BATH — Thursday night, there will be murder on the mind in Bath.

“Murder Mystery” night at the Bath Community Library is part of the library’s summer reading program, and a way to engage children in a game that tests their observation and problem solving skills.

“Anytime you can turn something into a game, kids seem to be much more receptive to your project,” said Phoebe Wahab, Bath Community Library clerk.

Backing up the summer reading program is a $1,500 grant from the Dollar General Foundation, which Wahab has used to purchase nonfiction graphic novels that revolve around STEM areas of study, a focus of the program’s theme “Build a Better World.”

“Kids have an affinity for graphic novels. They seem to gravitate toward them,” Wahab said.

While many deal with STEM subjects such as electricity, Wahab also stumbled across a subset of the genre that deals with forensic science. This led to her the idea of “Murder Mystery,” a game fashioned after the board game “Clue” and a test for deductive reasoning.

During the game, children will be divided up into teams to look for clues hidden within books and locate the fictional crime scene’s evidence, which will be sealed in plastic bags — a nod to authenticity, Wahab said. Along the way, they’ll be navigating the library through its signage and the Dewey Decimal System.

“The game of Clue is essentially a process of elimination. … At the end of the game, they should just have one suspect showing, one weapon showing,” Wahab said. “What I’m hoping is that I’ll get kids that are actually ready for that type of challenge.”

Wahab said “Murder Mystery” night at the library is really part of a larger effort to prevent “summer setback,” when children’s reading skills deteriorate over summer break simply because they’re not reading. Students often have to work hard to catch up once school starts again, she said.

“The subject matter is not necessarily important. It’s not that they have to read history. They just have to read,” Wahab said. “That’s our goal, is to get them in the library and get them reading.”

“Murder Mystery” at Bath Community Library is free to all children ages 8 to 13. Participants do not have to be a part of the summer reading program, nor Bath Community Library patrons, Wahab said. The game starts at 6 p.m., afterhours at the library.

Bath Community Library is located at 102 S. Harding St. For more information, call 252-923-6371.