A Dal whodunit for a good cause

In the dining room of “Hotel Dalhousie,” the unexpected becomes reality, and a scream in the hallway leads to an investigation into the humanity’s darker impulses.

It may not seem so at first, but all this is in good fun, and all for a great cause.

Throughout October, Dal’s residences hosted events to raise awareness and support for breast cancer research. The culminating event, hosted by Shirreff Hall but open to all as part of the Dal After Dark activity series, was the Pink Lace Diamond Murder Mystery,” hosted in the University Club’s Great Hall.

At the event, each table was given a set of rules indicating their responsibility in solving the mystery that would be acted out in front of them. To assist the groups in their amateur sleuthing endeavor, organizers handed out pens and a detective record sheet. After team names were chosen, a gong sounded and the scene began to unfold.

Here’s how the evening went down.

A dark and stormy night

Guests enter and introduced themselves. The audience learns that a “Mrs. Gordon” is at the hotel for a business trip with her husband, who we are told will be meeting her later. “Mrs. McAndrews” is also a guest at the hotel, away on holiday, alone because of her husband’s unfortunate passing only a few years prior. Next to enter are “Mr. and Mrs. Simmons,” a couple also looking into business opportunities. We learned that they are the true proprietors of the missing Pink Lace Diamond, a rare and expensive jewel that has recently been stolen. Our last guest is “Mr. Rodney Bell,” a businessman from Dallas come to the hotel on business to check on a property his company has purchased without knowing its location, which is actually in the middle of the Pacific ocean.

A guttural scream comes from the hallway, and the custodian of the hotel frantically runs into the room, practically unable to relay to the guests gathered of what he had just witnessed. And then he faints.

When he is revived, the guests ask him to calmly explain what he saw. “There’s a man… in the closet… a… a … a dead man!”

Gasps from the audience.

When the audience discovers that the custodian of the hotel has found the lifeless body of Mr. Peter Gordon, hotel guests all become suspects, and the audience begins work together in teams in order to help a very curious investigator, a Detective Clueless, uncover just who the murderer is.

Soon after the Clue Master hands out the first set of clues, the audience discovers that Mr. Gordon has been shot — directly in the head.

Piecing together the evidence

Each table is given different clues throughout the evening, and the goal is to find out as many of the clues as possible by exchanging them with other tables. Deals can also be struck with hotel staff and the Clue Master will also give clues in exchange for donations towards the Think Pink initiative.

As the audience beings to gain more clues, and Detective Clueless reveals her new findings, the guests get nervous. The scenario involves rat poison, suicide notes, a return of the diamond itself, blood in several rooms and a business deal gone south.

Just as the events reach their peak, it’s time to gather the evidence and the detective sheets. The hotel staff deliberates with the Detective and her team, and then the truth is uncovered.

So just who was the guilty party? We’d hate to spoil it lest the organizers decide to host the scenario again in the future. But let’s just say that a murderously good time was had by all.