File M for Murder by Miranda James - Perfect for a Whodunit Weekend! Celebrate Big Cats, Especially Maine Coons!

 Charlie Harris in
 Athena, Mississippi takes Diesel, his rescued Maine coon everywhere. Since he's a loving cat, but does not participate in the mystery solving, I thought readers could get to know about him...

He's big and most people take a second glance to ensure it's a cat! But when I went hunting for pictures, there were others out there on the internet who thought they could compete in size! So while I tell you about the great mystery I recommend you get for the weekend, I'll be adding pics of the competitors...I'm not sure what breed some of these are--these on the leashes are examples of what I thought Coons normally looked like...Maybe some cat experts will add some comments to help???!!!

If I have a favorite, I might be a little partial to this one who reminds me of a friend, Tracey, who I lost after I moved here to the cabin... but she was never this size! Wow!

File M for Murder:

 A Cat in the Stacks Mystery

This is April, 2013 edition - Check for Latest!!!                                                                       By Miranda James

I've become quite a fan of this series for two reasons... I had great respect for Robert Munn and Ruth Jackson, the last two deans of Libraries with whom I worked at West Virginia University... And because Charlie Harris reminds me of Qwill who was the main character and mystery solver in the long-running series, The Cat Who, by Lilian Braun, which I'd collected. Qwill would read to his two siamese and Koko would assist him through often knocking books on the floor which would then give the right clue to Qwill... Silly? Maybe, but I loved all of those books!

"She sounds like a stalker to me," I said
My daughter put her arm around my waist. "Come
on now, Dad, don't start worrying. I promise you
Damitra is harmless. To me, anyway. Connor's
the one who should be looking over his shoulder.
She follows him everywhere."
"Has she ever done anything physically aggressive
toward you?" I wasn't ready to drop the matter.
"No, she hasn't. Just stupid little tricks like this."
~~~

And this series? I must say they are more mystery than cozy...that is, in my opinion, James presents a better whodunit to solve, while Braun's were more cozy and character driven...But with cat characters, I don't care which--I want to read them! LOL

Charlie received a wonderful surprise when he went home one day to find his daughter was there. She was an actress and had been working away for a number of years. Now, Laura was taking a temporary position until Christmas, filling in for a professor while she had her baby. She would have a few courses and also help with the fall production of the Theater Department.

But it seemed she may have brought trouble with her...

The man who had arranged for her job was Connor Lawton, who was a writer-in-residence and also a native son...and he was also almost Charlie Harris' son-in-law! Thankfully he didn't know it earlier, but now he was almost in information overload as things started happening... Then other close calls came!

Like a young woman who claimed she was now involved with Connor started sending "warning" messages to Laura.

Soooo, of course Connor is murdered!

"C'mon, Rowf, wanna ask you 'bout sump'n."
She swayed toward him and Johnston
grimaced. "When's Connor gonna get here?
Said he would be here. But he's not here."
"How the heck should I know when he's going
to turn up, Magda. You know what he's like.
Why don't you go upstairs and lie down. I think
you could use a rest." He tried to pry her fingers
from his arm without success...
"Who is she?" Laura asked as we headed for
the door.
"I think she's his wife, or maybe his ex-wife,
I said. "I heard something about them not
long ago through the campus grapevine,
but I can't remember precisely what it was."
Privately I wondered why she was so
interested in Connor...
~~~

It was Charlie who found Connor's body

or at least he thought he had...but it was

merely a prank during practice for the

play and Laura was upset with how 

Connor was acting. An argument started

and was loud enough that Ralph Johnson

came to find out what was happening.

Johnson even threatened to take over!

Laura coaxed her father into attending the welcome for the Department, where Ralph "Montana" held court as head. He was not a favorite for Charlie--in fact, he also was not impressed with Connor and could not believe that Laura could have been considering marriage to him!

So he was pleased when Laura met a nice young man there and left with him... Which allowed Charlie to listen in--and he really heard an important clue, even though he didn't know it... and of course I'm not going to tell you...LOL

"Sorry, you seem so familiar, but I'm afraid I can't remember
your name. How are you connected with the Theatre
Department?"
She laughed. "You're Charlie Harris, and I used to babysit
you when you were five or six years old." She cocked her head
like an inquisitive parrot. "I heard you'd moved back home."
I wracked my brain as I examined her face. Then a name
popped into my head. "Sarabeth. Now I remember. You used
to sing to me, didn't you?"
"That's right. I'm Sarabeth Conley. I was Sarabeth Norris
back then." She Chuckled. "Your two favorite songs were
'My Favorite Things' and 'Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo' as I recall...

