Christmas 1933 - Verrisay Island, off the West Coast of Highland Scotland.

A cold time of year, lonely and bleak, it might seem.

But you will be snug and cosy ... perhaps.

You might be staying at the Castle of the Laird of Verrisay. Not the true Laird, however. No, Douglas MacKenzie-Brown has taken over the tile from his distant cousin. In fact, this wealthy American industrialist has bought the island - and his declaration that he intends to make some radical changes has not gone down too well with the islanders ...

Perhaps you are one of those islanders, brooding over your wrongs over a sullen peat fire in one of the small crofts that dot the island, or in the small village with its few fishing boats that ply a perilous trade.

Or perhaps you are a guest of the cheerful Rector, the Reverend Andrew Roberts, and his pretty wife Mary.

Or perhaps, drawn by the gospel of free love and the Higher Life, you have joined the strange community presided over in the half-ruined Old Castle by the young former Laird, Colin MacKenzie.

Wherever you are, this could, for some of you, be a Christmas to die for ...

Murder at Christmas was a special pbem (play by e-mail game) that ran Yahoogroups from December 20th 2003 until 7th January 2004 (roughly the Twelve Days of Christmas. There were sixteen players - all of whom had a character - and the GM. Each player had to promise to post at least once a day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day excepted. In the event, most people posted far more often .. and by January 7th 2001 we had the equivalent of a detective novel written by sixteen people. This web-site gives you a chance to read that book ... and see how the game was played ...

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