Mystery Book Review: Wyatt's Revenge by H. Terrell Griffin

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of Wyatt's Revenge by H. Terrell Griffin. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Wyatt's Revenge by H. Terrell Griffin
A Matt Royal Mystery

Oceanview Publishing (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-933515-53-8 (1933515538)
ISBN-13: 978-1-933515-53-3 (9781933515533)
Publication Date: November 2009
List Price: $24.95

Review: When retired attorney Matt Royal's friend Laurence Wyatt is murdered in his home, execution-style, Matt wants some answers, and goes about getting them in his own inimitable way in Wyatt's Revenge the fourth mystery in this series by H. Terrell Griffin.

Wyatt was a history professor at a local university, and enjoyed a quiet life. But Matt soon links his friend's murder to that of another historian, with whom Wyatt had been corresponding. The common thread between the two is an inquiry about the Vichy Regime, the government in France during the German occupation of World War II. Matt sets off for Germany to learn more -- with his own inquiries putting a target squarely on his back by an unknown group of men who would rather this particular chapter in history remain unread.

Wyatt's Revenge is, for the most part, a rousing adventure, filled with international intrigue and feats of derring-do. But it is probably best enjoyed if one is willing to overlook some questionable aspects of the plot. Like why no one, not even Matt's friend the police chief, seems overly concerned by the trail of bodies left in Matt's wake, most at his hand, and numbering well into the double digits -- all justified deaths, to be sure, but covered up nonetheless. Or why official government aircraft can be unquestionably used for several trans-Atlantic crossings on missions that are purely personal in nature, but Matt and his buddies have to use public transport within the US to mask their identities. And so on ... and on. None of these issues really detract from the story in any meaningful way, but one wonders if some of the more obvious ones couldn't have been addressed in a more clever manner.

And it must be said that Wyatt's Revenge is truly a guy's thriller, replete with multiple passages on male bonding and friendship, and why men risk their lives for each other, expecting nothing more than a handshake in thanks in return, and maybe not even that. The only female in the book is frequently called the "pretty lady", and apparently the criminal pursuit of wealth and power is not an equal opportunity activity; all the bad guys are, in fact, guys. On the plus side, it keeps Matt from having to kill a women; it's unclear how he would handle himself in that situation.

Special thanks to Oceanview Publishing for providing a copy of Wyatt's Revenge for this review.

Review Copyright © 2010 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved

If you are interested in purchasing Wyatt's Revenge from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

Synopsis (from the publisher): On balance, retired trial lawyer turned-beach bum Matt Royal is a pretty laid-back fellow. But when Laurence Wyatt, one of Matt's best friends, is murdered, Matt trades in his easygoing ways for a hard-hitting quest for revenge.

Matt knows the Longboat Key police will do their job in investigating. But for Matt, finding Wyatt's killer isn't a job; it's personal.

Determined to do whatever it takes to solve Wyatt's murder, Matt takes matters into his own hands and embarks on a clandestine investigation. Soon, Matt finds himself in hot pursuit of a cadre of remorseless criminals and trained killers, but the tables turn and Matt becomes the pursued. Faced with mounting danger, Matt calls for backup from his buddies Jock Algren and Logan Hamilton.

Matt Royal would go to the ends of the earth to exact revenge for Wyatt's murder, but will he go outside the law?

Expect the unexpected in this wild and dangerous ride from Longboat Key, Florida, to Frankfurt, Germany, because hell hath no fury like Matt Royal scorned.

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Games of Mystery: Veronica Rivers in The Order of Conspiracy, New from Big Fish Games

Games of Mystery, your source for mystery-themed video, electronic and board games, parties for kids and adults, and murder mystery weekends and mystery getaway vacations, is pleased to announce the availability of a new mystery casual game from Big Fish Games released today. You can find out more about these games by visiting our Mystery Games: Big Fish Download Games page or by clicking on the links provided below.

