That Night in the Library

"Once you enter the library, there's no turning back." —Elle Cosimano, New York Times bestselling author of the Finlay Donovan mysteries

From critically acclaimed librarian and author Eva Jurczyk comes That Night in the Library, a chilling literary mystery that transports readers to a world where secrets live in the dark, books breathe fears to life, and the only way out is to wait until morning.

On the night before graduation, seven students gather in the basement of their university's rare books library. They're not allowed in the library after closing time, but it's the perfect place for the ritual they want to perform—one borrowed from the Greeks, said to free those who take part in it from the fear of death. And what better time to seek the wisdom of ancient gods than in the hours before they'll scatter in different directions to start their real lives?

But just a few minutes into their celebration, the lights go out—and one of them drops dead. As the body count rises, with nothing but the books to protect them, the group must figure out how to survive the night while trapped with a murderer.

One night locked in the library. What could go wrong?

This discussion guide was shared and sponsored in partnership with Sourcebooks.

Book club questions for That Night in the Library by Eva Jurczyk

Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.

If you were invited to Davey’s ritual, how would you have responded? What might have motivated you to participate?

Why does Davey find Mary’s outward silliness and interest in attention “distasteful”? Why do we see seriousness as a necessary attribute for intellectual rigor?

The Eleusinian Mysteries ritual is meant to banish fear from its participants. What would you do if you had no fear? What might some of the unintended consequences be?

How does the dynamic of the group change when they realize Kip was poisoned? If they hadn’t been fasting for the ritual, would that detail have sown so much chaos?

Persuasion becomes the most dangerous weapon in the story. Which character do you think is the most persuasive? What happens when the person who’s most persuasive is different from the person who’s most right?

At the end of the book Davey assures himself repeatedly that he didn’t kill anyone. As Faye points out, he continuously forgets Mary, but do you hold him responsible for any of the other deaths?

In the world of the book, the revelation of Kip’s death by arsenic absolves the other characters of guilt. In the real world, how do you think the story of his death would be reported, and what would its fallout be considering that it involved both re-creating a viral meme and licking an extremely rare book?

That Night in the Library Book Club Questions PDF

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