Kill Joy

Pip accidentally smears her lipstick on her finger and notices that it looks like blood. She is on her way to a 1920s-themed murder-mystery party called “Kill Joy Games—Murder at Remy Manor” at her friend Connor’s house. Pip’s dad drops her and her friend Zach off at the party following a series of murder-themed puns. Pip tries to remember to have fun, although she is thinking about the work she has to do back at home, including finding a topic for her senior capstone project.

Connor greets them at the door dressed as his character, the butler Humphrey, and welcomes them to “Remy Manor,” the fictional location. Their friend Lauren appears behind Connor wearing a flapper dress and a nametag reading “Lizzie Remy” and grabs Zach, who is playing her husband, Ralph. Connor tells them that his parents and older brother, Jamie, are all out, so they have the house to themselves for the evening.

In the kitchen, they find the other members of the party, Cara and Ant, who are playing the characters of the cook, Dora, and Bobby. Ant greets them with a toast to their “freedom” now that they have finished their SATs and exams. Pip reminds him that they still have college applications and their senior capstone projects to think about, and again Pip feels guilty for being out at a party.

They go to the dining room, where they find their character names at place settings. Connor instructs them all to hand over their phones and locks them away for the duration of the game. In the silence, Pip thinks she hears shuffling footsteps upstairs, but she reminds herself that it is most likely the wind, which is picking up outside as night falls.

The game begins. Connor notes that it is strange that they have all gathered to celebrate Reginald Remy, and yet he has failed to arrive. Connor instructs everyone to go through the house looking for him. They begin searching, and Pip understands that someone has murdered Reginald but wonders what exactly they are looking for.

Pip sees that Connor has labeled different rooms with titles such as “Billiard Room” or “Library.” Upstairs, on Mr. Reynolds’s office door, is a sign labeling it as Reginald’s study. Pip goes inside and, in the darkness, sees an outline of someone sitting in the office chair. She reaches for the light switch, and when she turns it on, she sees someone slumped over in the chair, covered in what appears to be blood.

The figure in the chair is Jamie, Connor’s older brother, with the front of his shirt soaked in blood. Startled, Pip begins calling out Jamie’s name, but then she sees that Jamie begins to laugh. Looking closer now, she sees that the blood is fake, and Jamie begins laughing harder. Jamie plays dead again as the others call out to Pip, gasping when they see Jamie sitting in the chair.

Connor arrives and calls out that it appears someone has murdered Reginald Remy, instructing everyone to return to the dining room so that the next phase of the game can commence: calling the “police” and ordering a pizza for dinner.

Back in the dining room, Pip resists the urge to begin reading her gameplay booklet, and Jamie joins them, now dressed as a police officer. He introduces himself as Inspector Howard Whey. He will be directing the rest of the game.

Jamie states that it appears there has been a murder, at which Ant cries out, “Sal Singh did it!” (14). Instead of laughter, everyone meets his quip with uneasy silence, as the teens recall the real-life murder that occurred in their town, Fairview, just over five years earlier. Pip explains that a teen girl, Andie Bell, was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who died by suicide a few days after the murder. Pip feels that “it was almost like Fairview itself was defined by the murder of Andie Bell, both names usually uttered in the same breath, inextricable from the other” (15). Cara tells Ant to shut up, and everyone gets back to the game.

Reading again from the game booklet, Jamie tells them that because they are all gathered here and because there is only one boat per day to the island, one of them is the murderer. Jamie passes out notebooks so that the players can keep track of notes and theories, and Pip begins taking notes in earnest. Jamie instructs each player to go around and introduce themselves and their characters.

Each character introduction reveals a bit more information about the different relationships and tensions between the characters. Reginald’s eldest son, Bobby, used to work for his father’s casino empire and was set to inherit it, but he now lives an idle life in London on his father’s bank roll. The younger son, Ralph, works for his father as his partner and is set to take over the company after his father’s retirement or death. Ralph is married to Lizzie, who manages the London casino. Pip’s character, Celia, is an orphan but has never fit in with her wealthy Remy relatives. Connor as the butler, Humphrey, states that he has been working at Remy Manor for the last 20 years and that he has a daughter whom he does not often get to see. Finally, Cara as Dora, the cook, states that while she is the cook of the household, she has only been working at Remy Manor for the past six months and that there used to be more staff at the manor, but Reginald began letting people go after his wife died the previous year.

Jamie shares facts of the case so far: Reginald’s murder occurred on the evening of his 74th birthday, and he was stabbed in the heart. The lack of defensive wounds leads inspectors to believe that he knew and trusted his killer. Jamie tells everyone that their task is to establish the time of death and their characters’ alibis.

Pip reads about Celia’s alibi: She was in bed, taking a nap due to allergies. The game booklet instructs her to pay careful attention to the alibis of the other players and says that Pip is to cast doubt on Lauren (Lizzie’s) alibi. Lauren will claim that she was taking a bath at the time of the murder, although Pip’s character did not hear the bath running.

Through the gameplay booklet, the players determine that the last person to see Reginald Remy alive was his younger son, Ralph, at around 5:15 pm. Pip (Celia) discovered the body at 6:30 pm, leaving an hour-and-15-minute window for the murder to take place. The players begin sharing their alibis, and Jamie points out that each of them was alone during the time of the murder, which indicates that none of them has a true alibi. This means that each player had the means and opportunity to commit the murder, which means that the players must now begin determining the motive.

Pip has the uncomfortable realization that “[she] d[oes]n’t know much about Celia at this point; it [i]s possible she actually [i]s the murderer” (26). Jamie shares that he found the murder weapon, a kitchen knife, beside the body, but it had been wiped of prints. At this, everyone stares accusingly at Cara, who states that anyone could have gone into the kitchen and taken a knife.

Cara encourages everyone to follow her into the kitchen, where she claims she has proof of her innocence. In the kitchen, she searches for a note that she says one of the other characters left for her. Connor produces an envelope that has “Clue #1” written on it, and he reads it aloud. The note is signed “RR” and is addressed to Dora, the cook, requesting a carrot cake for that evening because “it is the birthday boy’s favorite” (27). Pip points out that the note could have been written by either one of Reginald’s sons. Ant admits that it was his character, Bobby, who wrote the note, wanting to do a kind gesture for his father after a “fraught” conversation they had that morning (28).

Pip states that when Cara’s character went out to the vegetable patch for the carrots, the kitchen would have been unattended, giving anyone an opportunity to steal the knife. The shrill cry of the doorbell cuts Pip off, and a scream accompanies it.