After having a strange vision, famous pilot Veronica Rivers finds a mysterious warning claiming that disaster is about to strike! Veronica’s vacation is about to end abruptly, as she has to travel across the globe to take on a brand new case. Discover who has been following Veronica, and what exactly they want from her by using your hidden object skills to find the Gates of Destiny!

Also available: Veronica Rivers: The Order of Conspiracy Game Walkthrough.

See also the first game in the series, Veronica Rivers: Portals to the Unknown.

Veronica Rivers: The Order of Conspiracy, a BFG exclusive, may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. A demonstration version (114.25 MB) may be downloaded and played for free for one hour.

Watch a preview video below:

Get any standard game for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. Other benefits include the $2.99 Daily Deal, Tomorrow's Game Today, and special member rewards. And if you purchase any 6 games within a single month, you earn a free game with the Big Fish Game Club Monthly Punch Card!

Read our new game reviews by Ms. Terri: Midnight Mysteries: The Edgar Allan Poe Conspiracy (Review), Nancy Drew Dossier: Lights, Camera, Curses! (Review), The Hardy Boys: The Perfect Crime (Review), Enlightenus (Review), and Nick Chase: A Detective Story (Review).

Big Fish Games: Bestsellers

Big Fish Games: New releases

And don't forget to visit Games of Mystery for all kinds of mysterious fun!

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Mystery Bestsellers for January 08, 2010

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending January 08, 2010 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

Another quiet week to start the new year, with little change among the top mystery bestsellers. A thriller that just missed the cut-off last week, however, moves up to 10th position this week.

In the 6th Bob Lee Swagger mystery, I, Sniper by Stephen Hunter, four famed '60s radicals are gunned down at long range by a sniper. Under enormous media scrutiny, the FBI quickly concludes that Marine war hero Carl Hitchcock, whose ninety-three kills were considered the leading body count tally among American marksman in Vietnam, was the shooter. But as the Bureau, led by Special Agent Nick Memphis, bears down, Hitchcock commits suicide. In closing out the investigation, Nick discovers a case made in heaven: everything fits, from timeline, ballistics, and forensics to motive, means, and opportunity. Maybe it's a little too perfect.

Nick asks his friend, retired Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger, to examine the data. Using a skill set no other man on earth possesses, Swagger soon discovers unseen anomalies and gradually begins to unravel a sophisticated conspiracy — one that would require the highest level of warcraft by the most superb special operations professionals. As Swagger penetrates the deepest secrets of the sniper world and its new technology, Nick stands firm in the face of hardball PR initiatives and an inflamed media calling for his ouster.

Swagger soon closes in, and those responsible will stop at nothing to take him out. But these heavily armed men make the mistake of thinking they are hunting Bob, when he is, in fact, hunting them.

The top four mystery bestsellers this week are shown below:

Please visit the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books where we are committed to providing readers and collectors of mystery books with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

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First Clues Review: Eagle Strike by Anthony Horowitz

First Clues: Mysteries for Kids is delighted to introduce a new feature for our website, book reviews written by students. These students offer their unique perspective on the book in their review and provide a valuable resource to parents looking for new mystery adventures for their kids to read.

Eagle Strike by Anthony Horowitz
The Alex Rider Series

Puffin (Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-14-240613-9 (0142406139)
ISBN-13: 978-0-14-240613-7 (9780142406137)
Publication Date: February 2006
List Price: $7.99

Review written by Zach, a 6th grade student. Date of review: January 2010.

Review: Doesn’t everyone love charity? Damian Cray does. But he’s willing to kill millions to stop drugs. The Alex Rider series has really taken off with Eagle Strike. This series is written by Anthony Horowitz. Alex is a trained spy. He has stopped evil clones, worked with the SAS, and prevented a Russian bomb. But can he stay on the good side when trying to take down a billionaire-charity man who met the US president, the English queen, and the English prime minister?

