Snowbound at Wexley Hall
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A publisher promised a memoir that would expose everyone in the house. By midnight he was dead in his library.
Story
December 1928. A blizzard has buried the moor road, the telephone line is down, and Augustus Wexley, publisher and collector of other people's secrets, lies dead beside his library desk. At dinner he announced that his memoir, Debts and Debtors, would go to print in January and name everyone in this house who had ever lied to him.
Five people had reasons. Five people have alibis. The snow will not melt before dawn.
How to play This is a case board. The night runs in three rounds, and each round gives you a few actions: search a room, or sit someone down for three questions. Show a suspect the right evidence and their story may crack. Use Accuse to name the killer and how the alibi was faked before the last round ends and the roads clear.
In this story you are A private inquiry agent and old acquaintance of Augustus Wexley
Prologue
The grandfather clock in the hall strikes a quarter to midnight. Snow presses against the tall drawing-room windows, and the fire hisses.
Minutes ago, Mrs. Dunmore's scream brought everyone running to the library, where Augustus Wexley now lies beside his desk under a tablecloth. The telephone is dead. The moor road is buried.
Five faces turn toward you, because at dinner Augustus introduced you as 'the cleverest guest this house has ever had'.
The widow rises from her chair and presses her bandaged wrist to her chest.
Celia Wexley"I was at the piano the whole time, my dear. Julian heard me. Please. Tell us what we ought to do."
Characters
Celia Wexley, 52, Augustus's second wife of eight years. A former society beauty, gracious and self-possessed, with a sprained right wrist in a silk bandage.
Celia Wexley - AilismJulian Wexley, 29, Augustus's nephew and heir. Charming, reckless, famous in London for his gambling debts.
Julian Wexley - AilismMargaret 'Peg' Dunmore, 61, housekeeper at Wexley Hall for thirty years. Practical, devoted, and frightened.
Peg Dunmore - AilismDr. Samuel Osei, 45, the Wexleys' physician from the nearby town and Augustus's weekly chess partner. A guest for the weekend.
Dr. Samuel Osei - AilismImogen Swift, 31, Augustus's private secretary for four years. Efficient, discreet, and frightened of what she knows.
Imogen Swift - AilismEndings
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