The Murder Game (novel)

The Murder Game was the second novel in the BBC Past Doctor Adventures series. It featured the Second Doctor, along with his companions Ben Jackson and Polly Wright.

The novel was written by Steve Lyons, who had previously written a number of Doctor Who books. It was published on 7 July 1997 as a paperback book. It saw the first appearance of the Selachians, a race which was first mentioned in Lyons' Virgin Missing Adventures novel Killing Ground.

Publisher's summary
The faded glamour of a hotel in space, spinning in an all-but-forgotten orbit round the Earth, is host to some unusual visitors this weekend — including a party that claim to travel in a battered blue police box...

It is the year 2136. Answering a distress call from the dilapidated Hotel Galaxian, the TARDIS crew discover a games enthusiast is using the hotel to host a murder-mystery weekend. But it seems someone from his motley group of guests is taking things a little too seriously.

While the Doctor, Ben and Polly find themselves joining in the shadowplay, it becomes clear that a real-life murderer is stalking the dark, disused corridors of the Galaxian. But worse than this: there's a sinister force waiting silently in space for events to unfold. A terrible secret is hidden on board the Galaxian, and if it is discovered nothing — least of all murder — will ever be the same again. If this is a game, the stakes just got higher.

Plot
to be added

Characters

 * Second Doctor
 * Ben Jackson
 * Polly
 * Alison Hayes
 * Bryan Melrose
 * Daphne McAllister
 * Dorothy Adler
 * Henry Mace
 * Geoff Hornby
 * Neville Adler
 * Ted Matlock
 * Terri Willis
 * Thomas

The Doctor

 * In the Doctor's pockets are (amongst other things) a bag of jelly babies and a yo-yo.

Objects

 * Clockwork frogs are used as currency in the Alpha Mardis systems.

Species

 * The Doctor, Ben and Polly encountered Venusians, Draconians and Alpha Centaurans at a spaceport bar in an adventure preceding this one.
 * The Doctor offers a silent prayer to "the gods of his own people".

Continuity

 * The Doctor encounters the Selachians several more times. (PROSE: The Final Sanction, AUDIO: The Architects of History and AUDIO: The Selachian Gambit)
 * T-Mat equipment is mentioned. (TV: The Seeds of Death)
 * UNIT — and mentions of the Doctor in the organisation's files — are mentioned; however, the Doctor says he knows nothing of such an organisation. ( TV: The Invasion)
 * The Doctor refers to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as an "old friend"; the Fourth Doctor suspects they may have met before. (PROSE: Evolution)
 * The Doctor can feel the space station moving, even though no one else can. (TV: Rose)
 * Among the alien menaces the Doctor has fought, Ben mentions the War Machines, (TV: The War Machines) the Daleks, (TV: The Power of the Daleks) and the Cybermen, (TV: The Tenth Planet) and is about to mention more (but is interrupted).
 * Professor X is mentioned. (PROSE: No Future)
 * The Doctor creates a temporary sonic device, used to unlock a door, and resolves to begin work on a permanent version when he gets back to the TARDIS. (PROSE: Dreams of Empire, TV: Fury from the Deep)
 * Ben states that in his experience, computers do as they please. (TV: The War Machines)
 * When seeing an outfit found in the TARDIS wardrobe consisting of a colourful patchwork shirt clashing with yellow trousers, the Doctor thinks to himself that he would never wear such a thing. (TV: The Twin Dilemma)
 * Ben and Polly both refer to the attempted Cyberman invasion of Earth in December 1986. (TV: The Tenth Planet)
 * The Cybermen stole a Selachian spaceship in 2191. (PROSE: Killing Ground)