In this book Alex is on vacation with his friend Sabina when her dad is almost killed by an explosion. When Alex investigates he runs into Yassen (the man who killed Alex’s uncle) who makes Alex participate in a bull fight. Before Alex left he saw Yassen called Damian Cray. Alex returns to London and sneaks into Damian’s revealing of the Gameslayer. It is a new video game system that puts you in the game. Alex plays it and does well. Then Alex tracks Cray to a top secret base and he overhears Cray’s plan. Alex gets caught and he then gets put through a life size version of the Gameslayer game he played. He finds a way to escape the compound and is chased through the city on an interesting vehicle. Alex returns to England and receives a video message from Cray saying he has Sabina and he’ll kill her if Alex doesn’t come to his mansion. Alex goes to Cray’s mansion and then Cray restrains Alex & Sabina and they go to an airport. There Cray and a kind of elite squadron hijack a very important US plane. You’ll have to read the rest.

Overall, I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. I think the storyline and events were pretty good. The title is well tied in to a major scene at the end. I also think hacking into the American systems on a very important plane was a good idea as well. Cray’s death could have been a little less "messy".

If you are interested in purchasing Eagle Strike from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

First Clue Mysteries is pleased to provide information on over 100 mystery series for children and young adults. Each series is conveniently listed under four different age categories: New Sleuths (ages 4 to 6), Future Sleuths (ages 7 to 10), Sleuths in Training (ages 10 to 12), and Apprentice Sleuths (ages 13 and older). If you have a favorite mystery series you'd like to see added to our site, please contact us.

All student book reviews are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced in any manner, print or electronic, without the express written consent of the copyright owner. Reviews are published here with permission of the copyright owner.

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Mystery Book Review: The Body in the Sleigh by Katherine Hall Page

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of The Body in the Sleigh by Katherine Hall Page. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

The Body in the Sleigh by Katherine Hall Page
A Faith Fairchild Mystery

William Morrow (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-06-147425-8 (0061474258)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-147425-5 (9780061474255)
Publication Date: October 2009
List Price: $24.99

Review: Katherine Hall Page incorporates a traditional Christmas story within a murder mystery in The Body in the Sleigh, the 18th entry in this series featuring caterer and amateur sleuth Faith Fairchild.

The body in the sleigh is of a young woman, carefully placed between two other lifeless figures -- mannequins -- that are part of a holiday display in the center of Sanpere Island. As Faith notes upon discovering the body, this was not an example of Christmas cheer, but the polar opposite. But Faith's attention is quickly diverted by another unexpected visitor to the island -- a baby found in the barn of Mary Bethany, a local resident who lived alone on a goat farm. If the baby is a surprise, so is what accompanied him: $50,000 in one-hundred dollar bills. Though there is nothing to link the dead woman with the baby boy, Faith surmises that there must be a connection and sets out to discover what it is.

The Body in the Sleigh is a pleasant enough mystery, though by no means a demanding one. The final paragraph of the second chapter pretty much summarizes what is to follow: "But the something-wrong-with-this-picture was the mound of cash on the kitchen table. Cash that Faith had a strong feeling didn't lawfully belong to [the baby's] mother. And the real owner wasn't going to waste any time looking for it. Looking for it all over the great state of Maine." The identity of the dead woman is a little more uncertain, but an extended backstory threaded through the main story fills in those details.

The yuletide message, as it were, though, is somewhat heavy-handed. A baby named Christopher, found in the barn of a virgin named Mary, on a clear Christmas Eve night with a bright star overhead, is a little overly contrived, even for a spiritual novel, which this isn't ... exactly. Fans of this series will likely be content with the story and how it plays out here, but it all seems a bit too strained and overdone, formulaic even.

Special thanks to HarperCollins for providing an ARC of The Body in the Sleigh for this review.

Review Copyright © 2010 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved

If you are interested in purchasing The Body in the Sleigh from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right. The Body in the Sleigh (Kindle edition) is also available. Learn more about the Kindle, Amazon's Wireless Reading Device.

