It’s February and the Game is Afoot in Langley
February 23-24, 2025, marks the 40th anniversary of Langley’s Mystery Weekend, the country’s longest-running annual Interactive Mystery Event. The playful and creative residents of Whidbey and Camano Islands are joined by aspiring sleuths from across the world to crack a homemade, fictional murder case. Fueled by social media, the popularity of true crime intrigue, and coast-to-coast coverage from The Oregonian to the New York Times, Sydney, Australia to even the Hallmark Channel, attendance has grown to nearly 3,000 participants last year. But it doesn’t take a team of crack detectives to understand why it continues to grow in popularity – it comes down to the creative team and welcoming community behind it all.
This will be Loretta Martin’s 26th year coordinating and authoring Mystery Weekend. The affable and unabashedly creative Island County resident may be better recognized by her character name Polly Anna Graph, a hallmark of the topically contemporary and pun-laden mysteries she and her cast members cook up each year. “Mystery Weekend is one of the most fun things I’ve ever done, and I’ve done a lot of fun and interesting things in my career,” Martin chuckles. “I think I’m one of the luckiest writers in the whole world, because every single year I get to see every character I write come to life. The actors deeply commit to their roles, further imagine their own backstories and motivations, create stunning costumes, and I’m overjoyed to see the world we collaboratively devise.”
To celebrate the event’s 40th anniversary, Martin has written the next chapter in a town-favorite mystery from the turn of the century, when the 49ers Club – a group of poker enthusiasts – were willed a beautiful estate outside of town after the “murder” of character Coco Geeherdelli. In 2025, a family heir has surfaced to retake the stunning property back from the 49ers Club; and the unavoidable and controversial lawsuit has brought the town to its breaking point, resulting in the mysterious and shocking murder of the president of the 49ers Club, C. Z. Cash, and the community is now calling on you to come help solve the murder and return peace to the quaint, coastal town of Langley.
To join this family-friendly weekend, sleuths can buy their tickets online in advance. Participants receive a fictional newspaper – The Langley Gazette – which gives context to the town at the time of the crime and the profiles of the suspects. Sleuths are then encouraged to explore Langley over two days, locating and interviewing the costumed suspects, and piecing together the clues to the murder. Precisely at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, participants gather at the Whidbey Children’s Theater, where Texas Ranger: Ranger Chase Catchum delivers the denouement, the motivations and alibis of each subject, and reveals the culprit. Local law enforcement from Island County and Langley cart the criminal away in handcuffs to cheers, gasps, and “it couldn’t have been you!” shouts from the standing room-only auditorium, followed by a wide array of locally donated prizes for correct solutions and participation.
“There’s such a beautiful camaraderie that forms during Mystery Weekend between our guests and residents,” says Martin, “and I hope it goes on for another 40 years.” Reflecting on some of her favorite past participants, “whether you’re a team-building group from Boeing stringing red yarn between clues and photographs, a pub Murder Mystery Team from the Cotswolds, or the Detective Dachshund Bloodhound Club, I hope to see you again this year, and I hope so many more locals and guests venture out to experience this inimitable event.”
Tickets for Mystery Weekend can be purchased at VisitLangley.com/Mystery-weekend or at the Langley Chamber of Commerce Visitors Center on both days of the event at 208 Anthes Ave. Langley WA starting at 10 a.m.
