Where Murder Mystery Parties Started…
The dastardly business of Murder Mystery parties has been going on for over 35 years and Murder By Design, one of the oldest exponents in this dark art have remained faithful to the original concept of setting the scene in an altogether more genteel era of the 1920’s and 30’s, such peaceful times, were they not?
Think again! The world was recovering from the Great War and the Fuhrer was already on the rise for a second go; it was a time of espionage, fast money, spurned lovers, gangsters and insurance fraudsters; all of these reasons have been ingeniously woven into the plots and storylines in order to baffle and bemuse all but the seasoned campaigner who has ever attempted to solve ‘whodunnit?’
…just about everything in between including ships, castles, tents and even a Cinema.
Murder Mystery events have been staged in grand country houses and modern high street hotels and just about everything in between including ships, castles, tents and even a Cinema. The public appetite for them has waxed and waned over the last three decades but currently the genre appears to be very much on the up with 1st Call Entertainment, a prominent agent of said events, purporting record enquiries from individuals and corporate bookers alike. There doesn’t appear to be any one geographical area either that favours murder mystery entertainment and most of the major cities London, Bristol, Birmingham and Cardiff continue showing strong interest.
We have entertained somewhere approaching 50,000 people throughout our time in the Murder Mystery business
How many people attend these events? Murder By Design estimate, they alone, have entertained somewhere 
approaching 50,000 people throughout their time in the business as the second longest established murder company in the world, so you would hope they have a fairly good idea what they are talking about. Individual events can range from as few as 12 to as many as 250 with the average being around 100 guests. ‘we often see the same faces turn up more than once and so we have to closely monitor the storylines that we perform at a venue to make sure that people get a new one when they come back to see us again’ commented the creative director from Murder By Design.
It will be 50 years next year since Agatha Christie made her own ‘exit stage right’, but the interest in stylish murders and the appeal to attend these quirky, highly entertaining dinners where you can mix fine dining, fine wine and a dead body or two by the time dessert arrives endures, and long may it continue.