Synopsis (from the publisher): It's Christmastime, and the Fairchild family is spending the holidays on idyllic Sanpere Island in Maine while the Reverend Thomas Fairchild recuperates from surgery. His caterer wife, Faith, is rejoicing in the rare, holiday family-time together—watching ice boaters, snowshoeing, and doing plenty of reading in front of the fire.

But Faith's high spirits are dampened when she discovers the body of a young woman in an antique sleigh in front of the Sanpere Historical Society. The victim, Norah, was a teenage drug addict who apparently died by her own hand. Beloved by many, her untimely death rocks the isolated, tight-knit island community.

Meanwhile, Mary Bethany, a local spinster who raises goats, happens upon a newborn baby boy lying in the manger of her barn on Christmas Eve. The only clues to his identity are a note in the basket asking her to take care of him, as well as an alarming amount of cash. As Faith helps Mary locate the baby's mother, she soon finds that the truth behind the abandonment is connected to Norah's last days—and that, just as death and life are intertwined on Sanpere, so are evil and redemptive goodness.

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Save 20% on BFG 2009 Customer Favorite Award Winners

Games of Mystery, your source for mystery-themed board, electronic and video games, parties for kids and adults, and murder mystery weekends and mystery getaway vacations, is pleased to pass on a new promotion from Big Fish Games that was announced yesterday.

From now through Sunday, January 17th, 2010, you can save 20% on any of the winners of the Big Fish Games 2009 Customer Favorites Awards. 19 titles (listed below) qualify. Simply use coupon code GAMEOFTHEYEAR at checkout.

We're pleased to see several mystery games that we featured on Games of Mystery were included on this list. To indicate these titles, we've provided the original link to our post on Mystery Books News when the game was announced.

And now, the BFG list of customer favorites from 2009:

Game of the Year: Mystery Case Files: Dire Grove (MBN link)

Best Hidden Object Game: The Serpent of Isis
1st Runner-Up: Hidden Expedition: Devil's Triangle (MBN link)
2nd Runner-Up: Hidden in Time: Mirror Mirror

Best Puzzle Adventure Game: Princess Isabella: A Witch's Curse
1st Runner-Up: Dream Chronicles: The Chosen Child (MBN link)
2nd Runner-Up: Treasure Seekers: The Enchanted Canvases (MBN link)

Best Artwork: Drawn: The Painted Tower (MBN link)
1st Runner-Up: Echoes of the Past: Royal House of Stone (MBN link)
2nd Runner-Up: Strange Cases: The Tarot Card Mystery (MBN link)

Most Innovative Game: PuppetShow: Mystery of Joyville (MBN link)
1st Runner-Up: Avenue Flo
2nd Runner-Up: Enlightenus (MBN link, Review)

Best Story: Flux Family Secrets
1st Runner-Up: Lost in the City (MBN link)
2nd Runner-Up: Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

Best Time Management Game: Hotel Dash: Suite Success
1st Runner-Up: My Kingdom for the Princess
2nd Runner-Up: Be Richer!

To receive 20% off any of the above games, click on the game title or the banner below and enter coupon code GAMEOFTHEYEAR before January 19th, 2010.

Games of Mystery has two categories of mystery games available from Big Fish Games: a list of adventure mystery games and a list of hidden object mystery games. We have also started posting reviews of these games. You can read these reviews here: Nancy Drew Dossier: Lights, Camera, Curses!, The Hardy Boys: The Perfect Crime, Enlightenus, Midnight Mysteries: The Edgar Allan Poe Conspiracy, and Nick Chase: A Detective Story.

And don't forget to visit Games of Mystery for all kinds of mysterious fun!

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First Clues Review: Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator by Jennifer Allison

First Clues: Mysteries for Kids is delighted to introduce a new feature for our website, book reviews written by students. These students offer their unique perspective on the book in their review and provide a valuable resource to parents looking for new mystery adventures for their kids to read.

Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator by Jennifer Allison
The Gilda Joyce Mysteries

Puffin (Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-14-240698-8 (0142406988)
ISBN-13: 978-0-14-240698-4 (9780142406984)
Publication Date: November 2006
List Price: $6.99

Review written by Sarah, a 6th grade student. Date of review: January 2010.

Review: Haunted mansion, footsteps at night, suicide, spooky tower, and séances! They all come together in my current favorite book, Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator, (which is a first in a series) by Jennifer Allison. Scary, mysterious, suspenseful and, at the same time, exciting and funny are all the feelings that I felt as I read through the book. Get ready for a gut-wrenching and mind-blowing ride!

Thirteen years old Gilda Joyce, a self-claimed psychic investigator, is going to San Francisco to visit a newly discovered distant and rich uncle, Lester Splinter and his daughter, Juliet. The first person she meets there is the housekeeper who tells her the mansion the Splinters live in is haunted. Footsteps are heard late at night in the house, and strange sounds come from a mysterious tower connected to the house. Her cousin, Juliet, is a frail, skinny, and solitary girl who is also 13. She is anything but thrilled to see Gilda at first. As Gilda warms up to the family, Juliet starts revealing some of the mysteries around the house. Juliet had an aunt who was an artist and acted very bizarre sometimes. One day she “fell” out of the window on top of the spooky tower to her death. Soon Gilda hears the footsteps and strange sound at night herself and decides to solve the mystery once and for all. However the girls are strictly forbidden to enter the tower. Armed with Gilda’s numerous hilarious and brilliant ideas, Gilda and Juliet tried desperately to get into the tower without being caught to find answers to all the mysteries. Do they succeed? What did they see in the tower? Do they find out what really happened to Juliet’s aunt? Is the house really haunted?

This is an absolutely sensational book that will grasp your mind from cover to cover. I read it through in one shot and love every bit of it! The author not only did a fantastic job at making the plot so real that I felt like I was part of the story as I read it, but also at making each character so vividly described, like ”Mr. Splinter's shoulders stiffened and his face contorted for a split second, resembling the lopsided grimace one makes when avoiding tears.” I can “see” Mr. Splinter’s facial expression. I could not thank the author enough for creating such a real character, Gilda Joyce. She is a smart, outgoing and adventurous girl like me. I feel like I was her in the story. I think what she thinks, I feel what she feels. I get frightened when she is scared. I am exhilarated when she is excited. I followed the story through her eyes as the story is unfolded. There is only one thing that was disappointing to me, that is the end of story when Gilda returns home in Detroit. It seems a bit unnecessary because it is not directly related to the actual case. Overall this book is astounding and deserves a rating of 4.5 stars! I look forward to reading the next book of the series: The Ladies of the Lake by Jennifer Allison.

If you are interested in purchasing Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

First Clue Mysteries is pleased to provide information on over 100 mystery series for children and young adults. Each series is conveniently listed under four different age categories: New Sleuths (ages 4 to 6), Future Sleuths (ages 7 to 10), Sleuths in Training (ages 10 to 12), and Apprentice Sleuths (ages 13 and older). If you have a favorite mystery series you'd like to see added to our site, please contact us.

All student book reviews are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced in any manner, print or electronic, without the express written consent of the copyright owner. Reviews are published here with permission of the copyright owner.

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Fox Orders Pilot for Chicago-Based Crime Drama Ridealong

In more television pilot news, Variety is reporting that Shawn Ryan (The Shield) has been given an order for the Chicago-based crime drama Ridealong. The pilot (and series, if it's picked up) will center on three groups of police officers, icnluding the central lead character, a Polish-American cop who plays up his heritage.

"There will be a few twists that make it different from other cop shows on the air and will make it Fox-like," Ryan said. He adds that the series will showcase close-ended cases, "but something will happen in the pilot that will have overarching (ramifications) that we deal with over time."

