Member Event: Murder in The Library

As Great Britain embarks on what will become the First World War, one of England’s oldest subscription libraries – now The Library restaurant in Guild Hall Hill Norwich – re-opens after a devastating fire. That much is true, but the mystery of the murder which interrupts the celebrations might be a little harder to find in the history books. The first murder mystery dinner to be hosted by this historic restaurant takes place on June 21 and will feature a mystery specially written for the event and produced by a new company of theatre professionals known as M.

Jayne Raffles, who owns and runs the restaurant along with husband and chef Nigel, explained that they wanted to do something special for the Norfolk Food and Drink Festival.

“There are plenty of murder mystery evenings people can go to but we liked the idea of something a bit more particular to us,” she said. “This is a beautiful, historic building so guests will be able to learn just a little about its past as they see a ‘murder’ take place before their eyes and try and work out who did it and why.” Jayne Raffles, Owner.

M was created by Helen Vinsen, who has many years experience in arts marketing, Mark Benfield who is an actor, filmmaker and technical director and Alison Falconer, who writes for stage and radio.

Helen explained: “We have all worked professionally for the theatre and wanted to expand what we did into events. Ultimately we would like to offer home kits too for people who want to run their own murder mysteries but we’re taking it slowly because we want to make sure everything we offer is of a high quality.”

Murder in the Library an interactive experienceis on June 21 and includes a drink on arrival with ‘nibbles’ followed by atwo course meal, all for £35.

You can book a table via The Library restaurant website: www.thelibraryrestaurant.co.uk; or by phone: 01603 616606