Detective Day - Solve the Hogwarts Murder Mystery

This took a while to put together but was the highlight of our Detective Theme Day. I have included the letters, map and sheet of suspects so you can just print these out if you wish to replicate it. Your detectives would need some knowledge of Harry Potter to complete the mystery.

There were five letters in total dotted around the house - each letter told them where they would find the next letter as well as a useful piece of information. The letters were all accompanied by another clue too which they had to look at after reading the letter.

  

The three items above were given to them initially - the first letter, a photo sheet of all the suspects and a map of Hogwarts. 

By crossing out the suspects on the photo sheet as the clues eliminated them, they would eventually be left with one suspect who was therefore the murderer.

For the first task, they had to find the place each suspect was located on the map and work out whether they could've got there from Snape's office in the time that had lapsed since 8am. This ruled out - Cho Chang, Dobby, Alastor Moody and Hermione Granger.

The second letter advised that people were scared to come forward so they may receive coded information. Next to the letter was a seemingly blank piece of paper with a UV pen. The UV pen revealed a message from someone who had seen the murderer coming out of Snape's office. The murderer had cast a darkness spell as they came out which meant the witness couldn't see who it was. However this confirms that the murderer definitely has magical powers. This ruled out - Argus Filch and Dudley Dursley.

The third letter advised that a witness confirmed that the murderer was not wearing glasses. This ruled out - Harry Potter and Sybill Trelawney.

Along with the letter was a scytale - a strip of parchment which is wound round a cylinder to reveal a secret message. I used a strip of paper sellotaped to a drumstick for this.

The message read "The Weasleys are innocent." This ruled out - Ron, Molly and Fred Weasley.

The fourth letter confirmed that the murderer was shorter than 5'8". The suspects' heights are all listed on the sheet of suspects. This ruled out - Rubeus Hagrid, Professor Quirrell, Lucius Malfoy and Remus Lupin.

Along with the letter was a newspaper sheet with several letters circled. The circled letters spelt out "The murderer is female". This ruled out - Cedric Diggory, Dean Thomas, Gilderoy Lockhart, Viktor Krum, Tom Riddle and Neville Longbottom.

 

The fifth and final letter advised that the murderer had long blond hair - this ruled out Bellatrix Lestrange and only left two possible suspects - Luna Lovegood or Fleur Delacour.

 

The letter had a scrap of a ripped-up handwritten letter with it, the rest of the pieces were hidden around the room. Once found and put together, the letter revealed why the murder had taken place and that the French-speaking murderer attends Beauxbatons - Fleur Delacour is the murderer!!!

My two really enjoyed this activity - it was a good way to keep their brains active during lockdown too. 

It could be used for a Harry Potter themed party, or for a detective party as long as the guests have some Hogwarts knowledge!