Host kit · 8–12 players · 3 hours

Last Call at the Vesper: the whole evening.

A free sample: the host guide, the invitation to send, the first prop, and the opening act of the player scripts. Everything else — the other acts, the words you say aloud and the sealed solution — unlocks with the paid kit below.

Back to the kit

Solly Ferrante has played the Vesper's piano for eleven years and has been dead in the champagne cellar for about twenty minutes when your guests arrive. The club closes for good on Sunday. Everybody in the room owes somebody something, and the ledger that proves it is missing a page.

Before the night

Print one character booklet per guest from the player scripts below, plus one for yourself. Fold each closed with a wax seal or a strip of tape so nobody reads ahead.
Chill two bottles of something sparkling — one real, one non-alcoholic and clearly marked — because Act II opens with a toast that should look generous.
Set the room as a club rather than a dining room: lamps low, one chair turned away from the table as the piano bench, and a hat stand by the door for greeting guests by the name on their invitation.
Hide the three physical props from the prop sheets in the places named there and keep the clue envelopes in a single drawer you can reach without leaving the table.

Running order

6:40 pmDoors and the bench

Greet each guest by their character name, hand them their sealed booklet and point them at the bar. Let them settle for ten minutes before you start — the best mysteries open with people already talking.

7:00 pmAct I — The Set List

Read the welcome aloud, then let each guest open the Act I page and read their line in turn. Close the act by discovering the torn ledger page in the piano bench.

7:35 pmDinner is served

Serve whatever you have planned. Keep the courses small: this is the act where guests do the most talking and eat the least.

7:50 pmAct II — The Cellar

Announce the body, hand out the three evidence envelopes, and pour the toast. Do not answer questions directly — say 'the police will want to know that' and move on.

8:45 pmAct III — Closing Time

Call for accusations, let each guest name a suspect and one piece of evidence, then read the solution aloud while the table is still arguing.

9:15 pmLast call

Reveal the sealed envelope, hand the guilty guest their confession card to read, and let the table re-litigate everything over the last of the wine.

Seating

Seat Vera nearest the piano, Teddy with his back to the door, Agnes at the head of the table where she can see everyone, and Julian opposite her so their mutual dislike has somewhere to go. Split any extra guests between the two ends.

If it goes wrong

If the table solves it in Act II, say only that the police found the cellar door locked from the inside and carry on — the cork in the wrong cellar is the detail that convicts, and it has not been found yet.
If a quiet guest is being spoken over, give them a direct question as the host: 'Vera, you were closest to the piano — what did you hear?'
If someone guesses the murderer early, privately hand them the 'you are now a suspect too' card and ask them to defend the wrong answer loudly for one round.

After the night

Collect the booklets before anyone leaves with somebody else's secrets. The solution envelope goes back in the box — the kit is written to be run again for a different table.

Send this

The Vesper closes on Sunday. You are invited to Friday.

Miss Agnes Voss requests the pleasure of your company at the last Friday of the Vesper Social Club, behind the florist at 114 West 46th Street. Ring twice and ask for the delphiniums.

Cocktails at seven, dinner at half past. Black tie is encouraged and discretion is mandatory. Mr. Ferrante will be at the piano, as always.

Come as the guest named on the enclosed card. Do not come as yourself — the club has quite enough of those already.

Reply to Agnes Voss by Wednesday. No plus-ones: the cellar is small and the guest list is smaller.

If you send it digitally

For a digital invitation, keep the same three paragraphs and send it as a single image with the club's monogram at the top. Ask guests to arrive with a name in mind and a secret they will not share until Act II.

Three physical props carry this story. Each one is buildable in under half an hour with things you probably already have.

Prop 01 · 20 minutes

The torn ledger page

The physical clue that opens Act I. Half a page of club accounts with one name burned through with a cigarette.

What you need

Two sheets of cream paper
A tea bag and a shallow dish of water
A cigarette or a match (or a black marker for a smoke-free version)
A candle and a metal spoon

How to make it

Brew strong tea, brush it over both sheets and let them dry flat — this is what makes paper look eleven years old rather than new.
Rule faint accounting columns in pencil: date, name, amount, and a running total that does not quite add up.
Burn a hole about the size of a thumbnail where the name would be, working over the sink. Keep the edges charred and irregular.
Tear the sheet in half along the fold so the missing half is clearly missing, and tuck it inside the piano bench or under the seat cushion before guests arrive.

Sealed in the paid kit

The other 2 props

The remaining build sheets: materials lists, cutting guides and the folds that make them convincing by candlelight.

Unlock the full kit — $32

Print one booklet per guest from these pages. Each act has a line to read aloud and a secret for that character alone — the lines are what the table hears, the secrets are why they lie.

Act I · 7:00 pm

The Set List

Host: Welcome everyone by their character name, raise a glass to the Vesper's last weekend, then ask each guest in turn to read the first page of their booklet aloud.

Vera Sloane

The chanteuse

I have sung in this room for six years and I have never once been paid on time. Solly knew that better than anyone, because he was the one who told me what Agnes could afford.

Only you know You owe the club more than money: Solly was holding the letters you wrote to a married man in Chicago, and he had started to mention them when he was drunk.

Teddy Marsh

The bootlegger

I keep this club wet and I keep my mouth shut, which is more than most of the people at this table manage. If the ledger is missing a page, ask who was doing the bookkeeping.

Only you know The missing page is yours, and it does not show a debt — it shows a payment you never made, in Solly's handwriting, dated the night he died.

Agnes Voss

The proprietor

I built this room out of a florist's back store and a grudge, and on Sunday I hand the keys back. Tonight we drink what is left in the cellar and we do not discuss the accounts.

Only you know You have already sold the club's licence to a buyer who wants the room empty by Monday. Solly found out on Thursday and asked for a share to keep quiet.

Julian Pike

The critic

I am here to write the obituary of a nightclub, not to be a witness. Though I will say this for the Vesper: it has always been more interesting off the page than on it.

Only you know You have been investigating the club for a column for three weeks, and you paid Solly for a copy of the ledger. He took your money and gave you a torn half-page instead.

Sealed in the paid kit

The other 2 acts

Every remaining character script, the line they read and the secret they are protecting, laid out to print and fold into booklets.

Unlock the full kit — $32

The welcome

“Welcome to the last Friday of the Vesper Social Club. Ring twice, ask for the delphiniums, and mind the third step — the cellar stairs are older than any of us. Mr. Ferrante will be at the piano all evening. Until then, drinks are in your hand and secrets are your own business.”

Sealed in the paid kit

The dinner toast and the accusation

The two speeches that open the second half and close the night, with the cue for when to stand up and how to hand over the confession.

Unlock the full kit — $32

Host’s eyes only

The culprit, the method, and how the clues fit

The solution never appears on this page. It arrives with the paid kit, sealed, to be read aloud only after every guest has accused.

Unlock the full kit — $32

Unlock

Everything, printed.

What you have just read is the sample. One payment unlocks the whole kit on this page — every act, the props, the speeches and the solution — ready to print the moment the card clears.

3 acts of player scripts, one booklet per guest
3 prop build sheets
The dinner toast, the accusation and the cue list
The sealed solution, for the host only

One payment, one kit, yours to print again for the next party. Bought it already? Open the printable kit.