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The story so far
Surely there is no better way to celebrate a special occasion with a loved one than to take them out for a meal? And when it comes to cuisine, there is nothing more romantic than Italian food!
Which is why, tonight, the Baldini restaurant is full to bursting with guests, and all the waiting and kitchen staff are busy, busy, busy!
With a restaurant packed to overflowing with dewy eyed eaters, the last thing anyone needs is a murder – but, when the chef’s body is discovered in the kitchen, the quiet romantic diners are drawn into the investigation by a screaming waitress and it is suddenly up to them to solve the case!
The line-up
Your cast play these parts, and every one of them has something to hide.
The policeman sent to solve the crime
Efficient in his own peculiar way, Ivan Berto Cluelessi has an unusual method of solving crimes – he involves everyone! If anything he is more like a bungling detective than a methodical one, but it has to be said, he does get results.
Restaurant Owner
Wearing a relaxed casual business suit, Cristian likes to keep an eye on his restaurant staff and frequently does his paper work where he can get access to regular refills of coffee.
Maitre D’
Tall, dark and handsome, Luigi wears the typical black suit and bow tie of a Maitre D’.
Waitress
An attractive Italian waitress in black skirt and white blouse. Nadia is often clumsy and is known for dropping things within the kitchens and among guests, however she is easy to like and very friendly.
Waitress
With dark hair, dark eyes and full lips, Anna Maria is a very beautiful woman, her figure accentuated further by the short dark skirt and white blouse.
Kitchen Porter
A typical Italian male with dark hair and dark eyes, Benito is muscular and quite ruggedly handsome.
Waitress
A true Italian beauty, Daniela is positively dazzling in her waitress’s black skirt and white blouse.
How it plays
Our simplest large-group format, and a good one for a first event. Seven cast members perform short scenes, and everything your guests need is in the written clues on their tables. Nobody gets cross-examined, so the cast only have to learn their lines, and most of them are short.
What's in the box
Everything you need to run the perfect event is in the game pack. You bring the cast. Costumes and props can add to the fun, but aren’t essential.
Download it the second you pay, or have us print, assemble and post the box. Both are exactly the same game — the difference is who does the printing.
Reviews
From 10 reviews
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This provided an evening which was most hilarious. We got a CD Cafe Italia as background.
Absolutely brilliant! We ran this for a Volunteer Appreciation Dinner at our church. Even though we had over 100 people there, the night went incredibly well. This mystery is engaging, whimsical, and lends itself well to a larger group. The characters felt great, the script itself was brilliant, and the clues that this set comes with for the audience to engage with are perfect. Certainly worth the money and time to put into this one.
Just to let you know that we held our version of 'The Italian job murder mystery dinner party at Guiseley Methodist Church on Saturday, and raised £557 for Alzheimer's Research UK. 58 people were fed and entertained as the drama unfolded before their eyes! One of the guests put this video/slideshow together, it's rather long at 20 minutes, but the way we portrayed the death of chef Manuel at the beginning was a triumph?!
Had a really enjoyable night on Saturday running the "Italian Job" It took quite a bit of time and effort to plan the event and print everything out but it was a roaring success on the night and well worth every minute of work. We enjoyed setting up the room as an Italian restaurant and the actors/actresses whose role was as a waiter/waitress helped with handing out the food which was a huge help. There were about 40 of us in attendance including the 7 actors and everyone really got into the drama of it all. People dressed up wonderfully and even managed to put on Italian accents. It was a fantastic night and one I would love to do again!
Hi... Just wanted to say that we recently used the 'An Italian Job' as part of a fund raising evening. It was a fantastic success!!! Everyone including the cast who played their roles brilliantly and the guests for the evening had a great time. The materials provided in the pack were easy to follow, it's an easy to follow recipe for success. It's true that the more preparation you do prior to the evening the more successful the evening. Wor-d has now traveled far and we are planning to hold more Murder Mystery events in the coming year... using the range of resources available from Red Herring Many thanks Jo for your help and advice
I want to thank you for all your help in putting on our murder mystery event. The night was a great success with even the management and staff in the restaurant saying how good it was. We had 49 attend and all of us had great food and great fun. I've now got calls to put on another one! Jesus says "You can do nothing without me." So true. And not only did we have a great night of fellowship and craic, we also raised £620 for our missions projects. Thank you for guiding me towards buying a really funny mystery and for your helpful advice for the night.
We've just used this murder mystery as the basis for our Volunteers' Christmas party and it went down a storm. None of us had ever done anything like this before but found the whole package to be so user-friendly - an entertaining script, great ideas about how to stage it and all the clues and paperwork we could need. I thought that it was really good value too. All the cast enjoyed it so much that we're already talking about what we're going to do next.
We used this for our First time hosting a Murder Mystery Fundraising dinner for our Childrens Charity, it was a fantastic success and everyone enjoyed the night tremendously. We are now looking at hosting another and due to the success of this event, we are having to look for a bigger venue as we have so many people who want to attend!
This was our groups first attempt at anything like this. It was a lot of work preparing everything, but it was by far it was the most fun any of us have ever had. Our fundraiser event had over 100 people in attendance, and no one walked away dissappointed. Can't wait to hold our next one!!!!
We ran this game locally at our church. It was a roaring success! (Or should I say screaming). It is probably the best mystery night we have held so far. Stupid Italian accents, over the top acting and a lot of laughs for both the cast and guests. This game lends itself really well to small functions or hotel use as all the actors are cast as waiting staff so it means they can serve the meal in character. A brilliant night was had by all.
