Murder Mystery Evenings and Murder Mystery Dinners

Murder mystery dinners and events are a highly enjoyable form of interactivity for whodunit fans. Over the years I've written several scripts for murder mysteries, and I've really enjoyed putting them on, in collaboration with some very enthusiastic performers and would-be Poirots and Marples. A particular highlight for me was the murder mystery dinner that I scripted for the Emirates Literature Festival a couple of years ago, which had notables such as Kathy Reichs taking part. It was a great night. Another great occasion was the British Library's staging of my "Murder at Magenta Manor", a Christmas competition for customers in the Library shop. To see the puzzle brought to life in a highly professional way was really very special.

The suggestion that I write my first murder mystery event came from Ann Cleeves, getting on for fifteen years ago. In those days, long before she became an award-winning superstar, Ann had a part-time role with the library service in West Yorkshire, and she wrote an excellent "Body in the Library" mystery script which I've seen performed several times. In more recent times she's written some other very good mystery events, including one based on a Vera Stanhope novel, and another set on Shetland. If you get the chance to go to one in a nearby library, you will find it is great fun.

Ann's advice was spot on, and I presented my own first murder mystery evening at Ellesmere Port library about twelve years ago. This was a Victorian mystery, based on a short story I'd published some years earlier (I've never come across anyone who admitted having read the story, which would definitely have helped them to solve the puzzle!) I was delighted by the response to "Who Killed George Hargrave?" and I've taken the event around the UK in the intervening years. What has intrigued me is the number of different ways in which the event can be presented, depending on venue. The murder mystery has been held in an art gallery, a stately home, a historic pottery works, and assorted other venues, as well as libraries public and private.

Venues that staged the Victorian mystery evening often asked me to write another script, and eventually I came up with a 1920s storyline, which has again been widely performed over the past few years. Then came the commission to write a festival-based mystery for a dinner audience, and so it has gone on. I've found the events have usually drawn sizeable audiences, often including people who aren't necessarily keen readers, but like the idea of solving a puzzle. Of course, these things are variable, just as novels are, and I've attended a few murder mystery events that weren't too gripping or impressive (usually because the organiser had bought some kind of pre-packaged script without researching the subject carefully) but happily, those occasions have been very much the exception rather than the rule. A well-done murder mystery event can be hugely entertaining and convivial. 

 

Crimson Snow

                                             

This week sees the publication of Crimson Snow, the latest British Library Crime Classic. It's an anthology of winter mysteries that I've put together on behalf of the Library, and I'm delighted that early orders have been very impressive. There's a special edition for Waterstones, with a slightly different colour selection for the cover. And in the Library's Classic Crime pop-up shop you can even find bags and coasters emblazoned with the cover artwork. All very gratifying..

But what of the content of the book? After all, despite all the lovely enthusiasm for Classic Crime cover artwork, content remains the most important thing.There are a dozen stories - slightly fewer than in other BL anthologies, but that is because one of the stories is more like a novella, meaning that it's actually a chunky volume. The long story in question is "Death in December" by Victor Gunn, and I'm confident it will be familiar to very few readers.

The same is true of some of the other contributions, including "Murder at Christmas", a Ludovic Travers story by Christopher Bush, and "Off the Tiles" by Ianthe Jerrold (this may well appeal to readers who have enjoyed her crime novels, reissued in recent times by Dean Street Press). There are also some major names, including Margery Allingham, Edgar Wallace, and Julian Symons. 

When I put together Silent Nights, an anthology of Yuletide mysteries, for the British Library last year, I didn't envisage that there would be enough material to justify another seasonal collection like this. But once I started researching I was pleasantly surprised. And there's a nice bonus, too. Thanks to information given to me by Jamie Sturgeon, I was able to include "Mr Cork's Secret", by Macdonald Hastings, a Christmas puzzle mystery which originally appeared in "Lilliput" magazine. Prizes were given and the solution to the puzzle was printed in a subsequent issue. No prizes this time - you'll have to enter the "Murder at Magenta Manor" competition at the Library itself to win some books - but the solution is printed at the back of the book. All in all, I'm very hopeful that crime fans will find in Crimson Snow, and also in Silent Nights, plenty to enjoy, as well as a pleasing solution to their Christmas present-giving dilemmas!

                  

                                       

Murder at Magenta Manor

It's been a crazily busy but hugely enjoyable week. The CWA Daggers Dinner, very glitzy, was a great success, and I had a wonderful time the following evening, after zipping up from London to Yorkshire. I was hosting a Yorkshire supper at the legendary Betty's Tea Room and gave a talk about Gil North, and rural detective fiction for the Ilkley LitFest. And then, on Thursday, it was back to London again. I had a truly fantastic time, as I opened a new Classic Crime pop-up shop at the British Library.

This shop is dedicated to classic detective fiction (and yes, it sells my books too!) and it will be open until the new year. And it has a very special feature, which for all I know is unique in British retailing. The Library offers visitors the chance to participate in a murder mystery competition, with prizes. And guess who was commissioned to write the murder mystery?

When the Library first mooted the project earlier this year, I was intrigued, but slightly daunted by the challenge. The puzzle has to interest customers, but also not be too fiendish, otherwise people will not be able to escape from the shop for hours as they struggle to solve it... But after much thought and trial and error, I came up with the story of Murder at Magenta Manor, the puzzle of who killed Murdo Magenta - and how. Almost inevitably, poisoned chocolates are involved. But what was the poison?

The Library told me they loved the plot. Very encouraging. As a next step, I met the specialist designer from Spain who was tasked with turning my concept into a 3-dimensional shop design. And she and her team did a brilliant job. When, on Thursday, I walked into the shop, I was blown away. The clues are artfully hidden in the shop, and there are all manner of wonderful presents, quite apart from books, to tempt people hunting for Christmas presents. (There are bags bearing the Poisoned Chocolates Case cover artwork, and bags and coasters featuring the artwork for my new winter anthology, Crimson Snow). It really is the most unusual and extraordinary writing

project I've ever worked on.

Thursday was a Press evening, and the Library team were delighted by reaction. The excitement even attracted the interest of two real life police officers who came in for a look around and proved very entertaining visitors, happy to enter into the spirit of the mystery. No photos of them on the blog, for obvious reasons, but they made their own contribution to an unforgettable occasion.