On the evening of Friday 25th July 2008 the 'body' of a young woman was found in Portsmouth Central Library. Luckily, local crime writers Pauline Rowson and June Hampson were on hand to help solve the puzzle in a very successful murder mystery evening organised by Portsmouth Library Service.

Over sixty sleuths were asked to follow a trail of clues scattered around the library to uncover the murderer, and afterwards enjoyed a well deserved glass of Pimms.

‘The body in the library’ was written by Donna Tebb, a professional actress and librarian. She was assisted by Annie Aust from the Community Library Service, along with other staff and volunteers who played their parts beautifully.


The evening began with a short talk by Pauline and June on the effective use of locality in writing crime. Pauline's presentation was rudely interrupted by a scream. The audience ran out to investigate and found the body of a woman lying on the floor. She had been bludgeoned to death with a copy of Tolstoy's "War and peace"!

The audience had already witnessed a row between the victim and another character before the presentations started, so the chase was on! The audience formed teams and scoured the library’s three floors following a trail of clues.

The teams returned later in the evening to have their score sheets checked by library staff and talked to June and Pauline, who were on hand to sign copies of their novels.

The entire evening was great fun and very enjoyable. The winning team, 'Where are all the biscuits?', won a copy of Pauline Rowson's latest Inspector Horton Marine Mystery called 'The Suffocating Sea'. Many congratulations to Sunjai Arif, Liz Haigh and Alison Arif.








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