Okay, so I was thinking about this last night and decided that it would be better to add as a reblog rather than add this in the comments.
First of all, for whether or not your friends would enjoy the party, I think that's something to talk about with them before hand. See how much they're willing to listen to you talk about The Count of Monte Cristo. I've found that my family doesn't mind that much, as long as they're not trying to do something else. As long as you make the party fun, they'll probably be okay with doing things they might not normally do, i.e., I've gotten my family to play murder mysteries, and board games, that they wouldn't otherwise play, because it's part of a bigger game or event that they find fun as a whole.
Now, let's get into ideas about the party itself.
For decoration, I'd look towards decoration described in the book. It would probably be unreasonable to decorate to the same level of opulence as the Count, but you could still pull inspiration for some of the smaller things, like the window hangings for the execution, or the hanging red damask of the bedroom.
I already mentioned food in the comments, so I won't repeat that here, and instead move onto possible activities for the party.
For one, you could poison people. Or pretend to, I mean. You could randomly assign the role of poisoner to one of your guests, and have them try to poison all of you, while you try to figure out who's poisoning everyone. As for how you'd go about poisoning someone, I'd suggest some kind of special food or drink. For example, say everyone is drinking plain water, you'd know you've been poisoned if you're suddenly drinking flavored water. Or for food, perhaps you'd know you've been poisoned if you taste something specific, like blueberry or something. Otherwise, your poisoner could covertly stick a note saying "you've been poisoned" on your guests.
Another activity that you could do is to make disguises, inspired by the Count's numerous disguises. You could gather different things, like fake facial hair, wigs, hats, glasses, makeup, etc., and everyone could put together some disguises.
Another possibility is to play charades, this activity is inspired by the telegraph. To make it even more like the telegraph scene, you could perform in a line. The first person performs for the person in front of them. Once they think that they've gotten it, they in turn perform for the person in front of them, until the last person performs, and everyone guesses what they were performing, and the first person tells everyone what it was supposed to be.
And if your guests are willing, you could watch one of the movie adaptations, and they can listen to your commentary and thoughts on the movie. Just a few days ago, the 2024 French movie was on, so I watched the movie with my mom and brother, and I talked about the different things that they changed, and answered any questions that they had about the story. It was quite fun, and I highly recommend that you try this sometime, even if not for the party.
All in all, my advice is to pick things out of the book, and pull inspiration from there, but not too much, since as you said, most of your guests aren't familiar with the book. Although, with each element that you pull inspiration from, I'd explain to everyone how it relates to the book, since in the end, the party is about the book, and your love for it.
If you want any other help or ideas (or to talk about tcomc), feel free to message me, I'm more than willing talk.
I hope that you have lots of fun at the party, since it sounds like it'd be lots of fun, and makes me want to throw a Count of Monte Cristo party.
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