MYS 11
Murder Mystery Parties
Cold Case: Who Killed Santa?
A printable cold case mystery game set on Christmas Eve 1987: the beloved department-store Santa was found dead in the stockroom and the death was ruled an accident in two days. 37 years later an anonymous letter and a faded Polaroid reopen Case 87-1224.
- Players and time
- 1-6 detectives (solo, couple, family, team night); 90-150 minutes, one sitting or several evenings; ages 14+ ('noir mood, cosy heart, no gore'); prep ~15 minutes; difficulty 'challenging but fair'
- Pages
- 44
- Format
- US Letter and A4, plus ink-saving version
- Language
- English, Italian
Get it on Etsy (opens Etsy in a new tab)
Instant download. Payment and files are handled by Etsy; nothing is shipped.
What's in the download
- Case briefing from Sgt. Ruth Calloway, Cold Case Review, Ashby Falls PD
- 8 persons of interest
- Envelope A 'The Accident That Wasn't' (8 docs), Envelope B 'Everyone Had a Reason' (9 docs), Envelope C 'The Twenty-Sixth' (7 docs)
- Detective's Notebook, hints, Answer Check, accusation, solution, timeline, certificate
This page is safe to share with your players or guests: it does not reveal the culprit, the solution or any answer.
Inside pages
Lines from the book
Old files reward patience, and they punish assumptions.
Trust documents over memories, and times over impressions. — Sgt. Ruth Calloway
People lied to my predecessors in 1987, and most of them lied for very ordinary reasons. Your job is to find the one lie that matters.
