The George F. Johnson roses are the talk of the town. Every summer people come from around the state to watch them bloom. On the morning in question the Library Director, Bud Jones, went to check on the status of the newly blooming roses to find them all dug up and missing. Next to that was the dead body of Head Groundskeeper Joey Poppin. The ambulance and police were called. The night before a few staff members and volunteers were at the library getting ready for the rose blooming ceremony, which was being held over the weekend. We have called them all in to get their statements to see if anyone saw anything suspicious before they left. Maybe one of them is even the murderer and thief. Can you help discover the culprit or culprits who stole the George F. Johnson roses and killed Joey Poppin?

New Library Director. Very anxious man who can never look you in the eye when talking to you. Is overwhelmed by the rose ceremony. Wishes he was told about the roses before he was hired. Would have been a deal breaker.

Library Board Member. Wears business suits and acts very superior. Loves to share her opinion about everything. Hates flowers, but loves the attention the roses bring to the library.

Library’s assistant Groundskeeper. Always looks grumpy. Disliked being Joey’s “servant” and having to pick up the slack due to Joey’s laziness for half the pay.

Children’s Librarian. Wears crazy outfits and is very happy and perky, but possessive of her children’s room and what her children’s room needs. The roses take the spot of her planned children’s room expansion. Feels the Children’s department is the real jewel of the library, not the roses.

Adult Librarian. A true hippie with loose fitting clothes and long hair. Will fight for a cause. Loves nature and to garden, so takes pride in the library’s roses. Feels the roses are not getting the attention they deserve.

Volunteer. Wears pins that have to be perfectly placed. Wants everything nice and orderly and wants the library staff to do the same. Loves the library and does everything in the library he is asked, but is told off often for sticking his nose in other people’s business.

Page. Bit of an air head who gets distracted easily.  Is allergic to flowers so stays away from them, hard to do when they are located right outside her workstation. She also has a crush on Tom who vents to her a lot about Joey.

 I never knew how popular roses could be until I started working here. My last library did not prepare me for it and now this murder and the roses gone missing, I am at a loss and totally overwhelmed. The board keeps asking me what I am going to do to salvage this and my staff is fighting with each other. What a mess. I wished those roses would just disappear, but I never imagined it would mean so much paperwork. During the prep I talked to Joey about his negative interaction with the other staff members. He didn’t seem to care and before I could get upset with him I told him to go do his job and help Anna with the roses. I then spent the rest of the evening talking to Marybell and Susie about the expansion to the children’s department and then before I left had to listen to a rant by Anna about how the roses are being abused. I know I’m too young to retire, but I’m counting down the days.

I always knew those roses were more trouble than they were worth. I am sad that I am going to have to cancel all that publicity. Although this murder and stolen roses issue may get people talking so maybe not a complete waste. Gardening and flowers are not my thing, so I do like librarian Susie’s idea to build out the children’s room, the department that really packs them in. As for Joey he was a thorn in our side for years, but anytime I've observed his work he seemed on the ball and ready to assist in anything I needed done. I can’t imagine what his family is going through right now. I know the library staff may say they won’t miss him, but deep down I think they will.

I’m sorry I am not upset that Joey is dead, but I didn’t kill him. If you knew Joey you would want him shot to the moon as well. He never did his job and he always gave other staff a hard time. Rumor has it that he had something on someone higher up, maybe the old director, and that’s why we couldn’t replace him with someone competent, like me. During the prep I was assisting Anna with the roses. She was very distracted and talking to her roses like they were in danger. I saw Joey coming and I decided I would go find something else to help with. It’s never a good idea to have me and Joey in the same space.

Don’t let anyone fool you, it's the children’s department that brings people into the library. Last summer alone we brought in a huge number of kids, teens, and parents into the library with our reading program and activities. And for all that we get this rectangular room that can barely hold the ever growing collection of awesome children's books. So yes I am writing a grant to hopefully expand out the children’s room and yes that would require us taking out the garden, but look how much space we have on the grounds. We could easily move the garden somewhere else. I even put that as part of the grant. Now with no more roses I guess I’ll have more money to spend on puppets!!! I think I got Bud and Marybell on board. As for Anna, well she talks to plants.

They are gone. Those darling roses. I worked so hard to make them the prize of our library, but I and these roses never got the respect we deserved for bringing beauty to the establishment. During the prep I was making sure the roses were comfortable and at their most beautiful. Those imbeciles Joey and Tom never understood how to take care of those roses. To make matters worse, while I was taking care of the roses I saw Director Bud, Board Member Marybell, and Librarian Susie talking in a corner. I would not be surprised if one of them did this to my babies.

I love this library. I hope to go to library school and become a librarian here! I feel this is my library and am really hurt that something happened to our roses. Joey was not good for our library because he made a mess of everything. He was rude and mean to everyone. I remember overhearing the library Director saying he would do anything to get rid of Joey. I wondered why we couldn’t just fire him. During the prep for the ceremony I was organizing the non-fiction section. Cat Dogson was in the stacks too “straightening up” aka staring at Tom in secret.

(Sneeze, Sneeze) Sorry. My allergies are really bothering me this time of year due to those stupid roses.(Sneeze). Truth be told, during the prep I was hiding in the non-fiction section. I was watching Tom. We are in love. But sadly all I saw was noisy Keith in the 600’s. It’s horrible what happened to Joey, but I say good riddance. My Tommy had nothing good to say about him and he really held Tom back from meeting his full potential to someday be head groundskeeper. Maybe now with Joey gone my sweetheart can shine (Sneeze, Sneeze).

Thank You Library Detectives for coming in and assisting with this case. I think after this report we will have everything we need to find the culprit or culprits who murdered Joey Poppin and stole the George F. Johnson Library roses. Below is the autopsy report which just came across my desk, as well as the full newspaper article that matches the torn issue found at the crime scene. Oh and I almost forgot. The police department got this anonymous note that may prove useful. I’ll include that too. Once you know who committed the crimes, submit your report to me by August 20th.  I will let you know on August 23rd what we discovered really happened and which one of you was the closest to getting it right.

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