Setting a Murder Mystery in the 1940s

Dreamstone Productions' 1940s Murder Mystery Cruise on the Norfolk Broads

Why the 1940s? As a murder mystery company that hosts adventures from Sherlock Holmes' Victorian era to Doctor Who and everywhere in between, I can say with confidence that a 1940s murder mystery always sells out. Be it on a train, on board a boat, at a hotel, or in a National Trust Home, people will come from far and wide to experience a 1940s whodunnit!

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I have been pondering why that is. I think that one answer is that the 1940s (wartime in particular) is a period that belongs to a by-gone era of nostalgia - of telephone boxes and bobbies on bicycles - yet is still a time that personally touched someone all of us knew, or still know, today.

I am fifty-one. My parents were part of the baby boom generation. Both remember growing up in a landscape of bombed-out cities (they even remember playing in the ruins!). My grandfather was in a reserved occupation (he was an engineer), my father-in-law, now deceased, was interred in a German POW camp (while still alive, he spoke fondly of the kindness of German people towards him and other prisoners). Personal stories were, and are, so valuable! When we write stories about wartime Britain (whether for a murder mystery or something else), we recall them. This feels important.

Great Yarmouth during WW2. My father, who grew up in Yarmouth post-wartime, remembers these bombed shells of buildings clearly.

Another reason why people love adventures set in WW2, I think, is the dramatic changes that this time brought (and wrought) on jobs and roles. Particularly for women, who were catapulted into what were formerly male-only occupations - maintaining vehicles, flying spitfires, cracking codes, and even working in intelligence (the Imperial War Museum is a good source of information on women's war work).

Again, from a story-writer's point of view, changes in people's roles and lives always makes for good sources of tension - the husband resents a woman's newfound confidence; his wife, newly trained in Special Ops, is more than capable of hiding explosives in a rat carcass (for example)!

Unknown women in the Auxiliary Territorial Service in WW2 (picture from the Imperial War Museum website)

Travel is important too. During 1940s wartime, things were physically, as well as mentally and emotionally, on the move - often with destinations and outcomes unknown; kissing a loved one who gets on a boat and disappears over the horizon; a platoon getting on a train and going to a secret destination. The liminal state which exists between departure and destination is a place where Adventures occur!

For a company that runs 1940s-themed events, there are challenges to, as well as opportunities for, storytelling. The big challenge is that, as I stated above, people remember, and people care. Authenticity is important. This is not to say that we cannot have an immense amount of fun, but research is important. There has to be integrity within the storytelling. Our Winston Churchill, Ian Alldis, for example, endeavours to be as well-studied and researched as possible.

Ian Alldis as Winston Churchill. Photographed at the Assembly House

When running a murder mystery set in the 1940s, we need to honour people, as well as entertain. We can do both.

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View A 1940s Murder Mystery: Sink a Sailor, Soldier Die, here

Dreamstone Productions is a Murder Mystery and Comedy Dining Events Production Company based in Norfolk UK.

Donna K. Triggs is an actress, producer, writer and director. Read more about her at www.donnaktriggs.com