Ellen took part in an international murder mystery weekend at the wonderful-looking Villa Münchbach in Lüneburger Heide. The costumes are all totally swell and the menu was the bee's knees.
Ellen says: "We had a murder mystery weekend that spanned two evenings where we all stayed in character throughout. There were people from Great Britain, Austria and Germany. We all stayed in the same house for a weekend. Not everyone knew each other.
"We were 11 people. 10 people played characters. There was also 1 cook, who was Buster on the first evening, but who died in the gambling night.
" I can hardly remember the last time I had as much fun as I did on these two evenings – we laughed so much."
Some Absolutely Swell Costumes
We love the headdress, the fan, and the elegant flapper dress. And Bertie's outfit is very chic and fashionable.
Two more elegant outfits - we love the toy gun:
May May - tough with a fake moustache:
Organisation:
We started the weekend with a get-together without costume. We started to introduce ourselves to the group as not everyone knew everyone. We also explained the weekend.
After this we introduced our character. On both evenings we beat a gong. This told everyone that they now have 1 hour to get in costume and character. Mary May guided us through the evening and was in contact with the cook so that we had synchronised eating and playing. The place was in Lüneburger Heide at Villa Münchbach: https://www.villamuenchbach.com/ We all were friends of the owners, who moved from Great Britain to Germany.
On the first evening, we gambled and played and sang karaoke 1920s style because there was a speakeasy atmosphere. We had a buffet with boulettes and potato salad, cheese and bread and cocktails from this time.
The second night was the dinner.
The second evening we had an 8-course menu. We tried to make it like in speakeasy times.
Canapés with spread
Fois Gras on honey gingerbread
Tomato tartare with scallops and tomato consommé
Crustacean foam soup
Stuffed pasta pocket with spinach, ricotta and candied chestnuts
Tomato and basil granité
Fillet of beef with porcini polenta
Blueberry Kaiserschmarren
There was a wine accompaniment But the mingle time we started with champagne.
A huge congratulations to our chef (who played Buster on the first night):
We had Oscars for best acting and best costume. We also had Oscars for the cook and for the hosts.
Decoration:
We mainly worked with glitter curtains and a lot of candles. We used the place cards for the table and a table cloth.
Ellen's verdict: "The plot was exciting and easy to follow, and the characters all had a little twist as well as special characteristics that were wonderful to act out in order to really immerse yourself in the role. Each of us was enthusiastic about our role and played it with a lot of passion – so much so that we were almost all a little sad to leave our characters at the end. At the end there were ‘Oscars’ for the best costume, the best acting performance, the best solution, the best chef and the best host. We all agree that we would definitely like to organise a murder mystery dinner like this again."
Only 2 people guessed the murder.
