THE CLASSIC MURDER MYSTERY DINNER · WRITTEN FOR YOUR OCCASION
The classic dinner party game, written for a birthday or a night with friends. Everyone gets a secret role, you included. Four courses, four rounds, one culprit at the table.
The invitations are out and the menu is half-planned. What makes a dinner people remember is what happens around the table: a reason to talk to everyone, a few surprises, and a big finish.
A murder mystery dinner gives the evening that shape. Everyone gets a character and a secret. An icebreaker at the aperitivo gets guests who've never met talking. Every course brings new clues, and by dessert the whole table has a theory about who did it.
FOUR OCCASIONS, FOUR STORIES
Pick the occasion: each one has its own story, written for it. Then pick the size of your party.
DINNER WITH FRIENDS
A film producer's rooftop supper in Trastevere, a gossip columnist who knows everyone's secrets, and a private screening room one floor below.
Best for: dinner parties, game nights, a night in with friends.
BIRTHDAY
A grand hotel throws a gala for its most beloved guest (the birthday person, under their own name), and the present waiting for them disappears.
Best for: birthdays at any age. No age appears anywhere in the kit. The guest of honor gets a starring role: never the murderer, never the victim, a question to ask every round, and a sealed surprise at the candles.
BACHELORETTE · HEN PARTY
One last fitting at a couture house, dinner among the mannequins, and a family brooch, the "something borrowed", that vanishes.
We're writing it now, with a starring role for the one getting married.
PLANNED FOR FEBRUARY 2027
BACHELOR · STAG PARTY
The night before the race, the team dinner in the hotel garage. The one getting married plays the young driver who starts at dawn.
We're writing it now.
PLANNED FOR FEBRUARY 2027Illustrations are AI-generated.
ITALIAN RIVIERA, AUGUST 1958 · A MURDER MYSTERY FOR A BIRTHDAY
The Italian Riviera, August 1958. The Grand Hotel Fiordoro throws its yearly gala for the birthday of its most beloved guest: your guest of honor, under their own name. But before dinner, Amedeo, the concierge who planned the surprise, is found lifeless in the linen room, and the present he was keeping is gone. A storm has brought down the coast road, and nobody leaves until dawn. Four courses to find out who did it, and to get the present back.
The same story in every edition. Bigger editions add players and extras.
The whole evening planned: menu, audio, phone kit and detectives. Up to 12 players.
The big party: everything, plus 8 guest roles and costumes. Up to 20 players.
The complete game for a table of 6 to 8.
Players: 6 to 8, you and the guest of honor included
+8 Guest Roles · $14 (with The Dinner or The Full Evening): eight extra roles with their own place cards. None of them can be the murderer, and each one brings a true observation to round 3. Up to 16 players with The Dinner, 20 with The Full Evening. Add it in the cart.
Prices include tax · One-time payment · Instant download.
30-day guarantee: if the game doesn't work as described, tell us within 30 days and we'll refund you in full. In addition to your legal rights.
Pay once: your files are on the confirmation page and in your inbox. A few days before the party, send the invitation and each guest's private dossier (a PDF, or a link from the phone kit). Nobody has lines to learn.
The Full Evening and The Grand Night include the menu, with most of the cooking done the day before. With any edition, the four rounds follow any four courses, even takeout. Each course opens a new envelope.
Ask questions, keep your secrets until your dossier says to reveal them, compare alibis. At dessert everyone writes an accusation, then the Reveal shows exactly how the clues fit.
REAL PAGES, NO SPOILERS
BEFORE THE PARTY
Everyone knows who they are before they arrive.
ON THE NIGHT
About 90 seconds of reading aloud per course. The rest of the time, you play.
AFTER DESSERT
One culprit, and a solution that walks through every clue.
Not a generic game with a new label: at the Fiordoro, the birthday person is the guest of honor, by name.
Your character is always innocent and can slip into the kitchen without leaving the game.
Secrets and questions, not scripts. Every role can be played sitting down.
Only the murderer may lie, and every clue you need reaches the table before the accusation.
Each character has two names, one masculine and one feminine: your guest picks. The guest of honor plays themselves.
Nothing in the game involves drinking, and every recipe is alcohol-free.
A dinner party game where every guest plays a character. One of them is secretly the murderer, and only the murderer may lie. With each course a sealed envelope brings new clues, everyone questions everyone, and at dessert you all write down an accusation. Then the solution is revealed. No acting skills needed.
Both stories: 6 to 8 with The Dinner, up to 12 with The Full Evening, up to 20 with The Grand Night. You need at least 6, you included. The evening runs about 2½ to 3 hours from aperitivo to reveal; with shorter rounds, the game fits in 1¾ hours.
No. You play a character written for the host: always innocent, and free to go to the kitchen. You don't know who did it: the envelopes and the Host's Guide run the story, and you find out with everyone else.
They play themselves, under their own name. They give a short toast at the aperitivo, make a Birthday Wish each round (one question anyone must answer truthfully; only the murderer may lie), blow out the candles, and open a sealed envelope meant only for them. They're never the murderer or the victim, and they have nothing to hide.
Yes to both. If they host, they play the guest of honor and hand the maître d' to a guest: nobody needs to know the solution in advance. For a surprise, hand them their dossier at the door: it's short and takes five minutes to read.
Each Host's Guide has a table for that: optional roles simply don't come, and an essential role is covered by whoever was playing an optional one.
No. Every edition works from screens: send the dossiers as PDFs and read the envelopes from a phone or tablet. The Full Evening and The Grand Night add a phone kit: each guest gets a private link, and the envelopes open on screen. If you'd rather print, it's about 30 pages on plain paper for a table of 8 (envelopes, place cards, accusation cards), in A4 or US Letter.
No. The four rounds follow any four courses. The Full Evening and The Grand Night include an Italian menu with vegetarian and gluten-free swaps (and more, listed dish by dish), and every recipe is alcohol-free. The birthday kit needs a cake with candles: bake the Torta Fiordoro from the kitchen file, or bring any cake.
Yes, it's written for adults. No gore, nothing graphic: a classic mystery with secrets, alibis and good food.
A download link right after payment, also sent by email: printable PDFs in A4 and US Letter. With The Full Evening and The Grand Night, also the audio (MP3) and the link to the phone kit (it runs in any phone browser, online). Everything is in English, recipes in US and metric measures. Nothing is shipped. Print as many copies as you need for your own parties.
Each story has one solution, so it's best played once with each group. You can host it again with new guests.
No subscription: one payment, instant download, yours to keep. If the game doesn't work as described, tell us within 30 days and we'll refund you in full, in addition to your legal rights. The illustrations, the photos and the narrator's voice are AI-generated; the stories, clues and rules are designed for the game and checked by us.
Questions? support@candleandculprit.com
Four courses. Four rounds. One culprit at the table. You play too.
Instant download · 6 to 20 players · Prices include tax · 30-day guaranteeThe invitation, the cast, "The night at a glance" and a complete detective's dossier, for the story you choose. We'll email you the PDF.