Murder Mystery

Coastal Village Murder Mystery Party Game

★ MURDER AT PORTHCURNICK — a Cornish cove whodunit for 4-12 players ★

Get it on Etsy → Instant digital download · print at home

Porthcurnick is eleven houses, a light on the point, and a fishermen's co-operative that thirty-one boats belong to. On the fourth of February, Kenneth Tregear came down to the slip drunk and went for his brother with a gaff, in front of five people. His brother put both hands on his chest and shoved him off, and he went down on the rocks.

Somebody knelt beside him and said he was gone. Inside ninety seconds, five frightened people who have known each other their whole lives had agreed that he fell on his own, and they put him in the water at the foot of the rocks. He came ashore two days later. The post-mortem was read out on Thursday, and there is seawater in his lungs.

The man who struck him is innocent and says he did it. Your guests are looking for somebody else entirely.

🖼 FULLY ILLUSTRATED — NEW EDITION

• 12 painted portraits, one on every character sheet

• A "Meet Your Characters" page so the whole table can see who was standing on that slip

• 6 photographed pieces of evidence in the host's dossier — a co-operative account book, a harbour log, two sealed envelopes and more, each one proving something about somebody in this cove

Read the dossier closely and you can solve it before the reveal.

🌊 EVERY GUEST CARRIES THREE THINGS

• A SECRET worth lying to a room of neighbours to keep

• SOMEONE THEY PROTECT — they will cover for them even when it looks bad

• LEVERAGE — something they know about another guest, to use the moment they are cornered

Round 1 is not small talk. Everyone gives an alibi and then uses their leverage on somebody, so the room is at each other's throats before the first clue is dealt.

👤 12 VILLAGERS, EACH WITH A REAL MOTIVE

The 6 at the centre carry the mystery — the woman who keeps the co-operative's books and has kept this village in order for years, the brother who admits everything, the lighthouse keeper who was off his light, the wife who does the wages and noticed something, the harbourmaster who wrote his log up late, and the girl in the shop who took something she should not have.

6 more villagers each get a full sheet of their own: a motive, an alibi, something they saw, and a reason to be nervous. Nobody at your table just watches.

📄 WHAT YOU GET — instant download, 24 pages

• Host Guide — how to run all three rounds

• At a Glance — the whole game on one page, safe to read even if you are playing

• The Tangle — who is covering for whom (host only)

• The Story — read aloud to open the evening

• Meet Your Characters — the illustrated cast

• The Evidence — the 6-item dossier

• 12 Character Sheets — secret, alibi, what you know, and what to say in Round 3

• Clue Cards for Round 2 and Round 3

• Accusation Sheet — one per guest

• Printable Invitation

• ★ Full Solution — every clue explained, sealed at the very back

🎲 HOW IT WORKS

1. Buy → download instantly (nothing is shipped)

2. Print at home — A4 and US Letter are both included, nothing to cut out except the clue cards

3. Hand out the sheets, read The Story aloud, play three rounds, then vote

👥 4 TO 12 PLAYERS

6 is the full mystery. At 4 or 5 the Host Guide tells you exactly who to drop and which clue card to move. Up to 12, the extra villagers each hold a sheet of their own — they question, they get questioned, they vote, and they can win.

⏱ 90-120 minutes · Teen & Adult · The host can play too — nobody’s sheet names the killer, so keep the last two pages sealed until the vote.

🖨 A murder mystery where nobody is a stranger and everybody is guilty of something. No script to learn, no costume to buy, no accent to attempt. Print at home on plain paper. No app, no batteries, no pieces to lose.

★ GREAT FOR ★

Dinner parties, game nights, girls’ nights in, birthday celebrations, Halloween gatherings, and evenings when a group of friends wants something to do together — small groups and large.