I went my first murder mystery party on Sunday. It was to celebrate a joint birthday and it was good anxious fun (three parts fun, five parts anxiety, which isn't as bad as it sounds since the "typical party" ratio is usually one to seven).

I'm just not a party person. Parties are for mingling and while most people derive a great deal of pleasure from mingling, I'm not one of them (unless sweating profusely, being unable to think of single thing to say, and feeling an overwhelming sense of dread are telltale signs of pleasure and I just never knew).

The good and bad thing about a murder mystery party is that it forces people to mingle. People have legitimate reasons to...

• they want information
• they want to sell you something
• they want to buy something from you
• they want to blackmail you
• they want a paternity test

The reasons aren't always the most pleasant, but at least they're legitimate. Of course, these may also be some of the same reasons why people mingle in regular parties and I just never knew.

There were between twenty and thirty people at the party. Everybody had been assigned a character and given a one-page biography beforehand. The primary goal of the game was to solve the murder. The secondary goal was to have the most money by the end of the night.

Some people were really into the game. They wore costumes and had the details of their characters' lives memorized. I wasn't as well-prepared and kept having to refer to my cheat sheet to remember my name, profession, relationship was with the deceased, and what the heck I was doing there.

Overall, I think I did a good job of hiding my anxiety. I'm certain everybody thought my constant laughter and wisecracks were due to a naturally cheerful disposition and not to an underlying desire to disappear.

After a couple of hours of mingling, the party organizers broke everybody into five groups. Each group pooled their information and came to a consensus as to who they believed to be the murderer.

Two of the five groups chose correctly. My group wasn't one of them. If I had been more adamant about my choice, we could have been, but I deferred to the majority. It's the way I am in a group. Even if I know I'm right, I'll state my opinion, but won't fight for it to avoid being seen as disagreeable. It's a bad habit I don't know how to break.

If you were wondering, I didn't achieve the second goal either. I managed to finish with ten-thousand pounds, which would be impressive if it weren't for the fact that the smallest monetary denomination in the game was ten-thousand pounds.

Anyway, as I said at the beginning, it was good anxious fun. I don't think I'll ever host a murder mystery party, but if I'm invited to another one, I'll go. Next time, though, I'll learn my character thoroughly, if for no other reason than to make the game more enjoyable for those around me, and I'll be more vocal about who I believe to be the murderer (I'll be wrong, of course, but at least I'll be wrong and vocal about it).