The second annual East Hampton Village Hamptons Whodunit festival, which features mystery and crime authors, interactive simulated crime scenes, walking tours, panel discussions, and escape rooms, will be launched next Thursday and will continue through next weekend.
“East Hampton Village will be swarming with best-selling authors, investigators, prosecutors and former cops,” according to the festival’s website hamptonswhodunit.org. So, if you’re thinking of murdering someone, maybe don’t do it next weekend, or at least not in the village.
Hamptons Whodunit is a nonprofit organization founded by Mayor Jerry Larsen, his wife, Lisa Larsen, Jackie Dunphy, and Carrie Doyle, a village trustee. They created it with the idea to bring some life to the village in the shoulder season by partnering with the East Hampton Library, East Hampton Historical Society, and BookHampton on events of particular interest to fans of mysteries, thrillers, true crime, and sleuthing.
“Hamptons Whodunit is a festival for the residents of East Hampton, and not a festival that merely takes place in East Hampton,” the website says.
The schedule is packed, starting with a Thursday night kickoff cocktail party at the Maidstone Club, with two tiers of tickets. For $125, “this historic club [that] rarely opens its doors to the public” will be the scene of an “intimate evening socializing with renowned mystery and thriller authors.” For $300, 25 V.I.P. tickets will grant early entry, allowing exclusive mingling, photo opportunities, and handshakes.
Friday, April 12, and April 13 and 14 will feature full schedules from 9 a.m. through 8 p.m., with events taking place at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church’s Hoie Hall, the East Hampton Library, BookHampton, the Sea Spray Cottages at Main Beach, the Kumiso restaurant, and the village’s historic inns. As of Tuesday, many individual events had already sold out, but full weekend passes, which give access to all panels, were still available for about $120. Individual day passes are available as well, at about $61. Other events have their own tickets and some are free.
A full schedule and tickets can be found at hamptonswhodunit.org.
