Murder Mystery Game
When: Saturday, October 25, 2025
Departure Time: 11:00 a.m.
Platform Location: Home of Laine and Bryan Boyd
Tickets must be reserved by NO LATER THAN: October 15, 2025
Email: lainej7@yahoo.com; phone: 314-629-8024
Dining Car Menu: Prepared By:
French Onion Soup Robert Lay
Vol au Vent Laine
Vegetable haricots verts amandine (Green beans with nuts) Fedora
Salad Emily
French Bread (brioche or other fancy bread) Gary
Reine de Saba (French chocolate almond cake) Laine
Non-chocolate French Dessert Valerie
Lemonade/Tea/Non-alcoholic _________________
Red and/or white wine __________________
Appetizer Nanci
Will you be boarding the last train from Paris? If so, Who are you, and what do you wear?
Character: Clothing: Your Alias:
Mal Gangsterish; dark shirt and suspenders; white tie; fedora Robert Lay
Wey Flying jacket; scarf and goggles Gary
The Duke Regal military uniform with sword; horse optional Fedora
Khover Crisp business-like suit and brief case Bryan
Barbra Frilly and flowery; dripping jewels; a fur Nanci
Belinda Extremely stylish Laine
Idelle: Stylish and regal; jewels (crown and sceptre might be overdone) Emily
Mary: Tailored; a man-style suit; no frills; steno pad Valerie
It is June, 1940, aboard a train leaving Paris
Perilous times are upon us as Germany threatens our beautiful city. What can you do? An anonymous letter arrives, offering you passage aboard a government train heading for the relative safety of Southern France. During the trip, murder is discovered and the passengers must decide who amongst them has committed the crime!
Dear Friend,
The German troops are about to enter Paris. The roads south are a hopeless snarl. The trains are full and one cannot find space aboard them. Yet to remain in the city and see her brutalized by the Nazis will not be a pleasant thing.
This letter offers you what may be your last chance to escape. At 11:00 a.m. on 13 June, 1940, (October 25, 2025 CST), a government train under military guard will depart platform 7, Gare d’Austerlitz station, for the relative safety of Southern France. Attached to this train will be a private pullman car and dining car. The accompanying Transit Authorization will see you past the military guard and on board.
I do hope you will come.
Who am I to offer this service? Well, for the time being, I won’t tell you that. Think of me as someone much like yourself, a citizen of the world. There will be eight guests. I have listed them all below and, as you can see, they are a distinguished group. I will make it a party of nine.
Do wear proper attire. We will dine elegantly. Our chef is experienced in making train travel a delicious experience. Leslie (Les) K. Arrgowe.
Don’t be late! Miraculously, the trains are running on time.
Number 9
Khover T. Ageante
A well-travelled and worldly individual, Mr. Ageante is seldom home in the British Isles due to the necessities of business travel. Distinguished, impeccable dressed and courteous to a fault, he is welcome in the finest hotels and restaurants on the European continent. Yet there is an aura of mystery about him and no one seems to know exactly what his business is or why he travels with such regularity between Berlin and Paris.
Princess Idelle Chattre
A royal refugee driven to Paris by the advancing German troops, Princess Idelle is the sole surviving representative of the ancient and noble Chattre Family. That line of European rulers traces its ancestry in direct line of descent from Nonnes Taupe Chattre, who, in the year 1124, at the head of an army of kinsmen and fierce Northern tribesmen, conquered and carved out a small, easily defended and heavily wooded land where his descendants now live. Despite her youth, Idelle is aware that she alone carries on the family line. Strong-willed and quick to anger, she is nevertheless quite beautiful and, it is rumored, possessed of considerable family wealth safely invested overseas.
Malcolm R. Conntint
Mal is a soldier of fortune. Restless, cynical, secretive, he is nevertheless well-known in Paris society where it is whispered that he, for some undisclosed reason, cannot return to his home in the United States. Some say he killed a man. Some say it was an affair of the heart. There are even those that say he makes his living in the active and thriving black market of continental Europe. Whatever the truth, Mal is a welcome participant in Paris high society where his worldly toughness stands out against the backdrop of leisured affluence.
Mary K. Trairie
Journalist for a great metropolitan newspaper, Mary has lingered in Paris to send home to her readers the true story of the War In Europe. She has interviewed men in the street, soldiers and generals, ministers of state, and celebrities. Her articles are published in papers across the U.S. under the byline Mary Trairie, but those who know her past remember her as little Mary Kohn, daughter of the late Augustus Kohn, journalist, publisher, and newshound. It was Augustus who said, “There’s them that wants news and there’s them that wants truth. Don’t ever confuse the one for the other.” Mary was briefly married to a young city editor named Harold Trairie, but the marriage didn’t last. She has clung to Harry’s name, feeling her father’s to be a trifle austere.
RAF Group Captain Weyland W. Awfcorce
Known to his men in his squadron as Wey, Captain Awfcorce is a pilot of renown. His squadron of Laklustre Bombers is likely to prove one of the most formidable armaments available to the British Armed Forces. Shot down on a reconnaissance mission over Germany before the commencement of hostilities, Wey managed to evade capture and make his way to Paris where he is making every attempt to return to England. The son of English nobility, educated at Oxford, he epitomizes the strength, endurance and noble character of that island race.
Barbra Z. Enhussie
Barbra may be described in a few words—rich, spoiled and beautiful. Daughter of the French perfume king, Louis Z. Enhussie, now deceased, she was brought up to extravagance and has carried on this tradition of the Enhussies in all respects. Chateu Enhussie, on the outskirts of Paris, and Barbra’s spacious apartment in the city, are centers of lavish social activity. Everyone who is anyone is a regular at Barbra’s.
Duke Schwazhe B.U. Klare
Another royal victim of the German advance, the Duke had to fight his way through enemy lines to reach Paris. His own small army in tatters, he and a few hand-picked men succeeded in bringing to the French High Command valuable information concerning German troop disposition. The Duke remains a hero to his now captive people, the sturdy peasant stock of the region known since ancient times as Alzase-Laverne. The Duke is a man of noble bearing, schooled extensively in military matters and is a swordsman of considerable talent. Young to be the leader of even so small a nation, the Duke has never married but is considered to be one of the most eligible bachelors in Europe.
Belinda Screete
A coutouriere extraordinaire is the way Belinda is described by her wealthy clients. “Really, I’m only a simple dressmaker,” says she blushingly, but the women in the inner circle of Paris society know better. Owner of a thriving high fashion studio, Maison Screete, this clever and educated American has thrust her way into the Paris Fashion World. More than a caterer, though, to the patrons of high fashion, Belinda participates in that society as actively and as well as any. Vivacious and charming, she is a frequent guest at the mansions and chateaux of the wealthy and influential citizens of Paris.
