Diagnosis?  Murder!

Join us for a Murder Mystery Evening.  Help solve the case  ….The invitation came into our inboxes in mid-February.  Tantalising?  Yes.  A Challenge? Yes.  Where?  The new Chantry Centre in Billericay.  A great initiative from the Rotary Club of Billericay Town: a Murder Mystery night, with a theatre group - The New Venture Players - acting the scenes and all the audience had to do was to take it all in and deduce the guilty party.

No dressing up and role playing needed by the audience – just bring themselves, drinks, glasses and nibbles.  No meals as part of the £15 entry fee, but ice creams were served at the interval.

Nearly 80 people on 10 tables of up to eight were present, even including people from the Southend area.

Brain-Teaser

We were provided with a copy of the local newspaper – The Bugle – announcing “Local GP Found Dead”, with details of where (at home), when (Sunday after a party at a local Golf club).  An MC announced the plot and each scene, as the actors played out critical events of the day before the party, and the days after the death.

Five different scenes involving the doctor Crispin Bollinger, and the suspects, his wife, an irate past patient Ursula, Mr. Brookman (owner of a nature reserve) and caterer Penny Black (her father was a stamp collector!).  
The wife was much put upon by the doctor.  Ursula blamed the doctor for the death of her husband due to his negligence.  Mr Brookman wanted the doctor to sell him some land adjacent to his nature reserve.  Penny Black was being blackmailed by the doctor.

Then the suspects and the victim visited each table for two minutes of interrogation by the table about the death.  The actual murderer was the only one who could lie, everybody else was supposed to only tell the truth.

Then a break, a further two scenes and a final session of interrogations before every table had to write down its views on: The murderer, the motive, and how he was murdered.
Then a final scene showing how the murder was actually committed and by whom.

The verdict

One table got the solution right …. Sadly not us.

We caught one of the suspects out in a lie, so were sure it must be them (only the murderer could lie), but although they tried to strangle the doctor, in that final scene perhaps they were too incompetent, and it was left to somebody else to finish the job!

Who?  Well you’ll just have to go along to another event, and find out for yourself …. Or go back to research Cluedo !