Murder Most Horrid In Salisbury

by Laura Wurzal

Joy Swift as the character "Ali" clubbed to death with a bottle, White Hart Hotel, Salisbury.

A weekend visit to Salisbury proves to be both dramatic and relaxing.

As we finished dinner, a distressed woman staggered down the hotel staircase, calling forlornly for help, blood trickling from her mouth, and vainly trying to remove the kitchen knife lodged firmly in her back.

Guests dropped after-dinner chocolates and rushed to form a semi-circle around her. One bent down to comfort her as another asked, "Well, is she dead yet?"

The clues were already slotting into place on another typical night of high drama on a Joy Swift Original Murder Weekend.

Joy Swift.

Joy organised her first weekend in 1981 while working for a small chain of hotels in Lancashire. It went so well that she went on to run her own business, orchestrating dastardly deeds around Britain, and collected an MBE in 2001 for services to tourism.

Surrounding herself with a group of actors, Joy's winning formula is to keep the weekend as realistic and contemporary as possible. Until the detective completes his summing-up at noon on Sunday, guests must believe these characters are real people with credible motives for behaving the way they do.

Joy hosts weekends exclusively with Mercure Hotels, including the White Hart in Salisbury, which has seen its fair share of dead bodies and bloodshed over the years.

White Hart Hotel, Salisbury.

This elegant classical 17th century building, directly opposite Salisbury Cathedral, is perfectly placed to explore the city's shops. And its splendid courtyard garden of flowers, palms and tropical bushes is ideal for the games and shenanigans that take place on a murder weekend.

The theme for our summer weekend - Brave Hearts - was slotting into place nicely over the welcome drinks. Joy was acting too, her character Ali swiftly establishing herself as a bitter, rude, suicidal drunk, either moaning about her life or arguing with fellow guests.

On our table sat a character called Tim, a man of 32 with the mental age of a 15-year-old boy due to a freak accident years earlier, who was left in tears after one confrontation with Ali. But he didn't need to worry, because before the end of the evening she had been clubbed to death with a bottle.

Salisbury Cathedral.

As each and every member of Joy's cast is open to questions by the guests, notebooks were soon filling up with clues.

The next morning we used our free time to explore the hotel's facilities and discover what a splendid place Salisbury is. Our first stop was the cathedral, a magnificent early English Gothic structure built in the 13th century.

Its distinctive spire is the tallest in the UK at 404ft, and was built
so large to reflect the greatness of God's glory. You certainly feel in
awe walking around the cathedral with its impressive roof, intricate carvings and stained glass windows.

Perhaps the most famous item in the cathedral is one of the four
original copies of the Magna Carta, the charter signed by King John at Runnymede in 1215. This milestone in British history placed constitutional restraints on both monarchy and state.

Stonehenge.

In the Close, a square of pretty little cottages surrounding the cathedral, I felt I was stepping into a Thomas Hardy novel. The famous author based the fictional town of Melchester in his book Jude The Obscure on Salisbury.

We found time too to explore the splendours of Stonehenge, over 4,000 years old and probably the crowning glory of the New Stone Age in Britain.

It still looks awesome today. Five stone trilithon archways are set in a V-shape, and inside sits a horseshoe pattern of 19 bluestones, dragged all the way from Wales. Surrounding this centre-piece are two circles of stones, all aligned with an axis pointing to Midsummer sunrise on the longest day of the year.

Saturday's lunch was followed by an afternoon of games back at the hotel - and if anyone feared their sleuthing wasn't up to Miss Marple's standard, they could chase prizes in the music quiz, the bingo or wordsearch games.

Muder in the courtyard garden, White Hart Hotel, Salisbury.

Then it was back to our detective work, because soon afterwards there was a second murder and a blazing row, revealing further clues and possible motives. During afternoon tea, a couple disappeared to the courtyard for an illicit liaison and more verbal fireworks followed.

Goodness knows what the newly arrived group of Americans made of it all, as they walked into the courtyard garden to see 40 people surrounding an hysterical woman screaming at a couple sitting sheepishly on a bench, caught in the act.

Fortunately, there were no suspicious deaths during our evening meal, although there was plenty of drama - a catfight between two sisters and an adulterous husband being taught a lesson by having a jug of water tipped over his head!

Guests at the Fancy Dress party coming to do some sleuthing in the Incident Room , White Hart Hotel, Salisbury.

In between those two incidents, we learnt why the White Hart wins accolades for fine cooking. One dinner included corn fed chicken, apricot, sage and pistachio terrine with balsamic red onion marmalade, followed by baked salmon fillet in a brioche, walnut and orange crumb with sauce Maltaise and a desert of baked raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake with raspberry coulis.

Attracting singles, couples, groups of friends and even hen parties, murder weekends work because they get people to talk to each other. Some regulars had been coming for years and happily shared tips and advice with newcomers.

Most of the successful sleuths had no experience of police or legal work at all. One man who had worked in IT all his life had been to 38 weekends and had won 19 trophies - the ultimate prize, given to guests who identify the murderer(s) and the complex web of clues and motives.

Muder in the White Hart Hotel, Salisbury.

I certainly needed a bit of guidance at times. The incident room was always a hive of activity, and notice boards began to fill with emails and letters between suspects, newspaper cuttings, maps, magazine articles and secret diaries.

Sunday's denouement was an exciting affair, with the detective revealing whodunit, and why. I was right in thinking Tim was behind all the murders, but missed out on his motive.

After the prize-giving, the cast came 'out of character' for the first time to talk about their roles and ones they have played in the past. As the the plots change three times a year, these are certainly varied!

Joy's brochure describes her Original Murder Weekends as "25 years of fun, laughter and dastardly deeds". Once you get the bug for sleuthing, you tend to go back for more.

Courtyard garden, White Hart Hotel, Salisbury.

TRAVEL FACTS

:: Laura Wurzal was a guest of the Mercure White Hart Hotel in Salisbury for Joy Swift's Original Murder Weekend.

Joy's 2008 Murder Weekends, exclusively at Mercure Hotels, from £240 per person, include a welcome reception, two night's half-board, Saturday lunch, Saturday night party and disco, and "Murder" programme with competitions, games, and actors.

White Hart Hotel reservations: 0870 400 8125, see also
www.mercure-uk.com

Murder Weekend details available from Joy Swift on 0151 924 1124 or
visit www.murder.co.uk

:: The Joy of Murder by Joy Swift with Chris Livesey, a Trinity Mirror paperback (£8.99) is available from bookshops or www.merseyshop.com

:: Further images are available from Joy Swift's Original Murder
Weekends, contact Joy Swift on 0151 9241124 or email joy@joyswift.com

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