The Vernier Case: behind the scenes of an invented true-crime story

The Vernier Case grew from a simple wish: a murder mystery that feels like a real true-crime story. No haunted mansion or moustached detective, but a small French town, a grand house, a party that goes wrong, and a case file like the ones you see in documentaries.

The story, without spoilers

Saint-Aubin-sur-Loire, September 2019. Laurent Vernier, a joinery business owner the whole town looks up to, celebrates his 50th birthday at the Domaine des Ormes. The next morning, the gardener finds his business partner, Philippe Delmas, dead in the pool house. Laurent has vanished. During the night, his family received a strange e-mail: he is leaving on a mission he cannot talk about.

A wife preparing her divorce, a brother drowning in debt, a mistress dumped that very night, a journalist investigating in secret, an accountant who is a little too discreet... Everyone has a reason to lie.

A real case file, piece by piece

What gives this case its identity are its 37 case files. They imitate the documents of a real investigation:

• witness statements;
• a bank statement;
• CCTV stills from a train station;
• a court order to a phone provider;
• photos taken during the party;
• a map of the estate;
• and two voicemails to listen to by scanning a QR code.

Players do not read a story: they dig through a file, like investigators.

Twelve characters, six essential

The case plays with 6 to 12 people. Six roles carry the plot and are always played; the other six enrich the game depending on the number of guests. Each character file contains the character's story, their evening hour by hour, their secret, what they know about the others and their goals for each act.

A police-file design

The kit is designed like an investigation board: a host's book styled as a cork board with pinned evidence, and character files presented as cardboard folders. The host does not know the solution: it is in a separate, sealed file.

The questioning cards

To move the investigation forward, players have "Official questioning" cards: they force a suspect to tell the truth about the facts. Only the killer may lie.

An invented story

Everything is fictional: the town, the characters, the business. Any resemblance to real events is coincidental. But it is all designed to ring true. To discover the file, visit The Vernier Case page, and read why true-crime murder mysteries fascinate.