Murder Mystery and New Year Social

Report by Jana

(followed by a Report by PC Halfwit lower down – do not miss that one!)

On Friday, 12th January, the club held its very first Murder Mystery, as part of the New Year social. The famous sleuth Hercule Poirot himself made an appearance, as did Miss Scarlet and Reverend Green from Cluedo – thank you for gracing the Rec Club with your presence. A big thank you to everyone who came but a special thank you to Sarah and Jana who came up with the murder mystery and organized the evening; to Frederiek who took care of meeting and greeting people; to Rachel who supplied the Newton Wonders; and to Juliet who allowed us to transform her into our murder victim Anna (as she said herself, she would be with us in spirit :D). Taking part in the murder mystery was not compulsory but most attendees wanted to put their detective brains to the test – and what a test it turned out to be!

The murder mystery kicked off at 6:45 pm with a press conference from “Crediton Police Station” given by DCI Dreckly, with the help of PC Halfwit. The crime was announced as were the suspects and the aim of the investigation – i.e. to establish the perpetrator, the motive and the murder weapon. The game was afoot!

The 24 detectives who came to help solve the murder worked in pairs, each pair representing a different detective agency. They had to find clues and complete a number of puzzling tasks in order to get to the bottom of the matter at hand.

Three teams successfully solved the crime in the allocated time of 1.5 hours.

In 3rd  place was the Allwrong Detective Agency consisting of Reverend Green (aka Harry) and Chris.

In 2nd place was the Messy Detective Agency consisting of Jo and Jane.

And the winners were the Newton Nappies Detective Agency, consisting of Miss Scarlet (aka Lucy) and Neville. The Newton Nappies took the case by the scruff of the neck from the beginning, divided forces when the case asked for it and conquered in style in 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Thank you to everyone who took part and made the evening a success.

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Report by PC Halfwit

Friday, 12th January, 10 AM

So we have a murder on our hands, it seems! This morning, a body of a young woman, Anna Rolova, was discovered in Newton St Cyres Tennis Club clubhouse (they call it a clubhouse but it’s more like a glorified shed if you ask me). Oh and then there was this guy, a doctor apparently, Dick Ticker, who was found at the same time, on the tennis courts – he is alive but currently lying at the ICU at the RD&E and not looking too bright… God only knows how we’re gonna solve this with only DCI Dreckly and myself at work at the moment. She’s not exactly the brightest button and as to myself, well, there must be a reason why our family name is Halfwit!

Friday, 12th January, 11 AM

The DCI announced she wants to hold a press conference at the police station tonight and invite any aspiring detectives to come and help solve the case. Pish! Why she thinks a bunch of amateurs will solve it is beyond me! I was ordered to wear my Sunday best so as not to ridicule the police force! What next!?

Friday, 12th January, 6:45 PM – the press conference

Here we are, 24 wannabe detectives turned up to help. LMAO. The DCI presented the facts of the case and the suspects to them and asked for their help with our investigation. I don’t think they took the matter seriously as they kept laughing! I’m sure they thought it was some sort of a game and not, in fact, a murder inquiry, good grief.

 

We couldn’t have all 24 of them in one team, so instead, we made them pair up – a simple task, one would think. Well, it seems not! Some of them managed to make a right hash of it… But, within about ten minutes, they all worked it out and picked up their case files – we had 12 detective agencies ready to embark on the investigation. I still don’t think they took it seriously though, the names they came up with, Lord give me strength – to name a few, there was the Allwrong Detective Agency, the Mad Detective Agency, the Wild Detective Agency, the Amateur Detective Agency, the Dramatic Detective Agency or the Stationary Detective Agency (they were the biggest trouble makers if you ask me – apparently one of them is a university professor, professor my arse!).

First of all, they had to prove to us they are, in fact, worthy detectives. Their first task was to read the victims’ and suspects’ descriptions and statements and work out a password in a word search. This was as easy as chips for some and as hard as hard-boiled eggs for others. When the first few agencies came to us with the correct password (which was Sherlock, by the way), I could see in the DCI’s eyes that she was starting to believe there might be a few capable individuals among the bunch who might actually crack the case! I still wasn’t convinced…

Those who proved to us they had a brain (and they all did, eventually), were given the task of searching the suspects’ and victims’ houses and finding the passcodes to unlock the victims’ mobile phones. The evidence was puzzling and working out who was innocent required a steady and systematic approach. This really separated the wheat from the chaff. I will admit that to get past this stage and crack the passcodes was no mean task but four agencies succeeded. I was actually starting to believe myself that these amateurs could do it after all!

Yes! At 8:15 PM, the case was solved by the Newton Nappies! Unbelievable, who would have thought you could solve a murder in a red dress and high heels! Never judge a book by its cover and all that – by the way, who looked inside the Ten Little Indians, so deftly designed by the DCI?