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It was a dark and stormy night at the Damascus Library, and Carol Cushing was looking askance at a cup of mulled cider.

"I hope it's not poisoned 'cause we'll be the first victims if it is," Cushing said cheerfully to her companions, fellow detectives for the night at an interactive mystery hosted Friday by the Library Advisory Committee and Friends of the Library.

The mystery started in a tableau familiar to who-dunit fans, as one character rose from the back of the room to accuse another of crime. Afterwards, the guests milled through the library stacks speaking to characters and pondering props intended to provide clues to the mystery.

Each detective was expected to finish the night with a perpetrator, a crime and a motive to turn in for a possible prize.

"We were just hoping to come out and have a fun evening," Barry Baube of Damascus said as he sampled hors d'oeuvres before the program began.

"And to make some new friends and support the library," added his mystery-loving wife, Cindy.

The mystery for the night, which featured a librarian, a new, possibly plagiarizing author, and a mute among its seven characters, was written by Nancy Lacy, who has written interactive mysteries for 20 years. The actors for the night initially mingled in character with the guests.

"You try to create a real reality," Lacy said. "You have to have all this background [for each character] because people do ask the questions."

As the evening progressed, each guest had his own strategy for the game.

"I'm good at watching mysteries, but I'm not good at asking questions," Cindy Baube noted, hanging back from "librarian" Sharon Rea.

"What would Monk do?" asked her husband, referring to USA-TV Network's neurotic freelance detective Adrian Monk.

Phyllis Kubala of Mount Airy was determined to solve the mystery.

"It was very confusing at first, just hearing bits and pieces, but I think I got it right," she said as she turned in her guesses.

Her only other experience with sleuthing had been on a mystery train ride in Walkersville.

"That one I got totally wrong," she laughed.

At one point Kubala rummaged an actor's purse mistakenly left on a library shelf.

"I thought it was part of it until I saw the car keys," she said.

Cushing was confident she could solve the mystery.

"We have poisons, we have motive — I just need Shakespeare," she said as she followed up a clue in the reference section.

About 55 people attended the sold-out event, meant to augment adult activities at the library since funding has been cut for such programs. Committee member Kathleen Wiacek said the group hoped to host about three events a year.

Library manager Karen Miller appreciated the effort by both the committee and the patrons to support adult programming. Volunteers will be hosting craft and gardening classes in coming weeks, Miller said, helping to fill the gap left by funding cuts.

"I think these things are good to have — especially in a smaller community," said Kristi Eberle of Damascus, who attended with her sons, Ben, 13, and Owen, 11. "We're big library hounds."

Even after guesses were submitted, the amateur detectives continued to discuss the finer points of the mystery as they waited for Lacy to announce the winner.

"I'm surprised he got into it that much," said Kathy Miller of Damascus, gesturing to where husband, Bill, was debating with a friend. "I'm tickled pink ... It was something fun to do on a rainy Friday night."

About eight of the guests figured out the right answers, Lacy said.

The consolation prize for the most creative wrong answer went to children's librarian Amy Alapati, whose Pink Panther outfit made her one of the few guests who came in costume. The prize for the most complete solving of the mystery went to Les Cannon of Damascus.

Cannon had a simple explanation for his win: "It was the only thing I could come up with."