I organized a murder mystery evening party for my 6th grade daughter and her 15 guests (all girls). Playing with the idea "The butler did it", we had invented our own butler, James Peabody, who was living in our guest room. The children were introduced to our butler by being asked to RSVP to him (he had his own email address set up for that). The girls did not know in advance they were supposed to solve a mystery. Half an hour into the party we staged a prerecorded thunder crash and blackout, with the help of a remote control and a light switch (screams guaranteed!). After the atmosphere for the mystery was set this way, the children heard a prerecorded scuffle and gunshots (popped balloons) upstairs. Climbing the stairs, they then found a "body" in the hall (put together with things found in a Halloween sale), and a trace of blood leading to an open window in my daughter's bedroom. A rope hung out, indicating that the murderer, bleeding from a stab wound he received in the fight, had escaped that way. In our butler's room we found a half packed suitcase and other clues indicating that he had intended to flee the country with his mystery girlfriend. Other clues referred to gambling debts, and to the identity of the victim, a loan shark who had threatened to kill him if he wouldn't have paid him back by the time of the party. Apparently this loan shark had disturbed our butler in packing. The guests, divided up in teams, were asked to search the rooms, identify true and false clues, and find the answers to six questions to unravel the mystery. After all clues were found, the teams had to think of last questions to ask the murderer, once they would have found him (only to be answered with a yes or a no. Then, using a flashlight, they had to follow the trace of ôbloodö outside, which led to the house of our neighbors eight doors down. There they found our butler (our neighbor), bleeding from his stabwound, and his girlfriend (his wife) hovering over him. It was great fun to hear the girls question the couple, as not everybody had apparently picked up all the clues (Thats it! He has a gambling problem!). The party so successful that I have put all information online so that it can be recycled (photos and downloadable fake passport included). See http://www.hvanrossum.com/mysteryparty.html .