Guide
How to Host a Murder Mystery Advent at Home
An advent calendar usually means a chocolate a day. A murder mystery advent swaps the chocolate for a clue: one puzzle each day from December 1, one step closer to naming the culprit on Christmas Eve. It works for a couple, a whole household, or grandparents and grandkids solving together by phone. Here is how to make an event of it.
What you need
- A murder mystery advent book with one puzzle and one story installment per day. (Ours is the large print Tern Harbor murder mystery advent calendar. For a free version you can print yourself, see our puzzle advent calendar for adults.)
- Pencils, and a sheet of paper or a whiteboard for a suspect board.
- Sticky notes, or a magnet on the fridge, to mark today's page.
Set up a suspect board
On day one, write each suspect's name across the top of a sheet of paper and stick it somewhere everyone passes. Each time a clue rules someone in or out, add a note under their name. By mid-month the board becomes the family's shared memory of the case, and it lets anyone who missed a day catch up in a minute.
Pick a daily ritual
Choose one time and keep it: after dinner, with the morning coffee, or at bedtime. The daily puzzle should take ten to twenty minutes. Read the day's story aloud first so everyone hears the clue in context, then solve together. Let the youngest or least confident solver hold the pencil; everyone else can only give hints.
Rules that keep it fun
- No reading ahead. The fun is in not knowing.
- No answer key until the day is done. If you are truly stuck, allow one hint from the key, then close it.
- Catch-up days are fine. Busy weekend? Do two days on Sunday. The story waits for you.
- Guesses go in writing. On December 20, everyone writes a sealed guess. It makes the reveal far more fun.
Solving across distance
For grandparents and grandkids in different towns, buy two copies. Call or video-chat at the same time each day, read the story aloud, and race or cooperate on the puzzle. Large print helps the older solver; the phone call is the real gift.
Make the reveal a moment
Save the final day for Christmas Eve. Open the sealed guesses, read the last chapter aloud, and give a small prize (or bragging rights until next year) to anyone who named the culprit. Cocoa is optional but recommended.
Want more cases? See all our murder mystery puzzle books, including picture-logic and kids' detective cases.
