Revenge of Konan Castle

"What happens when you mix an Eleventh century haunted Scottish castle, eight greedy Americans, and a two hundred year old family feud?"

So asks the box of the Murder Mystery Party we found at a thrift store several months ago. The answer? You get a great night of solving the murder of Ian Campbell! With a diverse spread of food and a traditional Scottish music Pandora station, 17 of us gathered (in full costume) at the Naw last night to figure out who among us killed the last of the Campbell family while in search of a hidden treasure worth a fortune.

We each had characters to play (the game only has eight characters, so we doubled and tripled up on them--for murder mystery enthusiasts out there, having a character buddy is helpful), clues to reveal, and secrets to keep. I played Ashley Leeds, the beautiful and flirtatious daughter of a wealthy business man. While not appearing very smart, Ashley is actually a manipulative woman who uses others to get her way. The only thing her daddy won't/can't buy for her is the attention/affection of Dr. Andrew Mathieson, the brilliant archaeologist. Ashley is at the castle to find the treasure in hopes of convincing Andy to take her to Egypt with him on his next excavation. Other characters included a wealthy widow, an engineer, a jewelry designer, a football player, a major in the army, and an army nurse.

As our secrets came out little by little (game rule: no lying allowed, unless you are the murderer!), it became clear that we all had motive to kill. Ian was close to finding the treasure we all wanted, and he knew a few too many secrets about some of us. Once we went through all the clues, we made our accusations. Nearly everyone was accused at some point, but only one character had it in him to kill. The mystery solved, we continued eating and drinking the night away.

A murder mystery is the perfect distraction from the cold. There's no football this weekend, no holidays, and the world outside is dreary and frigid. Might as well gather with friends and pretend you are in an old Scottish castle--kids aren't the only ones who get to play pretend.