So for my birthday this year, I had a murder mystery party. It had about 20 people there and it took place at my friend Christa's house. I made up the whole storyline and all the characters by myself. Pretty much, everyone was invited to a party in order for a rich man named Lexington to decide who will get his inheritance. So, for all of you who are curious, here are all the characters I wrote up for the party (the names in brackets are the people who played the character- or who were supposed to be playing them):
Kenneth J. Lexington: The old, wealthy host of the party. His wife is dead and he only ever had one bastard son that he recently found out about. He has invited all of his closest friends/ relatives to this party to choose an heir. Due to his secluded nature, he rarely spends time with this many people all together at once. When he is found murdered in the kitchen of his own party, everyone must discover who done it! The prize for finding his murderer? Mr. Lexington states in his will that, in the case of his murder, whoever solves the murder will inherit his fortune! If the murder is unsolvable, or revealed to be an accident, the money will go to his lawyer, Ms. Vance. (Steve)
Ms. Jessica Vance: Ms. Vance is Mr. Lexington’s lawyer. She has been his lawyer for the last ten years, ever since her father (Lexington’s former lawyer) passed away. It is a well-known fact that she spent more time with Lexington than anyone else. She was in charge of his will and, in the case of his accidental or natural death, she is meant to inherit his fortune. Ms. Vance generally dresses very properly and favours red lipstick. (Melissa)
Jimmy Logan: Jimmy is Lexington’s bastard son. He grew up not knowing who his father was until his mother passed away, leaving him a letter that revealed his father’s identity. He hates his father for his absence, but hopes to get something out of the old man (ie his money). The last time he spoke to his father before this party, he and the old man got into a screaming match. His father called him a bastard child who would never amount to anything and Jimmy punched the old man in the face. (James)
Clarissa Lexington: Mr. Lexington’s first wife (ex). She carried on an affair with her ex-husband even after their divorce. She only married him in the first place for his money and lives off of the 5 million that she got in the divorce (though her funds are running low now). She is convinced that Lexington has already selected her to receive his money and sees this party as nothing more than a formality. She likes the finer things in life and is rarely seen without a long cigarette (with the little plastic filter) and some type of fur on her shoulders. (Sarah Megan)
Raymond H. Lawrence: A man of taste, he is Mr. Lexington’s nephew (his sister’s son). He is known to be a cruel man to those who cross him and a kind man to those he needs for something. Raymond is actually richer than Mr. Lexington (he owns his own chain of cigar manufacturers) and doesn’t need Lexington’s money at all, though he would see it as a nice bit of extra pocket change. He thoroughly despises the idea of spending time with some of the “lower class people” who are attending this party, but his mother has told him he must go and she is probably one of the only people that he cares about other than himself. He and his Uncle have been known to get at each others throats and it’s a known fact that Lexington treats Raymond like a worthless child. A week prior to the party, Lexington embarrassed Raymond when he declared Raymond’s best-selling cigar to taste like nothing more than “ash ground together with cow urine”. This quote was published in the paper the day after. (Greg)
Phillip Von Ruffhaussen: Mr. Lexington’s friend from college. He is now a painter who spends most of his time in Paris. He and Mr. Lexington had a falling out fifteen years prior when Lexington stole the heart of Phillip’s wife. Von Ruffhaussen vowed vengeance on Lexington, but has not seen him since then. He didn’t even attend his ex-wife’s funeral. Phillip now claims that he has become Buddhist and, therefore, forgives Lexington for his betrayal and would never dare to harm him. He has decided to attend this party to express his forgiveness to his former friend. If he were to get the money, he claims he will donate it to his temple. Phillip dresses in nicer clothes when he goes to parties, but he always seems to have paint under his finger nails and a paintbrush tucked behind his ear (some people even claim he carries a small piece of canvas and some miniature paints in his pockets in case of spontaneous inspiration). (Dan)*
Lucy Von Ruffhaussen: Lexington’s step-daughter and Phillip Von Ruffhausen’s daughter. (Dan plays Phillip. Let me know if this is an issue). She hasn’t seen her father since she was five years old (15 years ago) when Mr. Lexington and her mother fell in love. Her mother passed away a few years ago and Lucy is still convinced that she was murdered by her step-father (he had caught her mother cheating on him). She still lives in the same house as her step-father and has been caught by the maids attempting to poison him. She feels that justice was not served when her mother died. However, with the new possibility of an inheritance, Lucy has been strangely kind to Lexington. She tends to dress in fancy dresses and is rarely seen without some form of polish on her nails. (Kirsten)
Winston Kingsworth: He’s the loyal butler. He has served Mr. Lexington for years and always seems to know more about what’s going on in the house than anyone else. He is one of the only people at the party who is not being considered for the inheritance. However, he has expressed to anyone who asks that he only wishes to be allowed to serve Mr. Lexington’s successor in this house. He seems to thoroughly enjoy his job and sometimes purposely sneaks up on people to scare them. He generally wears white gloves and a nice suit and slicks his hair back everyday. (Holland)
Sapphire LaVilla: A movie star. She met Mr. Lexington at a post-premiere party. He enjoyed her movies so much that he offered to help fund her career. She spent a lot of time in acting classes paid for by him. However, when she became a little too much of a diva for him, he stopped giving her funds completely. He wanted to remain in contact with her, but she cut him out of her life. Her career started to fail when she could no longer afford her high-class life style. She suspects that Mr. Lexington only invited her to embarrass her further, but she came in hopes that he would maybe be willing to give her his money. She generally dresses as nicely as possible with her hair pined up. (Kayla)
