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 previous written a number of Doctor Who books. It was published in July 1997 as a paperback book.

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 2146. 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

 * The Doctor
 * Ben Jackson
 * Polly

The Doctor

 * The Doctor had previously seen an entire world devastated by the Selachians, although he had not yet met them.
 * In a rarely seen gesture, the Doctor offers a silent prayer to 'the gods of his own people'.

Objects

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

Continuity

 * The Selachians also appear in PDA: The Final Sanction, BFA: The Architects of History and CC: The Selachian Gambit.
 * T-Mat equipment is mentioned. (DW: The Seeds of Death)
 * The Doctor, Ben and Polly encountered Venusians, Draconians and Alpha Centaurans at a spaceport bar in an unchronicled adventure preceding this one.
 * In the Doctor's pockets are (amongst other things) a bag of jelly babies and a yo-yo, both used frequently by the Fourth Doctor.
 * UNIT - and mentions of the Doctor in the organisation's files - are mentioned, however the Doctor says he knows nothing of such an organisation (not having heard of it until DW: The Invasion).
 * The Doctor refers to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as an "old friend". In MA: Evolution, the Fourth Doctor suspects they may have met before.
 * The Doctor can feel the space station moving, even though no one else can. This is similar to his ability to feel the movement of the Earth. (DW: Rose)
 * Among the alien menaces the Doctor has fought, Ben mentions the War Machines, (DW: The War Machines) the Daleks, (DW: The Power of the Daleks) and the Cybermen, (DW: The Tenth Planet) and is about to mention more (but is interrupted), implying that additional adventures have taken place since he met the First Doctor (which likely include: ST: Pluto and MA: Invasion of the Cat-People among others).
 * Professor X is mentioned. (NA: 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 got back to the TARDIS. The resulting sonic screwdriver is later seen in PDA: Dreams of Empire (and onscreen in DW: Fury from the Deep), and possibly even earlier - in TN: Wonderland. (What happened to his previous sonic device used in MA: Venusian Lullaby is unknown.)
 * Ben states that in his experience, computers do as they please. (DW: The War Machines)
 * When seeing an outfit found in the TARDIS wardrobe consisting of a colourful patchwork shirt clashing with yellow trowsers, the Doctor thinks to himself that he would never wear such a thing, a notion obviously forgotten by the time his sixth incarnation came around. (DW: The Twin Dilemma)

Timeline

 * The Murder Game occurs after MA: Invasion of the Cat-People.
 * The Murder Game occurs before PDA: Dying in the Sun.