News and photos

Issue No 10: 15 December 2001

• We have been busy in the last two months. We have created new versions of "Who Killed Santa?", "Poetic Justice" and "Murder of the Great Chef". The new versions are in the "meet and mingle format" where you talk about the clues you have been given and only the police report, medical report and will are read out to the whole group. These kits have also been expanded to cater for larger parties.

• We have added more versions of the mystery called "The Love Letter ". The first version was for 9 ladies and 2 men. We have added a version for 9 or 10 females and one for 11 females and 2 males.
• Unfortunately, we have had to delay writing the baseball mystery called "Death On The Mound". But don't give up hope! We shall endeavor to have it ready by Feb. Please let us know if you are interested in this new kit via email to info@merrimysteries.com and we will let you know when it is ready.

• Our photo competition winners
• Feedback on "Who Killed Santa?"

Our photo competition winners

Debbie Hemming and Suzanne Dell from the USA are our photo competition winners. Debbie sent in photos from her "Murder On The Prairie" party. Suzanne sent in photos from her "Murder Of The Great Chef" party. We are commencing a new competition with a closing date of 1 February 2002 (see photos.htm for details).

Debbie sent in this feedback:

"Thanks so much for the mystery Murder on the Prairie. What a blast. We had 20 people in total. The way that I picked the characters was great. I put all the names into a box and drew one name at a time, and the first name was the first character, all the way down the till all characters were taken. I couldn't have done a better casting call myself.

As I am President of our local Rod & Gun Club, I figured this would be an excellent fundraiser for our club. We held the murder mystery in our clubhouse. My husband & I made a coffin and even had old Mr. Woods inside of it, we had a fog machine which we put beside the coffin, checkered tablecloths, old lanterns hanging, bales of hay, old saddles, cobwebs..... I took the holders from my outdoor lanterns and put them outside the clubhouse on the railing so it was all lit up when people drove up. I made up signs with the name of the town of "Mitchido" with the population of the people that would be there. The "Lone Star Saloon", where everyone made their own drinks. I even painted an old barn board with the prices of the booze that reflected the time period. (Warm Beer 10 cents Cheap Whisky 25 cents Stale Wine 5 cents, then I added that Women were extra.)

I took pieces of rawhide and cut them into circles and wrote each name on them, and tied them with string, so they could either wear them on their shirts or around their wrists.(So everyone knew who was who) For food I served a fondue, with Buffalo, Elk, Moose, Beef, Chicken, Goose & Shrimp, plus all the vegies. Towards the end of the evening, everyone was right into their character. The Barber (Joe) asked if anyone would give $300 to have Dr. Reyes' beard shaved. (I have never seen my husband without a beard). Next thing you know, there was $300 put into Lulu's garter. So into total we raised over $700 from a murder mystery party with only 20 people in attendance. We had a $100 cash for whoever guessed who the murderer was. We had 3 people guess correctly. The winners actually donated the money back to the club. So they only real expense was for the food. And most of the food was donated.

Everyone wants to know when the next one is going to be. Plus we have another 20 or so people that want to come to the next one. Please let me know if you can help!!

Thanks again so much

Debbie Hemming"

Suzanne sent in this feedback:

"We had our "Murder of the Great Chef" party for 8 people this past weekend, and it was a GREAT SUCCESS!

I decided to add a little bit of a twist and suggested that we all 'cross dressed'. So for most of the roles we had women playing the male characters and vice versa. It certainly added to the fun and the over-acting that went with it was just great!

George's 'beard' was actually coffee granules!! Paula won the "best costume" prize. I think 'her' fabulous over-acting throughout the evening helped!

We played a Big Band Glenn Miller CD, and this music just fitted the era perfectly. I supplied each guest with a small notepad and pencil to make notes. After a lot of laughs and detective work someone correctly guessed who the murderer was.

Once again, it was a really great evening and fun was had by all who
attended - we're looking forward to planning our next Murder already!

Thank you for a great evening!

Suzanne Dell"

Feedback on "Who Killed Santa?"

"We just had a birthday party for our now 13 year old daughter. We did "Who Killed Santa". We all had a wonderful time. It was an easy party to host and everybody said they had a great time. A couple of people told me that it was the best party they had ever been to.

We had about 35 people there from ages 18 months to 70 years old. It was great how everybody mingled and talked to each other, adults talking to the kids and teenagers and vice versa.

Everybody came in customer and did such a WONDERFUL job of that. Since Josh Frasier was into his monopoly money, he gave the killer a get out of jail free card at the end and Santa's lawyer offered her services for half off.

We originally had told people that steak and lobster was on the menu, because nothing was too good for our precious daughter. When Santa died Lorenzo announced that he was too frazzled to prepare the steak and lobster, so he opened the salad bar to an all you can eat buffet. We had prepared deli trays and a big arrangement of produce for salad. It was great.

I can't say enough good things about the evening. I know it will be a party that my daughter will never forget. My other daughters plan on having the same kind of party when they turn thirteen. Thanks for everything. I will be recommending you to all of my friends and will be buying parties from you in the future.

Della Archambo"

We also received this feedback on this new version from Donna.

Stephanie, I just had my Christmas party for 45 people and your Mystery was a huge hit!!! Each year I do a theme party and this one was the best yet. Everyone had a great time and could not wait to find out "Who done it"....Your online support was the best, and I appreciate you helping in every way that you did. You've made this year Christmas Party one that everyone will remember for years to come.

THANK YOU!!!!!!

Donna Pelletier

Here are some of Debbie's "Murder On The Prairie" pictures:

Here are some of Suzanne's "Murder Of The Great Chef" pictures: