Murder Mystery, Year Four: Ancient Rome

It's only a year between our annual parties, but it felt so long since the last time we had partied with our favorite murder suspects!

This year, I changed the porch into a seaside Roman venue.  The wind was the one thing I hadn't taken into consideration, and it made keeping things upright a challenge.

A week or so before the party, I cleared all the patio furniture from our porch, and took inventory of my table situation.  It looked good, but the week of the party Sarah found me an even better 4th table for free on Craigslist, so I was swapping out tables "at the last minute."

The new guide was not as comprehensive, so I had to make my own timetable for the food, and we totally skipped the fried dough, but the tuna steaks, drumsticks and hamburgers came out pretty well! The ancient roman cheesecake was good, and of course we had caprese salad, hummus and naan, olive, grapes and dipping spices with bread.  

Billy helped nail up all of the curtains so that they didn't lose any length by using a bar.  We ran lights, and put down all sorts of bedding and cushions, since we were sitting on the ground.  Cali, Emily and Grace helped display all of the greenery and curiosities that I found during the year.

The background refused to stay taped down, thanks to the wind, so we ended up taping, taping and taping some more.

Billy and I moved our table once everyone sat down.

Matt: Licentius Caeser - son of the late Caeser, Juliana: Rotunda Immaculata - member of the virgin temple, Scott: Maximus Testosterus - miliary mind, Jessica: "Clepto"patra - queen of a distant land, Jared: Bogus Fortunatus - leader of a new religious movement, Tami: Flotilla Submergia - wealthy widow, boss of a shipping company, Billy: Harangus Adnauseum - stoic politician, Deb: Mercedes Accelleratti - widow of the deceased and Nicole was a detective/bystander named Roma Tomatus

This was our first year with a different publisher, and overall, it was not as good, but we enjoyed the Pritchards during their inaugural murder investigation!

The names were really funny.  And, despite William helping me draw the names at random, some people continued to play the same role (sorry Deb!)

The murder this year was (highlight below to reveal text):

*Me!!!  I got to be the first female murderer. *

We didn't like that instead of reading our own denouement, we had to pass our manuals and read one another's.  It was a bit of a letdown.  We'll be returning to the publisher that we have used in past years for the next party.

The children, I think the final count was 12, were very well behaved, and we did not see much of them, as they had food and entertainment inside.

 It was a wonderful time, and I look forward to doing it again next summer!

later days

You can read about some of the other people we've killed off here:

Year 3: Hawaii

Year 2: France

Year 1: Mississippi Riverboat