The small print
So you can ensure this is appropriate for your group. If you have specific content you are trying to avoid please do reach out directly so we can look at the game in more detail for you.
Before you buy
If you can’t find an answer to your specific question do reach out via email or phone.
Well, like everything it all depends on meal service, serving, clearing, how many times you lose guests due to smoking breaks and toilet breaks. We usually say a standard event with a three course meal will take between two and three hours. But we know how things flex when you hit a fresh audience and a new venue. If you set arrival at 7pm for a 7.30pm start you can usually finish by 10pm. But just be aware this is reliant on guests and the venue’s serving and clearing speed. If you aren’t having a three course meal, expect things to speed up. 90 minutes is a common length of time for an event with no breaks.
In addition to printing out the game materials, you will often want props and costumes for the cast. Each game requires different props. Most are easy to source. If you would like to know the essential props for a specific script then please get in touch and we will forward you the instructions documents which contain the prop lists.
No. However most of our games are formatted in rounds to allow a three course meal. The only game format which works best without a three course meal is the Multi-room format.
We have adapted games in the past to work as “mix and mingle” affairs. If you’d like us to create something special for you to allow a mix and mingle event, then please email us.
Downloadable kit
If you’ve never bought a downloadable murder mystery game on-line before, or never played one (downloadable or otherwise) and want to find out more about it, then don’t worry – you aren’t the first.
We are so confident in the quality of our games – when you buy from us you are guaranteed a great night in or your money back!
All our downloadable dinner parties are supplied with:
Printed kits
When you select the printed option – what you are asking us to do is print your game for you. Your game will arrive by post, printed, ready assembled and packaged in a box.
Printed kits are exactly the same as downloadable kits, in terms of content – it’s just that instead of you printing the game, we print the game for you and it will arrive ready to go.
If you aren’t sure whether you would like us to print your game for you – then we are happy for you to change your mind. Simply contact us after purchasing the downloadable game and we will arrange to print and ship your order to you after you make the additional payment.
Our content ratings are based on the ESRB rating scheme.
All of our games are suitable for a reading age of 10+ though they may contain language that is difficult for some children to comprehend.
All ratings are based on content NOT suitability, which means TEEN games are CLEAN games, rather than only being suitable for teenagers.
TEEN games are often games which are most suitable for mixed audiences, corporate and church groups.
It is worth noting that all our murder mystery games are rated TEEN or above as murder counts as violence for younger children. Some children younger than teens will handle the reading level of a standard murder mystery plot but parents may find the content inappropriate. Which is why we always detail the content of our games so you can make a determination of your own. If in doubt – take a look at the free sample booklet to check this is OK for your group.
It is possible for us to adjust the reading level on some games to make it possible for younger children to play – if you think you’d like this – please just email us for help.
TEEN games will contain “tame” plot lines. This can include plot lines like
MATURE rated games don’t necessarily mean the games contain explicit language, or sexual references. However the themes will be more gritty. To give you some examples:
If you are unsure which game is appropriate for your group – there are two things you can try. The first is to open up the “trial booklet” which will give you a sample character from a 6 player game. The second is to call us on +44 (0)2030 112 215 and we’ll chat to you about the content of the games and help you find the one most appropriate for your party.
Sometimes it is possible to customise and amend genders of suspects in games, but not always. This is due to plot tangles and how involved certain characters are within a game. It is best to contact us to check what is and isn’t possible if you need a different skew of genders. If it IS possible, we can explain the costs it will be to amend it ourselves. But if budget proves to be a constraint – we can send you the game in MSword so you can modify it yourself once you know it’s possible.
We can take the stress out of party planning, and put the fun back into what can be a total headache by customising a murder mystery specifically to your party!
If you have an uneven mix of male and female participants, an unusual number of guests, or even just unusual guests, or a specific celebration in mind – then we are here to provide you with a personal service that will tailor a murder mystery game to your needs.
If you are looking for something fully bespoke then allow us to talk through with you what you are looking for and provide you with a free quote.
We are one of very few companies to supply both retail and commercial products as well as event management services.
We’ve always operated an honesty policy as we know our domestic and fundraising customers appreciate the ability to access murder mystery scripts at an affordable rate. HOWEVER we can only continue to do this if commercial customers order using the correct license.
We appreciate your honesty in this matter, and have put our key points below to help you decide if you are shopping on the correct license.
If after reading this you are still unsure which format you should be purchasing – just email us or call us on +44 (0)2030 112 215.
Finally, as you’re shopping with us, we are aware that not every option is available to you depending on your planned use. If you see something you would like to run commercially which isn’t available to you (e.g. you run a guest house and want to host a dinner party game for your guests) – please don’t try to cheat the system – just call us on +44 (0)2030 112 215 so we can chat to you – we will be able to work something out.
Your order confirmation email arrives straight after you pay, with a Download your game button. It signs you in to your account on our website, where each game is listed under Downloads: click a file to save it. Your games stay in your account, so you can sign in and download them again whenever you like.
If you were signed in when you paid, they’re in your account already.
When you click a file, your computer saves it, usually to its Downloads folder. If you can’t find it, search for the file name.
If you order a downloadable kit – the kit should be available instantly on a download link – and will also arrive via email with a link for you to download it.
If you order a printed kit or accessories and elect for standard service – this is shipped 48 tracked within the UK and Airmail outside the UK.
Approx arrival times for 48 hour tracked and airmail are:
If you elect for expedited shipping – we use a Courier or Royal Mail Next Day Delivery within the UK; and a courier outside the UK.
Approx arrival times on Expedited shipping are:
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An Italian Job!
