What to expect on our trails

What is a Murder Mystery Trail?

Killer Trails create immersive puzzle-filled treasure hunts with a whodunit twist. Solve cryptic clues as you follow the route to discover evidence, eliminate suspects and other implicated elements, and ultimately deduce whodunit. These self-guided walking tours take you on a thrilling journey past historical landmarks and points of interest, offering a unique way to explore touristy hotspots around the UK.

“It’s like a walking tour, treasure hunt, and outdoor escape room all in one!”

Each Murder Mystery Trail is unique, with varying degrees of “walking tour”, “treasure hunt”, and “escape room-like” vibes chucked into the mix. Some clues are rather simple to crack, while others need a bit more consideration and can feel more like an outdoor escape room at times.

Cracking the case

Each trail incorporates some form of metapuzzle, such as one of our Cryptic Crosswords, Cryptic Wordsearches, or Double Crosses. Answers for each clue feed into the metapuzzle, revealing who the culprit is. Expect a variety of puzzles, riddles, and mechanics to crack each case.

What do you mean self-guided?

Simply put, there is no tour guide. Our puzzle trails use easy-to-follow directions that guide you to each clue location (and there’s a map of the local area you can refer to). This means you can sleuth around at your own pace, taking as many detours and pit-stops as you wish. You can even over do the trail over multiple days if you wish!

Why should I do a Murder Mystery Trail?

We’ve investigated all the highlights each location has to offer, which have been carefully crafted into our Killer Trails, so there’s plenty of historical landmarks, traditional pubs, refreshment stops and selfie opportunities along each route. So, whether you’re planning a city break or want something novel to do locally, our trails will spark your curiosity and deepen your appreciation for your surroundings.

We firmly believe our trails are the best way to explore and learn about a new area (and so do our customers, check our TripAdvisor reviews). So, why not start plotting a killer a day out?

Where can I do one?

From Edinburgh to Cornwall, Killer Trails can be found in tourist hotspots across the UK. We strive for quality over quantity and meticulously craft every trail from scratch, ensuring each one is to die for. Whilst we’d love to have trails in every town and city, we’re a young company with a small team, so please bear with us as we steadily smother the entire UK! We’re regularly adding more trails to our range, so keep checking our shop for more. If there’s somewhere you’d love to have Killer Trails, let us know!

Download, print & go!

Our trails come in two formats: order a printed copy with free delivery or a downloadable PDF to print at home. Digital downloads are available immediately, so you can get cracking today! The PDF files are accessible on any computer or smart device. Simply download and print the trail in colour (not black and white) onto A4 paper, and you’re ready to go.

No access to a printer?

Although we recommend printing out the trail, you can view the PDF and follow the route using a tablet or smartphone. Just make sure to bring a pen and paper to note down your answers. The culprit is revealed with a final metapuzzle. So, you could draw this out to fill in as you go or complete this bit when back at home with a warm cuppa! Other occasional clues may also need sketching out.

If you’re away from home but would prefer a printed version, here are a few ideas:

• If you’re staying in a hotel, politely ask if the front desk could print your trail.
• Libraries aren’t just for books, you know! Find a local library using this Google search and use their printing facilities.
• Office supply stores can also help. Find a local office supply store with this Google search.

Where does the trail start and end?

Each product page has the address of the start and end locations. Some trails form a loop, whilst others may end in a picturesque setting close by. All trails include a map of the local area to highlight additional points of interest and help you get your bearings.

Who are the trails aimed at?

Killer Trails are challenging adventures full of riddles, cryptic puzzles and gripping stories for anyone who loves to explore, socialise and learn. Our creative team has devised compelling narratives for each trail full of pop culture parodies for the eagle-eyed detective. Characters, themes and plots are often inspired by and pay homage to our favourite works of fiction, local legends and historical figures. You’ll get a kick out of our trails if you enjoy escape rooms, puzzle hunts, scavenger hunts, ghost and historical tours, murder mysteries and board games.

Our Murder Mystery-themed trails make for a thrilling city break or day out with spouses, friends, colleagues and the whole family. Before you’ve even solved your first Murder Mystery Trail, you’ll be dying to do another!

The trails are designed for adults, but kids will love helping to find and solve the clues, too; they just might need a hand with some of the more challenging ones. The stories for each Murder Mystery Trail are lighthearted and full of amusing characters and plot twists that will keep you guessing.

Can’t solve a clue?

If you’re having trouble, there is a hints and answers section in every trail (it’s usually upside down). If you can’t figure out a clue or two, don’t worry. You should still be able to deduce whodunit (or at least have a stab at it!).

Difficulty, duration, and distance

Our trails are rated with a ‘clue difficulty’ level of 1-5 stars. They are easy to follow and should be solvable with a bit of contemplation and logical thinking. We ultimately want you to see all the sights and have a great time doing so. A five-star puzzle difficulty would be challenging but achievable. Exercise your little grey cells, else they’ll grow rust!

Trails typically last around 2.5 hours, and the average length is around 3.5km. Allow a few hours for refreshment stops and to appreciate your surroundings at a leisurely pace.

Terrain and accessibility

Our trails are predominantly located within city centres and are fairly easy walks. As we love historical areas for our trails, many pass through cobbled streets, but generally, the routes are all paved or solid. While we strive to avoid steps and obstacles that may pose difficulties for some participants, this may not always be achieved or feasible. We are also making efforts to provide alternative routes and detours for our trails where possible.

For accessibility information on each Murder Mystery Trail, refer to their respective product pages on our website. Additionally, you may wish to visit local tourist information centres, accessibility webpages for local councils, or accessibility review websites like Euan’s Guide for additional insights into local accessibility.

Solved the murder mystery?

Great work, detective! Now it’s time to close your case and see how accurate your deduction skills are.

By correctly solving a case you will receive:

The next thing to do is leave us a TripAdvisor review to help let other budding detectives know what they’re in for (but don’t give any spoilers away!). We read all feedback and use it to continually improve our products. We really appreciate your input.

Can’t access part of the trail?

We meticulously craft our trails to make sure they’re accurate and accessible at the time of release. However, from time to time, there may be unforeseen interferences with a trail route, e.g. road works or scaffolding from building construction/restoration. Please let us know if this happens to you, as it will help other trail detectives. If part of the trail is currently off-limits, don’t try to access it. If the trail instructions are unsuitable, make a judgment call on how to proceed. You are ultimately responsible for your safety. See our terms and conditions for more information.

Any questions?

Head to our FAQs page. If you don’t find an answer get in touch.