SANTA CRUZ >> From July 18 to 20, a performance benefit for the Garfield Park Library will take a deadly turn, sending all involved on a chase to determine who was responsible.

This is the premise of “Murder in the Library: Final Checkout,” and while the slayings will thankfully be limited to the play’s storyline, it really will be a benefit for the Garfield Park Library, specifically its literacy programs. If that is something you want to support, the library has the case for you.

The play was envisioned by writer Kathy Perrin when she was living in the town of Battle Ground, Washington. She was involved with the local library, and the library friends group decided to do a fundraiser to build a new library.

“I got the idea of writing a play,” she said. “We got a small group of people: the mayor and the owner of the local newspaper and one of the Chamber of Commerce people and a drama teacher from the local high school. People were crazy to have a new library, so we had a lot of volunteers, and it went off beautifully.”

“Murder in the Library” was the first play Perrin had ever written, although she has been writing since before she even knew how to write her own name.

“My older sister used to write my stories down for me,” she said.

Perrin wrote the young adult fantasy novel “Starwinger Prophecy” under the name Paula K. Perrin, and it was made available in Kindle format. Since “Murder in the Library,” she has written six additional plays, all as fundraisers, and another novel called “Small Town Deadly.”

Since moving to Santa Cruz, Perrin has been involved with the Friends of the Garfield Park Library, founded by Elbina Rafizadeh. The group has done a few benefits for the library on Santa Cruz’s Westside, including an annual book sale, but as a way to raise money for the branch’s literacy programs, Perrin brought up the idea of turning her old play into a fundraiser, which was enthusiastically received.

To direct the play, the group tapped Simon Hayward who has helmed plays for Mountain Community Theater in Ben Lomond, including last year’s production of Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple,” featuring male and female leads, and this year’s “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.”

“Earlier this year, they were basically looking for a director to take it on, and I volunteered to do it,” he said.

Hayward went to the University of Oxford with the intention of going into theater, but he ended up getting married, which put his theatrical pursuits on hold until he retired.

“I picked it up again over the last few years,” he said.

Hayward described the storyline of “Murder in the Library” as a group of people putting on a variety show to raise money for their local library when one of the characters is discovered dead at the end of the first scene. He likes the whodunnit nature of the premise.

“You go from nobody being a potential murderer to everybody being a potential murderer and trying to figure out, well OK, who actually was it and why?” he said.

Hayward said the play has a few tweaks from the version Perrin wrote in Washington, including localized references to Santa Cruz, and every character has complex backgrounds.

“You’ve got this bunch of characters that you come to understand have a much more complicated backstory than you would have ever guessed,” he said.

Perrin has enjoyed watching her play come to life.

“Seeing people get up and say your lines, it’s so amazing,” she said. “Simon is great. He knows exactly what he’s doing, and he’s so professional about the whole thing. We were so lucky to get him to work with us.”Moreover, Perrin said the actors vary in age and experience but are very energized about the production.

“They’re a really friendly bunch, and I think they’re having a lot of fun acting it out,” she said.

The play will be performed at the Downtown Santa Cruz Library, Satori Arts and Cabrillo College. For all shows, the suggested donation is $25, but audiences can pay what they want. Proceeds will go toward the Garfield Park Library’s literacy programs, including the Summer Reading Program, Preschool Storytime, Tales to Tails, Conversations in Español, R.E.A.D.: Read Every Amazing Detail and more.

Even amid the murder mystery and puzzle-solving elements, Hayward said the show is a commemoration of the importance of libraries.

“In this community in particular, I think libraries are recognized as being quite an important community asset,” he said. “A number of people we’ve got involved in the cast have specifically said they were happy to do this because it’s for the library. They regard it as a worthwhile cause, so I think that goes not only for the audience but also for the participants.”

Perrin hopes the play will inspire more people to become involved with their local libraries and “recognize how important to our civilization and our country it is to have free libraries.”

“Murder in the Library” will be performed July 18 in the Community Room of the Downtown Santa Cruz Library, 224 Church St., Santa Cruz; July 19 at Satori Arts, 815 Almar Ave., Santa Cruz; and July 20 in Room 322 at Cabrillo College, 6500 Soquel Drive, Aptos. The library and Satori Arts shows begin at 7 p.m., and the Cabrillo College show begins at 2. For more information and to purchase tickets, go to GarfieldParkLibraryFriends.com.