Who: Danielle, Ross, Cy, and Caroline
What: A Taste for Murder
When: Thursday June 16

The Characters:
"Lady" Agatha Monroe (played by Ross) surrounds herself with dogs, wears too much makeup, and smells like a bottle of cheap perfume. She depends entirely on her younger brother William (who she calls Stinky), sniffs ether with her niece Aurelia, and feuds bitterly with her former lover Thad the butler.

Thad the butler (played by Cy) collects village prostitutes for his master, William, courts Aurelia, and brutally murder's Agatha's poochie Moopsie.

Young and unmarriable Aurelia Crowley (played by Danielle) is living with her uncle because she was too damn crazy to deal with at home. A loopy nineteen year old with 'episodes' and delusions of grand love with the butler, Aurelia has a large dowry to her name which her uncle, William, is unwilling to part with.

Sir William the Duke of York (played by Caroline) has too many house-guests. His sister and niece are staying for what seems like an indefinite amount of time, and are soaking up enormous amounts of money, which the Duke doesn't particularly have since he spends it all on skeezy activities with the village girls.

The Murder:
On the grand night of the ball, Thad and Aurelia decide to elope. Tragically, before Aurelia can discover why the contents of trousers are so important, the groom is murdered! Drowned in fact.

The Investigation:
An investigator is called in to find the murderer.
Was it Sir William? The Duke was in great debt, and the butler had been skimming off the top, pocketing the money from the Duke's shady transactions. Furthermore, the butler knew the Duke's secret pleasure in being an exhibitionist!

Was it the bride and widow, Aurelia? She purchased an expensive house before Thad's death, before she had inherited her dowry. Was she planning on keeping the dowry for herself after finding an expendable husband?

But of course! It was his former lover Lady Agatha! Bitter and angry at his betrayal, Agatha reveals that she and Thad are in fact Aurelia's parents! And sinisterly, Agatha intended to murder Aurelia as well, as the heir to her handsome estate.

Thanks for the lovely game everyone! It was very fun to play with you all!

Mechanically there were some aspects I really like and others that didn't quite work for me. I would have liked more time to spend on the investigation, but we were of course a bit time crunched. The game is great in that there isn't much setup, and I totally think you could do different playsets like one would with Fiasco. The game had really solid and consistent pacing--it felt like each round went at about the same rate, which has its pros and cons.

In any event, I'd put this on my list of 'would play again!'