Photo by Wendy Rancier

Teens had the opportunity to solve a mystery on Friday, July 24 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the HQ/419 Library. Exactly 20 teenagers signed up for the Teen Mystery Night hosted by the library.

The theme for the night was a homecoming theme and pizza was served for dinner.

“The way it works is kind of like the game Clue,” David Wilson, the young adult divisional librarian at the Roanoke County Public Library said.

Each teenager received two envelopes to learn about their characters, which were to be acted out by their peers. They were then given time to mingle and talk with each other and then were given the second envelope. The envelope revealed certain information they were to reveal to others in order to begin to solve the mystery. They were also given objective sheets to ask member of the party questions. The teenagers involved were then able to write down their choice of who committed the murder and finally one of the teen’s characters revealed the situation and who was murdered.

This is not the first time that the library has held the Mystery Night. They hold one for adults during the year where the staff acts out the characters and the participants try to solve the murder. They’ve done one for the teenagers too dealing with Harry Potter, Wilson said.

Awards were given for categories such as best dressed and best actors.

“I really just hope they have fun with it and it helps them have a further interest in the library and mystery books,” Wilson said.

Those who participated were required to sign up ahead of time because they needed 20 people to act out all the parts.

The library purchased pizzas and the mystery kit, but the event was free to the teenagers.