Murder Mystery

Vicarage Murder Mystery Party Game

★ MURDER AT LITTLE STANNARD — a 1961 English village whodunit for 4-12 players ★

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

The harvest supper has been held in the parsonage garden on the last Friday in September for as long as anybody can remember, and in 1961 it was held there again, for four hundred people who all know each other, with the trestles out and the marquee borrowed from the Hunt. The Rector, Alec Mordaunt, had lost his voice in July and had not preached since. At about eight he went indoors to his study. At ten his sister went in to fetch the tray and found him at his desk, struck once from behind.

🎭 THE TWIST THIS ONE IS BUILT ON

Six people were close enough to that study to matter, and not one of them tells a single lie all evening. Every word every one of them says tonight is true — the alibis, the times, the small awkward admissions, all of it. Your guests are used to catching somebody out. Nobody in this house can be caught out. And one of the six did it anyway.

🖼 FULLY ILLUSTRATED — NEW EDITION

• 12 painted character portraits, one on every character sheet

• A "Meet Your Characters" page so your guests can see the whole village at a glance

• A painted cover of the study as it was found

Nobody hands out a plain sheet of text any more. Your guests get a face to play.

👤 12 CHARACTERS, EACH WITH A REAL SECRET

The 6 at the centre carry the mystery — the sister who franked a letter to the county coroner at the kitchen table on Tuesday morning and read the address on it, the curate who has taken every service for six weeks and has been reading the lessons aloud to an empty vestry every night this month, the churchwarden who was asked a fortnight ago whether that letter ought to be sent at all, the village doctor who has been in and out of that house for thirty years and has never once had to knock, the organist who was exactly where she said she was doing exactly what she said, and the verger who has not spoken civilly to the organist since April over a key cupboard.

6 more of the village 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, 23 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 night

• Meet Your Characters — the illustrated cast

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

• Clue Cards for all three rounds

• Accusation Sheets and printable invitations

• The Murderer’s Envelope — hand it to one guest, or leave it sealed and play along yourself

• The Solution — sealed at the back, read aloud at the end

🖨 HOW IT WORKS

1. Print. A4 and US Letter are both included — print at 100% on plain paper.

2. Hand out. One character sheet per guest. At 4 players you use the core 6; at 12 you hand out every sheet in the file.

3. Play. Three rounds, roughly 90-120 minutes. Clue cards go out at the top of each round.

4. Accuse. Everyone fills in an Accusation Sheet. Read the Solution page aloud — whoever names the murderer, the method AND the motive wins.

You can host AND play. No character sheet tells its owner they are the killer, so read your own and leave the last two pages — the Murderer’s Envelope and the Solution — in an envelope until the vote.

★ 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.

Teen & Adult · Instant digital download · Nothing is shipped · Print it again for the next party.