Murder mystery kits where the clues really add up

Free scripts and chatbot-written games often leave you with two equally guilty guests, or a culprit anyone can name after the first round. Each of our printable kits is run through a clue solver before it reaches you: it proves the clues point to exactly one culprit, and that nobody can work out who before Round 3 of 4.

First kit: The Last Ferry from Saltmarsh Point

Regatta night on the southern coast of Australia. Harold Quill, owner of the Point Hotel, is found dead in the boathouse. The last ferry leaves at 11. 8 players, about 2 hours, four rounds, 19 clue cards, character cards with secrets, accusation slips and a sealed solution page. Original story and characters.

Download the free sample pages (PDF, 4 pages)

A peek at the characters

Marguerite Fenn, hotel manager.
You have run the Point Hotel for nineteen years and live in the flat above the bar. Quill hired you when no one else would, and you have never forgotten it.

Dr Ansel Prowse, town doctor.
Retired from the city, you keep the surgery on the green and play chess with Quill every Thursday.

Bridie O'Callan, caterer.
Your van has fed every regatta dinner since you were nineteen; the hotel contract is most of your income.

Five more characters in the full kit.

A peek at the clues (Round 1)

Round 1, for Dr Ansel Prowse. You examined Quill. He died between 9:00 and 9:20 pm from one blow of a brass boat hook, the kind kept in the boathouse tool chest. The boathouse door was found unforced.

Round 1, for Bridie O'Callan. From 9:00 to 9:30 you and Marguerite Fenn were plating dessert in the hotel kitchen with the pass door open to the dining room. The waiting staff saw you both the whole time.

Round 1, for Lachlan Marsh. Quill renewed the harbour mooring lease for ten years last Tuesday, signed and witnessed. A sale of the Point changes nothing for you.

Round 1, for Odette Wray. Everyone knows Quill's will leaves you the boathouse, and that a sale of the Point would have voided that gift.

Round 1, for Felix Dunmore. Your firm holds an option on the Point that expires at midnight tonight. Quill's death would stop the sale.

What the solver checks

Every clue card is true, and exactly one guest has the means, the motive and the opportunity.
After the final round only the culprit is still possible.
The culprit cannot be worked out from the clues of Rounds 1 and 2 alone: the solution after Round 2 is still a 4-way tie.
Every guest holds clue cards, so no one sits out.

Honest note: the story was written with AI assistance and the clue logic is checked by software, not by a panel of playtesters. We would like to hear how your night went.

Price

Planned price: US$29 per kit as an instant PDF download. Not on sale yet and the price is not final.

Get the kit for US$29

Clicking does not charge you or collect anything. Original story, no trademarked settings or characters. For private home use. Where Australian Consumer Law applies, your statutory guarantees remain.