On November 20, the Highly Suspect team came to Whitehaven Library for a night of "fun, frivolities and fatalities."

Cumbria’s premiere murder mystery event company, based in Carlisle, is currently on a tour of libraries inside and outside the county in order to stage their latest production, The Art of the Thrill.

This is the third time that the group has performed at Whitehaven after Et Tu Shakespeare in 2016 and An Austentatious Murder in 2017.

The unexpected collaboration of staging murder mystery events in a library setting came about through Helen Towers, of Carlisle Library, who had seen one of the Highly Suspect mysteries elsewhere and put them in touch with the National Time To Read campaign, which is about bringing new and unusual events to libraries.

Director, Lexie Ward, said: "The first year the theme was Shakespeare, and we created a bespoke mystery around the discovery of a lost Shakespearean manuscript which toured to 14 libraries across the North of England. Last year we created An Austentatious Murder based around the idea of a dating app that is based on the works of Jane Austen, and this year’s theme has been about thriller novels, and so The Art of the Thrill was created!"

The room was packed with eager sleuths, ready to scrutinise the evidence, collect the clues and attempt to identify what had happened to four unfortunate victims.

Lexi added: "The sleuths at Whitehaven library are always a joy to perform to - they have a reputation for giving some of the most out of the box solutions we could never conceive of when planning! We are thrilled that the company has gone from strength to strength over the last five years, with the addition this year of an original theatre arm to the company now, and we have some really exciting plans for 2019 in the pipeline!

Michael Spencer (Cliff Hanger), Seb Coombe (Paul Otwist), Rebekah Holly Neilson (Paige Turner) and Chloe Sturrock (Maud Erspree) are the professional actors and actresses that, combined with witty scripts and a well structured plot, ensure that the audience receives a polished and enjoyable performance.

The unique night is highly interactive and entertaining and features four eccentric characters that could all be possible suspects.

One by one the fate of four victims is revealed and through a cleverly crafted information pack, acting and discussions the audience are gently nudged in the right direction in order to formulate theories and choose the culprit.

The group performed at the Edinburgh Fringe festival for the first time earlier this year, Lexi said: "We were thrilled at the response with several sell out shows and really positive audience feedback - we’re already planning our 2019 return!"

There are still dates available for The Art of The Thrill at Barrow and Kendal, but for other mysteries check the Highly Suspect website on www.highlysuspect.co.uk for full details.