"Your daughter is causing a stir...

"I read her resume." Sarabeth nodded. All her theater work

is great for our program, and her exposure on television if

advantageous, too. We're delighted to have her for the

semester."

"I am, too." I laughed. "But it was quite a surprise. I didn't find out about it until yesterday...

How well does she know Connor Lawton?"

I was taken aback by the question. For a moment I thought she'd read my mind. "They're friends," I said in a cautious tone...

Sarabeth cocked an eyebrow. "Judging from his behavior,

Connor wants to be more than friends. He acted downright

jealous."                                                                                          ~~~

I love the cop in this series. She is the daughter of Azalea who works for Charlie--actually she had worked in the home long before Charlie had inherited it. So, since Charlie gets involved with a murder or two every once in awhile, it creates a difficult situation...but only for Kanesha... Actually, she's beginning to soften up and reveal a sly sense of humor... Cool!

 

 

 Miranda James is a pseudonym for Dean James, the Agatha Award-winning author of several works of mystery nonfiction as well as four mystery series including the New York Times bestselling Cat in the Stacks series.

Now you know I'm going to say I loved File M for Murder! But I just had to get the remaining pics I had found...LOL Plus the adding this closing comment that probably is quite true to give you a final smile! Have a fun, catty weekend! 

GABixlerReviews

Related articles

• The Silence of the Library
• Review: Murder Past Due (Cat in the Stacks Mystery #1) by Miranda James
• Diesel - the Cat in the Stacks
• Review: Out of Circulation

Not Just Another Review: Guests Charlie Harris and Diesel!

Look-alike Diesel According to Fan on Dean James FBPage...

"When Godfrey showed up in my office three days ago,
he told me he wanted to donate his papers to the college
archive," I said. "What I didn't know at the time was that
he had already made arrangements to ship his papers here.
They arrived the day after his death."
"And you waited two days to tell me about this?" The
intensity of Kanesha's glare sharpened."
"Yes, I did," I said. "Godfrey's papers basically belong to
the college now. In a letter that came with the papers
Godfrey pretty much assigns ownership to the college."
"That may be," Kanesha said. "But that doesn't mean
you can suppress information that could be relevant to
this case. I have a good mind to charge you with
interfering with an official investigation..."

Murder Past Due: 

A Cat in the Stacks 
 Mystery

By Miranda James


I found this debut, second printing, book on my TBR shelf and decided I needed something light and fun to read after the various complex novels that I'd recently read. Besides, my favorite-sized book has always been the paperback so I literally took this  with me for a cozy mystery in my cozy, warm bed...

First I had to stop and remember two former associates from my campus career--Robert Munn and Ruth Jackson who are two former Deans of Libraries on the WVU campus with whom I had the privilege to work. Why? Because, of course, the main character in this new series is a librarian, retired now, but like me, still involved, especially with books--in Athena, Mississippi--Charlie Harris...

Source: reneefrench.blogspot.com via shun on Pinterest

"Mmmmmmmmm?"

"Oh, Hi Diesel! " Thanks for stopping by..."

"Mmmmmmmmmmmm?!!!

"Well, yeah, Diesel, I would have liked to have you do this review, but...you don't talk, and you didn't really participate in solving the mystery... I know you played an important part, especially with Justin...but how are you going to tell my readers about the story?"

"Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!"

"Charlie's with you? So, he'll be my guest today? Well, Okay...Charlie Harris, Welcome to Book Reader's Heaven! I hope you don't mind that I took the time to give a shout out for two head librarians from the campus where I worked for nearly 40 years!"

"Well, thank you for having us--and I'm so happy to hear you are friends with both cats and librarians. It is always wonderful to make new friends. But, really, I shouldn't be the one who's telling this story since I made some bad decisions along the way that made the police investigation more difficult. My only defense is that I'm new at this amateur detective business... But, as you know, I had been asked by a number of people to be involved!

