Saturday, January 27, 2018

Classified as Murder (A Cat in the Stacks Mystery #2)

Author:  Miranda James
Genre:  Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; MP3 CD; Digital Book; Audiobook
9780425241578
Berkley Publishing
304 Pages
&7.99; $9.99; $7.99 Amazon
May 3, 2011

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Suspecting that someone is stealing from him, the aging and eccentric James Delacorte wants Charlie to do an inventory on his rare book collection.  Soon after they begin, Delacorte is found dead at his desk, leaving Charlie with the bigger task of solving his murder.

Immediately Charlie is suspicious of Delacorte's own family, and relies on the help of Diesel to paw around for clues.  The cat and mouse game heats up after a highly valued copy of Edgar Allan Poe's Tamerlane goes missing and a second murder occurs.  Now Charlie and Diesel must solve the case before the killer strikes a third time - and hope curiosity doesn't kill the cat...

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Librarian Charlie Harris lives and works in small town Athena, Mississippi.  One day he's approached by James Delacorte - a wealthy resident - and he asks Charlie if he will inventory his rare book collection.  But he has an ulterior motive - it seems he believes one of his family members is stealing from the collection book by book.  And since those same members live in the Delacorte house, he knows it has to be one of them.  Charlie is offered a generous salary to do so, is allowed to take his Maine Coon Diesel with him; besides, he finds it tempting to see the collection, so he accepts.

But then Charlie's son Sean arrives, along with his poodle Dante - he hasn't seen him since Christmas, and he asks out of the blue if he can stay with Charlie for awhile.  He agrees of course, but doesn't want to press him as to why he left his job at a law firm in Houston and decided to move to Mississippi.  Things between them seem slightly tense, but after Charlie has tea with the decidedly strange Delacorte family, Sean isn't sure Charlie should take the job.

The next day Charlie begins his task with Mr. Delacorte at his desk in the same room, and everything  seems fine.  Then Charlie goes home for lunch, and when he returns, he finds James slumped over his desk, his tongue swollen and his face splotchy.  He immediately calls the police and waits outside the room.  When Detective Kanesha Berry arrives, she's a little surprised to find Charlie there because they have an uncomfortable history - her mother is Charlie's housekeeper - but she respects him and he her.  After everything is said and done, and Charlie tells her what he was tasked to do, she allows him to stay - under the condition that he observes only - and reports back to her anything he finds out.

But then another bombshell is dropped - Delacorte's attorney tells Charlie he's co-executor of the will, is to continue his inventory, and when all is done, it will become property of Athena's library, along with the funds to keep it in order.  After hearing of the murder, Sean decides Charlie isn't going back without him (or Dante).  Charlie agrees, and everything somewhat returns to a semblance of order.

But all is not well in the Delacorte household.  No one seemed pleased by the terms of James's will, and at least one person wants Charlie to stop what he's doing, according to the late night anonymous telephone call he receives.  But Charlie keeps going, at least until another murder occurs, and Charlie realizes that there's more at stake than just rare books...

I will say that this book was much better than the first in the series.  While we still get Charlie's daily routine, it's not so much that he's telling us every single action he does (as in the first book).  With his son in the picture, it gives a little more insight into why Charlie seemed so dull and lifeless in the first book, and I am hoping that things will progress even more in the third.

The mystery itself was very well done, and a sort of funny twist on a quintessential solution to mysteries.  I really enjoyed the way it was handled, and thought it was incorporated into the story nicely.  I liked several of the characters in this book, and also the fact that Detective Berry is less abrasive in this book and looks like she might be on her way to becoming a friend to Charlie (I certainly hope so). 

In the end, it was a fun read and I will read the next in the series.  Recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Classified-Murder-Cat-Stacks-Mystery/dp/0425241572/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2274636190

More on Miranda James's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/j/miranda-james/

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