The Setting:

You have been invited to a Red Hat Society funvention hosted onboard the luxury cruise ship, Queen Victoria. Red Hatters from chapters  will join the all over the world Exalted Queen Mother for a night of frivolity and fun. Over-the-hill women have donned fabulously gaudy outfits and gathered aboard the ship to celebrate middle-age with verve, humor, and élan. Some of you are over-50 Red Hatters who enjoy “acting your age” by participating in carefree revelry and sisterhood. Some of you are under-50 Pink Hatters who are here to gain some wisdom from the older members on how to live life to the fullest. But there may be some of you who have come with more sinister motives in mind. Consider everyone a suspect and ask your questions thoroughly.

After dinner, Red Hat Society members gathered in the stateroom for a tea party to commemorate the original party which began the Red Hat Society. Everyone lifted their cup as the Exalted Queen Mother proposed a toast and the Esteemed Vice Mother began reciting the poem “Warning”. Suddenly, the lights went out and everything was dark. Some commotion was heard for a few moments and then the lights came back on. Everything looked the same except for one small but significant difference; in a room full of red-hatted women there was a single person with no hat whatsoever. The bright red fedora that sat atop the Exalted Queen Mother’s head had been plucked – it was looted, pilfered, stolen! The hat was the original vintage hat that the Queen Mother had bought many years ago which started the Red Hat Society; it was the most important and treasured hat of all. Who would do such a thing? Yet, someone in the room is the thief – the rest of you must determine who it is. Everyone present is wearing a pink or red hat, but the Exalted Queen Mother’s hat can be distinguished as a vintage, bright red fedora with a large pink feather in it. The thief may not be wearing the hat, so you should ask everyone if they have hat with that description in their possession. When you have found someone with the motive to steal the hat, who owns a hat with that description, and who was in the stateroom when the hat was stolen, then you may have found the true criminal.