Mystery At The Library Happening At The North Birmingham Library, October 25—27

Mystery at the Library is a program designed to give fans of the cozy mystery genre a chance to test their detective skills by solving a fictional murder mystery is a real-world setting.

From Tuesday, October 25, to Thursday, October 27, a room at the North Birmingham Regional Branch Library will be turned into a crime scene complete with all of the elements you'd expect to see in a scene from a crime novel.

Join the North Birmingham Library, 2501 31st Ave N, this week to be the protagonist of a mystery novel come to life.  

Mystery at the Library will feature many mystery book tropes, like:

• A festive event gone horribly wrong—in this case, a Halloween-themed scary movie night at the library
• An outline of a body and "blood" splattered furniture and decorations
• A murder weapon
• Numbered plastic markers on the floor, denoting locations of important evidence and potential clues

As the detective on the case, the participants will be tasked with examining the crime scene carefully, then reading through a packet that provides descriptions of the clues and testimony from police interviews of the suspects. All of the information the participants need to solve the crime will be at the crime scene and in the packet. 

Once they've examined the crime scene and read through their packet, participants can select a suspect from the list on the last page of the packet and accuse the suspect of being the murderer. They then put their name and email address on the packet and return it to the Adult Services desk at the North Birmingham Library by 6:00 p.m. on Friday, October 28. 

All participants who submit a packet by October 28 will be given a free gift, courtesy of the Yarn Manglers, a local knitting and crochet group. Participants who successfully identify the murderer will also receive a $20 Walmart gift card.

By Matt Guerdat | Library Assistant Ⅲ, North Birmingham Regional Branch Library