Ryan is also producing the new Terriers series on FX Networks as well as being an executive producer for Lie to Me on Fox.

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Mystery Book Review: Bad to the Last Drop by Deb Lewis and Pat Ondarko

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of Bad to the Last Drop by Deb Lewis and Pat Ondarko. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Bad to the Last Drop by Deb Lewis and Pat Ondarko
A Best Friends Mystery

Langdon Street Press (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1-934938-56-4 (1934938564)
ISBN-13: 978-1-934938-56-0 (9781934938560)
Publication Date: November 2009
List Price: $15.95

Review: Best friends Deb Lewis (a lawyer) and Pat Ondarko (a pastor) together pen their first "best friends" mystery featuring Ashland residents Deb Linberg (a lawyer) and Pat Kerry (a pastor) in Bad to the Last Drop, a cozy set along the northern Wisconsin shores of Lake Superior.

The gathering spot in Ashland is the local coffeeshop, the Black Cat. Pat and Deb are regulars as is Joe Abramov, a Vietnam War veteran who seemed to live in another world, one filled with contacts at the CIA and lottery winnings. But when Joe doesn't show up for 4 days, the Black Cat barista calls the police, who find him dead in his apartment. There is no sign of forced entry, no unusual wounds on the body -- a seemingly natural death. But an autopsy reveals poison in his system giving Pat and Deb an opportunity to play the role of amateur sleuth and solve the mystery of who might have wanted this much beloved, colorful character dead.

The narrative in Bad to the Last Drop is casual, conversational even, not unlike a leisurely visit to a local coffeeshop to enjoy in a cup of Italian roast and catch up with friends and neighbors. It is, however, also somewhat uneven, with frequent backstories that don't necessarily add anything to the story, and a non-linear chronology with passages that start with "Several weeks prior to that morning ..." and "Earlier that evening ..." And though Pat and Deb are the principal characters, several others occasionally share the point-of-view, popping up unexpectedly in the conversation. It's all a bit disjointed.

There isn't much of a mystery here, the story focused squarely on Pat and Deb individually and Pat and Deb, best friends. Still, Bad to the Last Drop is a pleasant book, and short enough (at less than 150 pages) to be completed in one sitting in front of the fire on a cold winter day. (The final pages of the book include recipes "guaranteed good to the last bite" and a short preview of the next book in the series, Too Much at Stake.)

Special thanks to Langdon Street Press for providing an ARC of Bad to the Last Drop for this review.

Review Copyright © 2010 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved

If you are interested in purchasing Bad to the Last Drop from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

Synopsis (from the publisher): Everyone who frequented the Black Cat Coffeehouse in picturesque, rural Ashland, Wisconsin, knew Joe Abramov. Joe was the local eccentric, a "predictable fixture" at the Black Cat, "as much a part of the scene as the aroma of good coffee." Whether Joe was insisting that the CIA was spying on him or talking about hitting it big in the lottery, Ashland residents came to expect--even depend on--his daily conversations.

When Joe goes missing and is later found dead, the regulars at the Black Cat are understandably upset. But when it's discovered that Joe might have been killed, the town of Ashland is rocked to its core. Best friends Deb Linberg and Pat Kerry take it upon themselves to help solve what becomes increasingly evident is Joe's murder.

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Throw a Mystery Party This Valentine's Day!

Games of Mystery, your source for mystery-themed board, video and electronic games, parties for kids and adults, and mystery getaway vacations, has several recommendations for your next party or family and friends get-together.

Valentine's Day is but six weeks away, and here's suggestion for something different this year: Host a mystery party! We have several suggestions below, but feel free to visit our Mystery Party pages to find more.

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For older kids and teens, there is Love Potion Number Five.

It’s everybody’s worst nightmare: somebody has spiked the party punch with a potent love potion.

