Creating clues for your Mystery
At this point, you have decided on a murder and how it occurred, determined which character did it and why, and created a group of suspicious characters to assign to your guests. Now is the time to get to the meat and bones of the clues that will guide your guests to solve the crime.
Especially if this your first time writing and planning a mystery party, keep the number of your clues few and the puzzles relatively simple. Focus on a great overall experience for your guests that offers lots of fun, frivolity and opportunities to be successful. It’s no fun to spend a couple hours working the mystery and feel as if you haven’t gotten anywhere.
Your guests will interview each other, solve puzzles, and work on their personal goals. There is already a lot for them to accomplish and you need not overwhelm them with several difficult challenges that stretch the event for hours and hours and they still can’t figure it out.
Alternatively, if you want to ensure your mystery isn’t too easily solved, add a few extra clues and puzzles in but be liberal with hints if the group looks like it’s stuck. You may also create a few “gimme” clues that are simply delivered to the group at different points during the event such as a late telegram (or Amazon delivery) or the pre-scheduled reading of a will.
Typically, clues can be acquired in one of two methods:
• Interviewing other guests. Clues relating to motive, opportunity, etc. can be gleaned through the questioning of guests. Imagine a live version of the old classic “Clue” board game. You will be encouraging characters to seek answers to the age-old questions of “who did it,” “where” and “with what” by chatting each other up. Now, based on your plot, what clues do you need to plant in the character profiles? Who saw whom doing what where? Who was with whom that fateful evening, thereby providing an airtight alibi? Who knew that she hated him for years?
• Finding and deciphering puzzles. Puzzles are great way to reveal clues at a mystery party and the varieties are myriad. Codes, riddles, secret symbols, and puzzle boxes may all be used. You can create your own puzzle or there are websites online that provide a variety of puzzles and codes to use. Here a couple of examples:
- IndigoExtra: 13 Ideas for Murder Mystery Riddles
https://www.indigoextra.com/blog/murder-mystery-riddles
A nice summary of how clues and puzzles can be intertwined.
- The WritePractice: Mystery Clues: The Ultimate Guide to Clues and Red
Herrings https://thewritepractice.com/mystery-clues/
A good article on creating clues from a mystery writer’s perspective.
The puzzles you use could be complex and sophisticated. For example, your guests might discover certain underlined musical lyrics on a piece of sheet music equating to letters of the alphabet that are rearranged to form a word that is either a clue itself or used to solve a puzzle elsewhere that offers a clue.
However, we advise that the more guests you plan to invite, the simpler and fewer your puzzles and overall mystery should be. The tricky part is designing puzzles that are not too easy, and not too hard. In our experience, although without intent, our puzzles tend to be too complex, slowing success and progress. We feel it is wiser to create more simple puzzles so that guests can solve them and enjoy that victory together, which encourages them and just makes for a more fun event.
When creating your clues, make a matrix to serve as a guide for your planning. Your matrix could include one column that describes the clues needed to solve the crime and identify the murderer (“Facts Revealed) and a second column that describes how that clue can be acquired (Means.) Your clues may progress sequentially (some dependent on others) or may stand on their own.
Recall our murder summary: Jungle missionary Liam Hardwick murdered his older brother, explorer Rafe Hardwick so he could inherit the wealth from the discovery of a long-lost Mayan pyramid. After killing his brother with a Mayan ceremonial dagger, Liam staged the murder scene to cast blame for his crime on the missing expedition team leader Arnoldo Cruz.
For example:
Fact Revealed Means
1. Someone witnessed the murder 1. Scattered log notes at the dig site
written in code.
2. The secret access to the pyramid 2. A Jumbled stone puzzle reveals the
hidden entrance.
3. The fresh corpse discovered within 3. Witness Cruz’ death note, written on
the Pyramid is actually the missing the pyramid wall as revealed by UV light
suspect, Arnoldo Cruz
4. The murderer is revealed to be 4. A second note, found within the
Liam Hardwick puzzle box revealed in a second
hidden chamber
The methods and mediums used for your clues should suit the setting in time that your mystery takes place. Use your matrix when you later stage the event to remind you of the clues that need to be planted.