By PATRICIA GUTHRIE
Special to The Record
Friendship, fantasy, frivolity.
And tons of fun puns.
That’s why LuAnn Wolfe looks forward to the annual Langley Murder Mystery Weekend taking place Feb. 21-22 for its 41st year.
“It’s a great time,” said Wolfe, who lives in the normally serene town that stages a mind-boggling make-believe killer plot every February and invites the public to detect and deduce whodunit.
“I invite my friends over for Sunday brunch,” Wolfe said of her Mystery Weekend routine. “Then we go downtown to all the businesses, pick up clues, quiz the cast of characters and sit down and talk it through.”
Although teamwork helps sort through the convoluted criminal case — that somehow always includes pirates and psychics — it hasn’t helped Wolfe’s quest for the correct guess.
“My friends often figure out who the murderer is,” she said. “But not me, not in 15 years. I always overthink it.”
Sponsored by the Langley Chamber of Commerce, the event attracts about 3,000 wannabe detectives, said Betty Freeman as she assembled packets of mystery material last week at the Langley Visitor Center.
“Not all buy tickets because many families and groups of friends take part,” she said.
It’s a fun pursuit, she said, for all ages and one that utilizes the old-fashioned skill of face-to-face conversation. No texts, internet or cell phones needed.
Langley resident Carol Evans has attended for 19 years and has the programs, newspapers and T-shirts to prove it.
“I love it because it bonds people together from all walks of life as well as those coming from far distances,” Evans said.
This year’s plot of “Terminal Velocity” is penned by longtime Murder Mystery Weekend writers Rachel McDougald and Mike Hall. European sous chefs, stinky cheese, a slug farm and a company that serves in-flight gourmet meals aboard zeppelins are featured. A steadfast group of two dozen volunteers that have a panache for accents, acting and improvisation, change identities and costumes with every new storyline.
Except Josh DeFax. Normally known as Josh Hauser, the beloved bookstore owner, she becomes Mayor Josh DeFax for two days every year.
“Treat me with more respect,” she implores, “you couldn’t do it with less.”
Always quick with a quip, the 90-year-old has played the part since Murder Mystery Weekend began in 1984.
“I’m amazed it’s still going on,” said Hauser, who opened Moonraker Books in 1972. “We tried to start a street scavenger hunt one year, it bombed.”
Tickets range from $13 to $17. A synopsis of the plot — which is always fantastically far-fetched — a dossier of characters (the suspects), clue map and The Langley Gazette are handed out to each participant.
The official entry slip naming the murderer must be turned in by 4 p.m. Sunday. The much-anticipated Big Reveal starts at 5 p.m. at the Whidbey Children’s Theatre.
After a buildup of biblical proportions, Texas Ranger Chase Ketchum (actor Ben Parks in the real world who really travels in from Texas, presumably not on a horse) finally names and nabs the murderer, who is led away in handcuffs.
Some businesses throw their own mini mysteries into the mix.
Village Wine is sponsoring a Mystery Wine Tasting for the ninth year.
“It’s a blind tasting where everyone gets worksheets and tries to identify the five wines,” explained owner Erin Morrissey.
There’s no doubt that the interactive jumbo game of Clue gives a much-needed boost to Langley during the doldrums of winter.
“It’s by far the busiest weekend of the year,” Morrissey said. “Last year, sales were 50% to 70% higher than an average day.”
The 40 businesses hosting clues pay the chamber to be on the official clue map. Others support the event by buying advertising in the program or donating raffle items given away at Sunday’s final festivities.
Many visitors flock to Callahan’s Firehouse, where beautiful pieces of glass emerge from flames and artistic finesse.
But owner Callahan McVay admits, “I don’t have a clue.”
Not because he dislikes Mystery Weekend, he said, but because having hordes of inquisitive and eager Sam Spades and Miss Marples clamoring for cues and clues in a gallery of glass is, well, sort of clueless.
McVay said he still benefits from the event.
“There’s a lot of people into the mystery but there’s also a lot of people out browsing and shopping,” he said. “It’s a real positive economic influx for Langley.”
Fred Lundahl, owner of the exotic and international Music for the Eyes, has his own economic theory about Murder Mystery Weekend.
“There are two kinds of business people in Langley,” he said. “Those that love Mystery Weekend and those that hate it. People who hate it think everyone comes into their store, grabs a clue and doesn’t buy anything. Those people put their clues on the outside of their building.”
Lundahl plays the game differently.
“We put up signs, ‘Clue This Way,’ so people have to see what we have around the store,” he said. “Even if they don’t buy anything then, they will come back and shop before they leave.”
For more information, go to VisitLangley.com.
