Sherlock: Death by Dewey

Books contain secrets and gems of information. Do they also hold value beyond the intellectual; enough to murder for?

On March 27,  three groups of teens set out on a library wide hunt to solve the "murder" of a librarian who was rumored to have discovered clues to a huge treasure hiding in books. The “authorities” told the teens that the murderer (or murderers!)  might work in the library because of the timing of the crime and the theft of the police report. To solve the "crime" our teams of teens raced through the Parkway Central Library following clues including:

“Solving a crime may be a work of art but it takes a certain SCIENCE to do it. Find a book on that science and learn more about this murder.  6__.1 W153P”

“A love of books is a part of the reader's soul. This format can also leave its MARK on the user if they can HEAR it. Keep an ear out for Billie H.!”

Following leads and clues took our teens to several departments including Government Publications; Literature; Music; Business, Science and Industry; and Education, Philosophy and Religion.  As they gathered evidence, interrogated suspects and located the scene of the murder, our teams found a note from the murderer, an autopsy report, a crime scene report and bloody fingerprints and footprints. All three teams did a fantasic job following clues but the Blue Team was the first to put all of the clues and research together to identify the murderer and the murder weapon! (It was Janet with the ceramic mug in the Print and Picture Collection!)

Everyone had a great time using the Dewey Decimal System and research skills to solve the crime -- congratulations to all of our teams (especially and special thanks to Nasir, Crystal, Hope, and Andy of the Blue Team) and a special thank you to our suspects Peter Lehu, Irene Wright, Kay Wisniewski, Linda Wood and our murderer Janet Puchino as well as the departments who held clues for our teams!

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