"Murder" is the tenth episode of the sixth season of the American comedy series The Office and the show's 110th episode overall. It was written by Daniel Chun and directed by Greg Daniels. It originally aired on NBC on November 12, 2009. The episode guest stars Andy Buckley as David Wallace, although he only appears via the phone.

The series—presented as if it were a real documentary—depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In the episode, rumors spread that Dunder Mifflin is in serious financial trouble, so Michael Scott (Steve Carell) tries to distract the office by having everyone play a murder mystery game called Belles, Bourbon, and Bullets. Meanwhile, Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) uses the game as a way to ask out Erin (Ellie Kemper), but fears he may have asked out Erin's character, instead of Erin herself.

"Murder" was the first entry in the series written by Chun. The episode also was the inception of two major story arcs, the first being the season-long arc of Dunder Mifflin going out of business and its purchase by the printer company Sabre in the episode of the same name, and the second being the budding romance between Andy and Erin. The episode scored a 4.2/10 rating share in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic, and was watched by 8.046 million viewers. The episode received largely positive reviews from critics, with many highlighting its purposeful ridiculousness.

The members of the office learn that Dunder Mifflin is in financial trouble. In an attempt to get the worried staff under control, Michael Scott and Jim Halpert call a meeting to provide optimistic viewpoints. On an impulse, Michael pulls out a murder mystery party game called Belles, Bourbon, and Bullets and forces the rest of the staff to play along. It is set in Savannah, Georgia, and everyone has to adopt a Southern accent. Thanks to Pam Halpert, Andy Bernard, and Phyllis Vance, the game becomes a hit, and everyone present starts to play along, except for Oscar Martinez, who tries to get updates on the situation from corporate, and Creed Bratton, who shows up late to work and flees after being told he is a suspect in a murder. Jim, however, believes that the entire exercise is pointless.

Andy decides he needs to make a move on Erin Hannon before the day is out, as he may otherwise never see her again due to the possible impending closure of Dunder Mifflin. While in character, he asks Erin out for a weekend date but becomes unsure if he really asked her out, or her murder mystery character, "Naughty Nelly." He is worried that Erin only agreed because Naughty Nelly is a promiscuous character.

Oscar returns and informs everyone that accounting has been notified to stop payments to vendors. This brings the staff out of the game and back to the reality of losing their jobs. Michael tries to win them back but accidentally skips to the game's conclusion, revealing that Phyllis's character was the murderer. Everyone else goes back to work even more stressed out. Michael refuses to give up and continues playing the game with Dwight Schrute. Andy and Erin meet at the receptionist desk, where Erin asks him about their upcoming date. Andy tries to sound out whether the date is real or fictional by suggesting that they go to Savannah for their date. Erin remarks that Savannah is a long distance away, but does so in character; confused by this, Andy slips up and indicates that the "date" was just part of the game. Erin says she was also just playing but appears humiliated as she walks away and later reveals to the camera crew that she thought the date was real.

Michael tries to introduce another murder and other twists to the story to pull his staff back into the party. This infuriates Jim to his breaking point, and they hold a private talk in Michael's office. Michael snaps at Jim and points out that he is doing this to keep the office calm. CFO David Wallace finally returns the phone calls to Jim and reveals that, while nothing has been officially decided yet, Dunder Mifflin is expected to be insolvent by year-end. Jim hides the news from the staff and nudges them back into the party, realizing that Michael was doing this to help his co-workers cope. Michael, Dwight, Andy, and Pam get into a fake Mexican standoff lasting until 6:00 at night. Jim pulls Pam out so they can go home, and the others pretend to shoot each other to death.

The episode was written by Daniel Chun, and was his first script for the series. The episode also was the inception of two major story arcs, the first being the season-long arc of Dunder Mifflin going out of business and its purchase by the printer company Sabre in the episode of the same name, and the second being the budding romance between Andy and Erin. According to series creator and episode director Greg Daniels, the episode explores the idea that Michael is positively motivated due to his subconscious; although his antics seem nonsensical to many members of the office, in the end, his idea to take his coworkers' minds off of the fiscal trouble proves to be the best choice. This was first explored in the third season episode "Grief Counseling". Chun later explained in a Q&A with The Office fansite OfficeTally that "the episode was partly about Jim realizing that sometimes Michael isn't crazy, he's crazy like a fox" in that sometimes his underlying motives are clever.