Once, when I was teaching English to children in Cambridge, I died while eating my dinner. The children were eleven to fourteen years old and there were about one hundred and twenty of them in the large hall of a boarding school. We were all eating ice cream when I made strange noises and fell forward onto my plate.This was not some unusual way of teaching the children about crime, but a murder mystery game. It was a bit like a play in the theatre, but the whole school was involved. All of the teachers were either victims or suspects and all of the children were detectives trying to find out who the murderer was. The children knew the situation was serious as many teachers were ‘dying’, so they were all very excited!Lying next to my ice cream, I loved being a ‘victim’. However, I had to remember not to smile as the teachers dragged me across the floor to get rid of my ‘dead body’ so the students knew I was really ‘dead’. This was just the start of my murder mystery career!Soon after that, one of my friends bought a murder mystery game and invited me and several other friends to a dinner party. We all had to dress up as different characters. The story was that one of our close friends had been murdered and we were all suspects. We had to tell the other characters important information and question people about the information they gave. Then, at the end of the evening, we tried to work out who had done it. I wasn’t very good at the police investigation part, but I loved playing a part and the excitement of knowing that one of the people in the room was a ‘murderer’.Now I run my own company – Murder Mystery Occasions. I organise murder mystery parties in restaurants or historic buildings. Usually I hire a private room so that the ‘murder’ doesn’t upset other guests. Castles are particularly popular with my guests because they’re so atmospheric, so I use them if they’re available. I write the scripts and employ actors to be some of the key characters. People pay to come along and join in with the fun while having a wonderful dinner. The murder usually happens somewhere between the starter and the main course and there is always a lot of excitement when the police arrive to take fingerprints and interview key suspects. People tell me that’s the best part. Then, at the end of the evening, there is a prize for the table that guesses who is the murderer, but everybody who comes along seems to enjoy the drama. So, you could say I’ve made a good, honest career out of murder! 2 The writer tried not to smile because...