Baroness Silvia Lekinstein: Lexington’s cousin. She is single and worked very hard for her status in life. She is unwed and has no children, but is very happy with her life. She doesn’t need Lexington’s money at all, but is attending the party anyways because she doesn’t wish to offend her cousin. You see, Mr. Lexington possesses some documents that expose some serious scams that the Baroness has been involved in. If these were to be exposed, her status would be destroyed. The baroness decorates herself in diamonds and appreciates the finer things in life. (Nicole)
Kasey Stewert: A female business woman. She runs Mr. Lexington’s business at the moment because he is too old to do the work for it anymore. She takes care of a lot of his affairs and keeps his appointments etc. She is overworked and feels that she shouldn’t have to be competing for the inheritance. She wants at least to receive the company from him, but has recently discovered that the company will be going to whoever gets the rest of the inheritance. Mr. Lexington and her recently got into a heated argument about it because Lexington told her that he would not be requiring whoever got the business to keep her employed in it. She generally dresses in pant suits or dress suits with her hair up and glasses on. (Kaydee)
Madam Katherine Dubois: A well-mannered French woman, Madam Dubois is Mr. Lexington’s late brother’s widow. She believes that herself and her daughter, Marie (played by Nikki), are fully entitled to the inheritance and it’s ridiculous that anyone else should even be considered. After all, Marie is the apple of Lexington’s eye and Katherine has been nothing but kind to the old man. There is a little bad blood between Katherine and Lexington, however, as Mr. Lexington received the majority of the inheritance from Katherine’s husband when he passed away. Her husband passed away from unnatural causes as well and many suspect it was either Katherine or her sweet little daughter who “took care” of him. This woman is generally dressed in the finest clothes, with very natural looking makeup. (Christa)
Marie Dubois: The daughter of Katherine Dubois (played by Christa) and niece of Mr. Lexington (her late father’s side), Marie is always used to getting her own way. The last person who didn’t give her her way was her father and he ended up dead the next day. Everyone suspects that sweet little Marie, or her mother Katherine were the cause of the father’s death. She is the apple of Lexington’s eye and everyone knows it. In fact, he has separated all the family jewellery from the rest of his estate in the will and left it to her. To be chosen for the full inheritance would be just icing on the cake. Marie prefers to dress in pretty, frilly things that her uncle gives her and likes sparkly little barrettes and jewellery. (Nikki)
Laura Peters: Laura is the head maid. She has been serving the Lexington household for years and this is the first time that she’s ever been invited to a party here rather than having to serve drinks at one. Due to her loyalty, Lexington is actually considering her for the inheritance! She feels a little bad about it, though, as she agrees with Lexington’s step-daughter, Lucy (played by Kirsten), that the old man probably was responsible for his late wife’s death. As a result, she has been slowly poisoning him through his food- just enough to make him sick- to punish him for his sins. After all, Laura is quite religious and was raised to believe that God will punish you for your sins. She sees the poisoning as God’s way to punish Lexington for the murder of his wife. Her dress will be a fairly common-looking one as she is a maid trying to dress for her first fancy party. (You may dress her as a maid though if you want) (Sarah)
Gerard Perington: Gerard is a former business partner of Lexington. He invested a lot of money into a business scheme that Lexington said was a “sure thing” (up to you to decide what this scheme was). Unfortunately, Lexington was wrong. The scheme fell through and it set Perington back about 50 thousand dollars. Perington is a millionaire (he came from a rich family) so 50 thousand isn’t that big of a deal, but Lexington never paid it back. Perington has threatened to ruin Lexington’s life multiple times due to this and has made active attempts to buy Lexington’s company out from under him. It wasn’t successful. He feels that Lexington owes him this inheritance as an apology, but he doesn’t really care about the money. Perington is rich and British. He generally wears fine suits and is rarely seen without his pocket watch. (you don’t actually need to buy a pocket watch. You could just trail a chain into your vest to make it look like you have one) (Riley)
William Price: William is a private investigator who has been hired by Lexington to spy on the guests at the party and help him determine who deserves the inheritance. Nobody knows who he is, but he acts as though he has met everyone before (he hasn’t, but he has been given a dossier about each one of them). He is the “mysterious stranger” at the party and has been asked to not reveal that he is a PI for any reason. He is in disguise as a wealthy friend of Lexington’s. Preferably, he wouldn’t reveal his job even once the murders start as it may be easier for him to investigate matters under the cover of his disguise, but do as you will. Be mysterious!! (Gilbo)
Ms. Lillian Everett the 3rd: A wealthy woman from a good family, Lillian doesn’t really need an inheritance from Lexington. Rather, she is only present at this party because she loves to show off her fortune. She introduces herself by her full name (Lillian Everett the 3rd) and loves to gossip about people. She never seems to gossip about Lexington, though. This could be due to the fact that he is in possession of an independent porn film that she starred in during her experimental college years. He agreed to never show the film to anyone so long as Lillian never gave him a reason to. This character dresses extravagantly and wears as much jewellery as possible. (Geneviève)
Charles B. Smith: A wealthy business man, Charles has spent most of his life stepping on people to get where he is. He owns shares in many different successful companies, including Lexington’s. As one of the major shareholders in the company, Charles is concerned about who Lexington is handing his majority shares over to. When he heard he was being considered for the will, Charles began spending as much time with Lexington as possible, even though he finds him to be a thoroughly intolerable man. He has been heard muttering that he wishes the old man would just die and leave Charles the business already. Dress wealthy. (Paul)
So Charles B. Smith didn't end up being there and my boyfriend Steve ended up playing a police detective. Otherwise, everyone else was there. Phillip Von Ruffhausen was the killer. I killed them off one by one until they finally (with three of them left) accused Dan properly and it was over. Also, never tell Holland to lurk. He does it too well.
So assignment today is to go to a murder mystery someday. It's a lot of fun to run or to play. :)
-Ciao!
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