as the murder is announced you
excuse yourself to go to the bathroom. Hint: look to the right of the
toilet. You find a bloody
knife. It dawns on you that almost
everyone at this party knows George and that it doesn’t sound like he would
kill himself based on the nice things mostly everyone has said and your
experience having investigated him before- being a detective you take the
knife, put it in a Ziploc bag, reveal your badge and announce, “I don’t think
that was a suicide I just found some vital evidence leading me to believe that
the murder is among us” No one can leave until we solve who the murderer is.
The accusing begins [people who are accused
give their alibis]
CLUE 3 – Victoria Editor for public press checks her email finds that she had an
email from George earlier that evening.
He tells her that he is working on a big story having to do with
Embezzling in the local government.
– He does not want reveal his source in an email. The tone of the email seemed a little
scared; he said he was afraid someone might be following him. [You reveal this
Email to the group and accuse Harold since he discovered him and would always annoy
him]
CLUE 4 – Rebecca steps in after Victoria begins
accusing Harold- “alright alright, If I come clean I demand protection and you
are all my witnesses here tonight! I believe that it’s true, George was on the
brink of a story that was going to put him on the national radar. Begins crying… David, please don’t make
me do this! [Cue to turn to David and then he begins speaking]
David reveals why he did it and gets
arrested/ escorted out
HOW THE MURDER HAPPENED
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George was about to make his break with a story he was working on for the newspaper. He was doing a story on the local alderman David Chang who was close friends with his nosy neighbor Harold. After an interesting conversation with Harold he started to realize there was something fishy going on in the local offices. After some digging, Rebecca, David’s accountant, started to catch on that George was digging up dirt. Rebecca conspires with David to hide his embezzling in the city and personal books. She tells David about her suspicions that he is digging up dirt to write a story that would end his political career. Rebecca assumed David would just talk to George or threaten him. Instead, David decides to kill George and make it look like a suicide.
