Dr. Frances Ainsley
Guards the collection and the truth with equal force.
A private reading library after closing
A Murder in the Margins
A quiet library. A loud book. A very small murder.
The library closes at six; at seven, one of the scholars is dead between the stacks. Six people were locked in with the collection, and the killer is not a stranger — just a careful reader. Our shortest and sharpest kit: no dinner required, one bottle of something good.
Players6–10
Evening2 hours
HostingEasy to host
Written forAdults, 16+
The story
A Murder in the Margins plays in three acts with a dinner break the script plans for. Times below assume a 7pm start; every kit includes a version for a later table.
Act I7:00 pm
The Archive
The guests are cataloguing a bequest. A missing volume is noticed early, and everyone remembers being near it at a different time.
Act II7:30 pm
The Stacks
The body is found. The library door was chained from the outside, which means the killer is still in the room and enjoying this enormously.
Act III8:15 pm
The Preface
Each guest reads a passage from their character booklet that reveals a secret. The host compares margin notes with the solution card.
The cast
Six to 10 roles are written; the kit scales down by folding the smallest parts into the host. Each character arrives with a public face and a private problem.
Cyril Fenwick
Wants a memoir that sells and a scandal that sells better.
Hester Vane
Cites sources no living person has read.
Mr. Otis Bray
Paid for the library and now wants it empty.
Clues & evidence
Four of the nine clues
- A catalogue card written in two different hands
- A pen nib snapped in half
- A reading room log with a crossed-out signature
- A letter opener filed to an edge
Props unique to this kit
- A bequest letter listing a book that does not exist
- A library key tagged with the wrong room
- A pressed foxglove between two pages