IN an unexpected plot twist, there has been a thrilling development in the tale of an interactive murder mystery dinner company.

The Mowbray Murders, based at The Mowbray Guest House in Eastbourne, has executed its storylines so convincingly it has published one as a novel.

Donation of Death is written by The Mowbray Murders member and Eastbourne author Robert A Wood.

It is based on one of its classic early murder mystery weekends and it’s the kind of story where readers can pore over every detail to untangle a web of lies and solve a murder.

Mr Wood said: “Writing the book was a chance to put a fun twist on what The Mowbray Murders have done before.

“Having grown up in Eastbourne, it was nice to be able to add a couple of landmarks that people will definitely recognise.

“The characters are all fictitious of course.”

Popular murder mystery events have been held by The Mowbray Murders at The Mowbray Guest House on Eastbourne seafront since 2008 when criminal barristers Darren and Laura Weir became its proprietors.

Darren, who had always wanted to write a murder-mystery themed event, wrote its first murder, The Duke’s Will, after the couple decided The Mowbray was the perfect location for murder mystery weekends and brought local theatre company Underground Productions on board.

Guests took on key roles as suspects and actors stayed in character all weekend, and the format became so popular they began to hold one-night murder mysteries.

Mr Weir said: “We have had so much fun with our murder mysteries, and when they started to outgrow the building confines of the Mowbray we decided to take our murder mysteries to larger venues.

“We have done so since 2011 when we formed our murder mystery dinner company The Mowbray Murders with Rob, my business partner.

“Our latest murder mystery is a talent show-themed event called The Death Factor starring head judge Simon Scowl, who reaches a rather sticky end.

“In the meantime, Rob, an author by profession, has taken one of our murder mysteries and turned it into a fantastic novel.”

Donation of Death by Robert A Wood is launched at 6pm on November 28 at The Mowbray Guest House, 2 Lascelles Terrace, Eastbourne.