I've played several murder parties now, and this was the first from the 'How to Host a Murder' series. It was very good, and much better than others I've played. The materials are all high quality and the characters' motives/backgrounds all tie in, leaving no loose ends (as other games have). And best of all, it was great fun to play!

I've played several How to Host a Murder episodes along with many other manufacturers' offerings and the HTHAM line has been the best of the lot. However, I've also noticed that as the series ages, the mysteries seem to be going more for laughs than for solid stories.

This particular case had the usual word play and time-period reference (though many were from a time after this particular scene), but it seems that the writers are more interested in going for the laugh than in working a solid story. There were no gaping holes, and it wasn't a simply mystery to solve, but it somehow didn't completely click, either.

As with all such games, it depends upon the crowd. With different players, I may have said this was the best episode ever, but for this reviewer's playing, this one loses a star and falls to a 4. Still quite respectable, and I will surely purchase their next game, but it did lack just a little.