Thankfully, the victims of the potion are not declaring undying love for anybody at the party. Instead, they are emphatically revealing the thing they would most love to do -- their secret passion.

Soon these comical admissions become dangerous as the affected guests stop at nothing to act on their obsession. The guests must discover who spiked the punch, concoct and administer the antidote before somebody bruises something worse than an ego!

A party perfect for any combination of girls and boys, up to 16 guests can play a character. Follow this link, Love Potion Number Five, for more information about this party, or this link, List of Characters in Love Potion Number Five, for character information. This mystery party is rated E.

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For adults, what could be more intriguing than Death by Chocolate.

A joint party is being held at Thornbury's Chocolates to launch the new range of Symphony Chocolates and also to celebrate the 40th birthday party of Shopin Channill (That's pronounced Show-pan) who is the daughter of Thornbury's owner Cocoa Channill. What could possibly go wrong on such a happy night?

A chocolatey murder mystery is for 8 to 12 players aged 18 and older, and is rated M. Follow this link, Death by Chocolate, for more information about this party, or this link, List of Characters in Death by Chocolate, for character information. A "women's only" version of Death by Chocolate is also available.

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How exciting to celebrate Valentine’s Day with trivia and dancing and ... murder! Everyone is a suspect, so join the fun in A Broken Heart Murder on Valentine's Day.

Join the guests at Rosie Valentine’s celebration of the purchase of her latest novel, Heartbreak to Heaven, by movie mogul Hugh Hadaway. The evening is filled with high spirits, fun and laughter, ‘til the party is disrupted by the revelation of a real broken heart!

"A Broken Heart Murder" is a simple to use murder mystery, and a great way to have lots of fun and entertain your guests. For 6 to 14 guests, 18 and older, this game is rated M. Follow this link, A Broken Heart Murder on Valentine's Day, for more information about this party, or this link, List of Characters in A Broken Heart Murder, for character information.

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For a great "come as your favorite Roarin' 20s character" party, there's A St. Valentine's Day Murder Mystery.

The year is 1929 and Prohibition is at its height. Until last week Chicago was run by four big players. Tommy Gunn, who runs booze and girls, Al Kohol, who runs booze and protection rackets, Spits Feathers, who runs booze and gambling dens through his bakery business cover and, until his murder last week, Buck Fifty who ran booze and slot machines. As the rival gangs move in on Buck's empire, Tommy Gunn has called a party to celebrate his 40th birthday, but does he have other sinister plans?

A gangster style murder mystery set at a St Valentines Day 1929 party to celebrate Tommy Gunn's 40th birthday. The M-rated game is for between 6 and 10 players who will attend a birthday party they will never forget. Follow this link, A St. Valentine's Day Murder Mystery, for more information about this party, or this link, List of Characters in A St. Valentine's Day Murder Mystery, for character information.

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Finally, just for the ladies, there's Revenge Against a Ladies' Man.

If hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, then eight women scorned are a force to be reckoned with indeed! Eight women have discovered something terrible: they have all been dating the same man, famed singer/songwriter John Lothario! In their outrage, they have joined forces to exact their revenge on the man who broke their hearts. They planned only to ruin his career and make him pay for his disrespect, but now it appears that one of them has taken things too far. John Lothario has turned up missing, his hotel room filled with mysterious spatters of blood, his favorite lucky jacket found floating in a river! Now the women must determine who betrayed their plans, before they are all blamed for John Lothario's disappearance.

A standard mystery game played in rounds, designed specifically for women who love sleuthing. Great for a “girls’ night in,” or a Valentine’s Day celebration for unattached women! For 8 women, 18 and older, rated M. Follow this link, Revenge Against a Ladies' Man, for more information about this party, or this link, List of Characters in Revenge Against a Ladies' Man, for character information.

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Visit Games of Mystery: Mystery Parties for a wide selection of parties for kids, teens, and adults. You'll find all sorts of themed parties available to suit every occasion throughout the year.

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