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HomeShop at BookSurgePoetryCaribbean & Latin AmericanHow To Create Your Own Murder Mystery Party |
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18 of 19 found the following review helpful:
 Helpful But Not Perfect Nov 08, 2008
This book was a bit of a mixed bag. My goal is to provide a bit more depth than the others reviewers or the synopsis did.
_How To Create Your Own Murder Mystery Party_ proposes a significantly different approach from the box games that I have played. Rather than having the guests play characters, the guests are themselves and one of them is a murderer. Rather than the players having books of things that they are to say each round, each player is given limited information at the beginning (and one is informed that he is the murderer and is told the whole story). As the game/party progresses, the players talk to each other and share or hide information. They also find "clues" that the host spreads around the party. The guests collect these clues and try to determine who among them is the murderer.
While that is happening, the murderer is trying to thwart their attempts by collecting clues and hiding them, lying to them, etc. Basically anything but destroying evidence.
I definitely like this more organic style of murder mystery better than the heavily scripted boxed games that I have played.
That said, this book is not without its faults. First, this is a self-published book. As is often true with this sort of arrangement, the book could have been helped significantly by an editor. The author consistently wrote "allowed" rather than "aloud", "your" instead of "you're" when meaning "you are", etc. There were also sections early on in the book which could have been fleshed out a bit more and which a publisher might have helped the author to expand. The diagrams and layout are by no means professional. Given the price of this slim volume, I was expecting more.
The description of the book had led me to believe that this would be more of a theoretical/general book. Instead there are a few brief sections at the beginning that lay out the goals of the author, how disappointed he was with the boxed games, how he goes about coming up with his mysteries, and how he runs his games. Once that is dispensed with, the remainder of the book consists of 5 sample mysteries which the author had run the previous 5 Halloweens.
These mysteries range from simplistic (which is appropriate for some situations) to intricate (which appeals to me). They often draw on real or fictional local lore, which is a great idea. One of them even involves some role playing in that the players can be cursed and must behave appropriately. For each mystery, he gives the introductory material that he provided to the players on game night. He then gives an explanation of how any puzzles or props were constructed, how the game play went the night of the party, and in some cases observations about adapting the story for your own party.
In the end, while this was not what I was expecting either in quality or content, reading it has sparked some good ideas for running my own murder mystery parties. I simply wish it had gone further.
3 of 5 found the following review helpful:
 How To Create Your Own Murder Mystery Party Oct 11, 2008
This is the perfect book for this kind of party. I have hosted a murder mystery party before and my guests loved it but I felt it could be better. This book was exactly what I have been looking for, for the past two years. Plus my grandson has always complained that it was an adult party. There are plenty of ideas in the book for him to have his own party too!
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Spooky fun for everyone Sep 10, 2007
I have used other planned party products before, and found them very constrictive. This is nothing like those. It is much more fun. What is great about this book is that it gives you choices - you can lean on the fab ideas in the book, but you also gain the tools and the confidence to make your own party. A great book for everyone who loves throwing parties with a twist.
5 of 6 found the following review helpful:
FUN READING! Ester G. Rosiello-Saylorsburg, PA Aug 21, 2007
I found this book to be extremely entertaining reading. I will be having a Murder Mystery Party this year for sure. I am also thinking of buying a few for gifts for my closest friends and family. This is a original gift idea especially for the avid party throwers!
8 of 10 found the following review helpful:
Great book Jul 31, 2007
This is definitely the best book to read if you ever thought about throwing a Murder Mystery Party. And if you don't know what a Murder Mystery Party is, this is a must read. Joseph Franco has done an incredible job explaining this stuff.
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