His plan was to raise enough cash to run off with his Polish mistress, but someone stuck the knife in before he left the train.
Of course the ghastly murder came as no surprise to us fellow passengers. We knew that one of the many dodgy-looking characters travelling with us to the auction was bound to bump him off – but the big question was whodunnit and why?
The Orient-Express organises murder-mystery day trips to Brighton about 10-times a year with the idea that passengers play detective and try to find the guilty party before returning to London.
Included in the away-day is a sumptuous continental breakfast on the world’s most famous train, a brief but interesting tour of Brighton Pavilion, and a three-course lunch.
Our drama began at breakfast, almost as soon as we had settled into the plush surroundings of our first-class dining car, a beautifully-crafted carriage built in the 1920s.
Before the first glass of Bellini had reached our lips, we were confronted by a portly chap in trilby and spats claiming to be a private detective and thrusting phoney-looking business cards into our hands.
Throughout the journey further characters – including a Russian spy, a Polish countess and a rich American – drifted in and out of our carriage, slipping us clues as they went.
The actors threw themselves into their roles with such gusto it was difficult not to get drawn into the drama, which was set in the first quarter of this century at a time when the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express would have been in regular service.
By the time we pulled into Hove Station I couldn’t wait for the murder, which was eventually discovered in Brighton Pavilion. Just as our 30min tour was coming to an end it was interrupted by hysterical screaming and it emerged that the prof’s wife had found his corpse stuffed in a truck. Thrilling stuff.
There were many would-be detectives among my fellow passengers who took it all very seriously.
They made copious notes, going over and over the plot, while the rest of us gave up and tucked into lunch, washed down by the free-flowing wine.
In the end my party of four made a half-hearted attempt at guessing the identity of the murderer – and got it hopelessly wrong. I blame the booze.
Service on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express is excellent and the food easily as good as you would get in the restaurants of most five-star hotels.
In addition, the train has a unique, romantic ambience which probably explains why it is so popular with couples celebrating birthdays and wedding anniversaries as well as companies who can hire whole carriages for corporate hospitality.
All carriages were once part of trains such as the Golden Arrow and the Brighton Belle, and each has been refurbished using original materials.
IT’S not every day that someone is murdered on your train, but on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express it happens almost every month.
On the day I was travelling from London’s Victoria Station to Brighton the ‘victim’ was a randy old professor who had been on his way to the seaside town to auction off his latest invention.
His plan was to raise enough cash to run off with his Polish mistress, but someone stuck the knife in before he left the train.
Of course the ghastly murder came as no surprise to us fellow passengers. We knew that one of the many dodgy-looking characters travelling with us to the auction was bound to bump him off – but the big question was whodunnit and why?
The Orient-Express organises murder-mystery day trips to Brighton about 10-times a year with the idea that passengers play detective and try to find the guilty party before returning to London.
Included in the away-day is a sumptuous continental breakfast on the world’s most famous train, a brief but interesting tour of Brighton Pavilion, and a three-course lunch.
Our drama began at breakfast, almost as soon as we had settled into the plush surroundings of our first-class dining car, a beautifully-crafted carriage built in the 1920s.
Before the first glass of Bellini had reached our lips, we were confronted by a portly chap in trilby and spats claiming to be a private detective and thrusting phoney-looking business cards into our hands.
Throughout the journey further characters – including a Russian spy, a Polish countess and a rich American – drifted in and out of our carriage, slipping us clues as they went.
The actors threw themselves into their roles with such gusto it was difficult not to get drawn into the drama, which was set in the first quarter of this century at a time when the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express would have been in regular service.
By the time we pulled into Hove Station I couldn’t wait for the murder, which was eventually discovered in Brighton Pavilion. Just as our 30min tour was coming to an end it was interrupted by hysterical screaming and it emerged that the prof’s wife had found his corpse stuffed in a truck. Thrilling stuff.
There were many would-be detectives among my fellow passengers who took it all very seriously.
They made copious notes, going over and over the plot, while the rest of us gave up and tucked into lunch, washed down by the free-flowing wine.
In the end my party of four made a half-hearted attempt at guessing the identity of the murderer – and got it hopelessly wrong. I blame the booze.
Service on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express is excellent and the food easily as good as you would get in the restaurants of most five-star hotels.
In addition, the train has a unique, romantic ambience which probably explains why it is so popular with couples celebrating birthdays and wedding anniversaries as well as companies who can hire whole carriages for corporate hospitality.
All carriages were once part of trains such as the Golden Arrow and the Brighton Belle, and each has been refurbished using original materials.