Murder Mystery Mayhem
/I've toyed with the idea of doing a murder mystery-esque activity for my teens in the library for a while, but wasn't quite sure how to put it all together. After reading lots of blog posts and trolling Pinterest for a not insignificant amount of time, I decided to make the mystery more like a scavenger hunt. I looked at several different examples and tweaked them all to fit my teen group and my library. I started out by telling the teens about the murder, the suspects, the weapons, and the different possible locations. I thought about having my coworkers be the suspects, but decided against it for various reasons (only one of which being I didn't think I could get anyone to lay on the floor next to a pool of fake blood to take a picture).
The victim is Vincent R. Boddy, the library director of Sunny Days, Shady Nights Public Library. He's worked in the library for 20 years. His knowledge of books is encyclopedic and his pension could put a graphic novel in the hands of every teen in the district. While not always the best boss, Vincent did what he could to make the staff like each other. His recent bout with swine flu nearly had him convinced to retire, but someone decided that he should clock out early.
Suspects
- Elise – the library’s cataloger. Shy and reclusive, Elise is frequently found hiding in her cubicle. She is easily startled by loud noises. Elise loves cats so much she knit a sweater from her own cat’s hair.
- James – the computer technician. Known for his bad jokes (and bad breath), James’ only crime to this point has been his fashion faux pas.
- Betty – the library page. Overworked and underpaid, Betty is frequently on a rampage about equal pay for equal work. Betty’s oversized hands, perfect for shelving oversized books, are also perfect for strangulation
- Janet – the children’s librarian. Usually good at smoothing over any staff conflicts, Janet’s recently been heard whispering about retirement and seen looking at vacation timeshares. She might do anything to get out of the library. ANYTHING.
- Will – the reference librarian. Will is the only other male librarian on staff, super fashionable and super lazy. Will’s M.O. is to text through his reference desk shifts and ignore everyone (except for Elise who he kind of has a thing for).
- Edna – Vincent’s wife and library trustee. Edna is the sweetest old lady you’ve ever met (until you have to face her down across the library sale bargain book bin). Are you sure you don’t want to have another one of her cookies?
The Weapons
- Rubber mallet – used frequently by Betty to adjust the book shelves, but equally good for bashing in a brain
- Coffee mug – Not the most effective weapon, but in ample supply around the library, especially around Will’s desk, rimmed with dried cappuccino
- Staple gun – Elise’s favorite tool for hanging up cat pictures, but also a spring loaded instrument of death
- Book cart – a full book cart can hold countless book treasures or old computer parts from James' desk, but with enough speed, more deadly than a locomotive
- Craft scissors – usually in Janet’s area, but mysteriously disappeared before Boddy’s body was found
- Potted plant – One of Edna’s precious plant babies in a heavy clay pot could easily have been pushed off the edge of a bookshelf
Possible Scenes of the Crime
- The Staff Lounge
- The Storytime Room
- The Meeting Room
- The Director’s Office
- In the Stacks
- Study Room C
After this, I divided the teens into teams (there were enough clues for three teams, but we only needed two): boys vs. girls. I gave them each their first clue and told them to get to it.
Logjam at the card catalog!
So each of the clues, aside from the first, had two components - the first was the location part of the clue and the second was a clue to the murder mystery. For example, the first clue said, "When Elise was little, her favorite book was a Dr. Seuss book, but it wasn't Green Eggs and Ham or One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. Her favorite character has a hat and hates fish, especially gold fish." The answer to that clue is where the next one is hidden. So when they found The Cat in the Hat, they found their first murder mystery clue (The weapon is made of metal) and their next location clue ("James's favorite book is by James Patterson. It shares its title with this well-known rhyme: Roses are red, _______ ___ ____, Sugar is sweet, and so are you.")
I was worried that: 1. the kids would hate it and think it was corny 2. it would be too hard 3. it would be too easy 4. I wouldn't be able to finish all of it in time for them. WRONG ON ALL COUNTS! It took just about the right amount of time - 35 minutes. Everyone had to ask for help at least once. They said they had a really good time and the whole thing took me around four hours to work up total. Not bad. The most time consuming aspects were writing the clues and then hiding them properly before the event. Since we did finish with extra time, we spent the rest of our allotted hour playing Mafia (which next to Apples to Apples and snacking is my teens' favorite thing to do).
The link below is a link to the Google Doc with all of my narrative and clues. Obviously, this probably won't work exactly perfect for you unless you happen to have all of the same books we do, a little girl reading statue, and two randomly placed American Flags, but the clues will definitely give you an idea of how I put this all together and you can tweak it to fit your library program.