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<\/a>The highlight of last month was a get-together with my family at a Murder Mystery weekend to celebrate my birthday.<\/p>\nIt wasn\u2019t the first time we\u2019ve attended a Joy Swift weekend. They are great events that take place in hotels all over England. There is a get together drink with the 50 or so other guests just before dinner (when the 1st<\/sup> murder takes place!). Two \u201cpolicemen\u201d arrive, and an incident room is set up where all the information is posted as it comes in which we guests will need to study to work out the clues.<\/p>\n Two more murders take place during Saturday lunch and dinner \u2013 lots more info. goes up in the incident room. Between meals there are fun quiz games to solve dotted around the hotel.<\/p>\n Sunday morning is a last chance to review the mountain of new evidence and interview the remaining four suspects before filling out a report and handing it in. At midday, everyone is gathered together by the police who explain the motives of the suspects (aka Hercule Poirot), point out the clues and ultimately reveal the murderer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/a>For the Friday night dinner, the theme was gold, we were asked to dress in something gold. Some people made special outfits, but we just looked in the back of the wardrobe.<\/p>\n<\/a>On Saturday, we all had to dress up as something beginning with A for dinner – hence our odd attire.<\/p>\n<\/a>I decided to go as Agatha Christie \u2013 appropriate on two counts, firstly because the theme of the weekend was \u2018We are Detectives\u2019 and secondly because the Queen of Crime is my great mentor as a writer.<\/p>\n