The best murder mystery party kit for adults depends on two things: how many guests you have and how much prep you will do. For 30 or more people, Night of Mystery or Playing With Murder. For the most themes, Masters of Mystery. For a boxed kit, My Mystery Party. For a first party of 6 to 16 with no printing, a phone-based kit like ours, Sleuth Night. Below are prices, player counts and prep for each.
We make one of these kits, so read this with that in mind. The prices and player counts below are what each seller listed on its own site in September and October 2026; check before you buy, because they change. We have not been paid by anyone on this list, and we have left out star ratings because we cannot check them.
The kits, side by side
| Kit | Format | Players | Price seen (2026) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sleuth Night | Phones + TV, optional print view | 6 to 16 (free mystery for 4 to 5) | $29, free to set up | First-time hosts, no printing |
| Masters of Mystery | PDF or boxed, guests can read in a browser | 4 to 30, depending on the kit | PDF about $31 to $42, boxed $50 to $80 | Widest choice of themes |
| Night of Mystery | 6 to 80+ | From $35, rises with guest count | Very big parties | |
| My Mystery Party | PDF or boxed, expansion packs | 6 to 300+ | $40.95 to $54.95 | A box you can grow, host can play |
| Playing With Murder | PDF or boxed, with sound effects | Mingle kits 8 to 35 | $39.95 to $49.95 | Big mingle parties |
| Broadway Murder Mysteries | PDF, Zoom-ready | 3 to 20 plus detectives | $29 to $39 | Zoom and remote groups |
| Etsy printables | Usually 6 to 25 | About $15 to $50 | Tight budget, niche theme | |
| MysteryPartyNow | Web app | 4 to 24 | Free, then $5 to $15 a session | Trying an app cheaply |
| Hunt A Killer | Boxed solve-it game | Small groups at a table | e.g. $29.99 a box | Date night, not a role-play party |
The three kinds of kit
Every kit above is one of three formats, and the format decides your afternoon more than the brand does.
Printable PDF. The biggest category: hundreds of sellers and every theme imaginable. You own the file and can run it again. The cost is prep: a 10-character kit is often 40 to 60 pages that you print, cut and sort into envelopes by character and round. On the night you read the rules aloud and hand out round two while people wait. Player counts are mostly fixed, so two late cancellations mean rewriting characters at 6 pm.
Boxed. Everything printed on decent card, sometimes with props, and opening the box at the table is a nice moment. The player count is what is on the box, the materials get written on, and shipping matters: a kit ordered on Wednesday does not arrive for a Saturday party.
Phone-based. Each guest gets a private link with their character. The host presses Start, every phone shows that round’s objectives, the clues come up on the TV, and the vote is a tap. No printing and no reading rules aloud, which are the two things that stall most parties. The trade-off: everyone needs a phone, and phone-based sellers have far fewer themes than the PDF market.
Best murder mystery kit for 12 people
Twelve is the most common party size, and nearly every kit covers it. What matters is optional characters: if your 12 becomes 10 on the day, you want a kit that still works. Masters of Mystery and My Mystery Party sell kits that cover a range of player counts rather than one fixed cast. All three of our full mysteries take 12, and you change the count on the host page right up to the start. More on that size: a murder mystery for 12 players.
Best for 16 or more guests
Above 16, the PDF sellers built for crowds win: Night of Mystery (6 to 80+), Playing With Murder’s mingle kits (8 to 35) and My Mystery Party with expansion packs. Our largest mystery, Death at the Speakeasy, takes 16. For 20 to 39 people you can seat two guests on each character, or run two rooms; our large group guide walks through both.
Best Christmas murder mystery kit
Masters of Mystery has a whole Christmas collection, and Etsy is full of Christmas printables. Ours is Silent Night, Deadly Night: a snowed-in family Christmas Eve, a will, a Secret Santa and a body in the study, for 6 to 14 players. Hosting for work? See the office Christmas party murder mystery page.
Best 1920s murder mystery kit
The 1920s is the most popular theme there is, so most sellers above have one, and Etsy has dozens. Ours is Death at the Speakeasy: Chicago, 1927, a club owner poisoned during a fake police raid, 6 to 16 players.
Best murder mystery party app
If you want the game on phones rather than paper, your choices are a small group of web apps. MysteryPartyNow charges per session. Masters of Mystery has a free browser app for guests alongside its PDFs. Sleuth Night runs the whole party in the browser: characters, rounds, clues on the TV, the vote and the reveal. Nobody installs anything.
Best free murder mystery for 4 players
Dead Stop is our free one-hour mystery for 4 or 5 players, set on a 1934 sleeper train. It plays through the same app as the paid mysteries, never needs unlocking, and prints free. It is the quickest way to find out if the phone format suits your group before you spend anything.
With Sleuth Night
Our mysteries are written for adults, 15 and up with an adult host, and run about two hours: three rounds of 20 to 30 minutes, then the vote and the reveal. The host plays too. Each guest gets a private link, and the clues show on your TV or any shared screen. It also works over Zoom, Meet or Teams. If your group likes paper, the print view with clue cards for an evidence table comes with every mystery once it is unlocked. Setting up is free, you pay $29 when you press Start Round 1, and there is a 30-day money-back guarantee. Not sure which of ours fits? Our page on murder mystery party games for adults compares them by group size and tone.
For the full hosting process, whichever kit you choose, read how to host a murder mystery party. For the rules a first-time player needs, read how to play a murder mystery game.