Godfrey Priest was the first one when he barged in on me without an appointment, even knowing that I could never stand the man! Anyway, since I was the Archivist for the campus and he wanted to donate his papers, I had to talk to him. Ok, he is an author, but not exactly one that would greatly add stature to our collection. Even though he had come from the town and gone to college here. But I did manage to negotiate an accompanying endowment so I was thankful that I had acted professionally.

Still, when he switched gears and told me, I imagine, why he was really here, I was floored. Not only because he was admitting something so personal to me, but that Justin, the boy he identified, was rooming with me since he'd started classes and I had come to care about him as well as feeling some responsibility for him as he lived under my roof!

In fact, it was my concern about Justin that had led to my going out trying to find him and discovered him just sitting along a street, looking quite dazed. That, as you know now, led me to be the one who actually found Godfrey Priest in his room--quite dead--and called the police!

How was I to know that Kanesha would be heading the case as the newly appointed Acting Chief Deputy Sheriff?! Having her as lead was a major reason I even got involved, although I couldn't tell her that! You see, Kanesha 's mother, Azalea, is my part-time housekeeper. I was privileged to inherit my present home from a loving aunt and Azalea had made it quite clear to me and to her daughter that she would continue keeping up this beautiful house. Which I was quite grateful for naturally. But, now Kanesha was in a temporary position and it was a murder--the first the town had for many years! So, Azalea had asked that I try to help in the case, but, of course, without her daughter knowing she had asked! What's a man to do...

Now, Godfrey had never been well-liked in town, except for the ladies--he would turn on the charm and...well, I won't go into just how many town-girls had been involved in flings with him. All of whom had to be considered as "persons of interest..." Then I was shocked that even my boss had been involved in the past with Godfrey when a former wife had divorced him to marry Godfrey!

But then Godfrey's papers were delivered and I realized that they had been shipped long before he and I talked--Just like him to think that we would naturally be thrilled to receive his thrillers--oh, well, I like that turn of phrase--thrilled to receive his thrillers!

In any event, I really started investigating into what I now had in my possession and started finding, well, clues, of course. And what a cozy little complex set of secrets started to appear. Fun tracking everything down!

Well, Charlie, I have to say that I had the first of those secrets figured out right at the beginning of the book but I really did not guess who murdered Godfrey, so Miranda James fooled me in Murder Past Due which was a perfect title for the book--and for Godfrey Priest! LOL

Charlie, I have two confessions: I was sorry that Diesel didn't participate in solving the mystery, even though he makes a wonderful cat character I loved and, second, I've so enjoyed having you tell the story from your perspective and I'm going to be one of your thousands of fans! Can't wait to catch up with this series! And, readers--well, you know who you are! If you've missed this new cat in the stacks mystery series like I had, it's highly recommended!


GABixlerReviews

Miranda James is the pseudonym of Dean James, a seventh-generation Mississippian long transplanted to Texas. A mystery fan since the age of ten, he wrote his first novel at the ripe old age of twelve. The only copy of The Mystery of the Willow Key vanished years ago, but since it was highly derivative of the Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden mystery series, that’s probably a good thing.

Currently a librarian in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Dean has published articles on topics in library science, the history of science/medicine, and mystery fiction. His first book, which he co-wrote with fellow librarian Jean Swanson, was By a Woman’s Hand(Berkley; 1994). Jean and Dean won an Agatha Award for Best Mystery Non-Fiction and were nominated by the Mystery Writers of America for the Edgar for Best Critical-Biographical work for this popular reference book. A second edition followed two years later, and Dean and Jean collaborated on two further projects, Killer Books(Berkley; 1998) and The Dick Francis Companion (Berkley; 2003). In all he has co-authored or co-edited six works of mystery reference and one short story anthology.

His first novel, Cruel as the Grave (Silver Dagger Mysteries) was published in 2000. Since then he has published seventeen more novels, writing under his own name and the pseudonyms Jimmie Ruth Evans and Honor Hartman. In August 2010 he launched a new series writing as Miranda James. The first book under this name, Murder Past Due (Berkley Prime Crime; $7.99) spent four weeks on the extended New York Times bestseller list for mass market paperbacks. The second book in the series, Classified as Murder, published in May 2011, also hit the NYT list. The third book, File M for Murder is out now. The fourth book in the series will be out in January 2013.

Dean lives with one elderly cat, thousands of books, and thinks frequently about killing people – but only in the pages of fiction.

Sorry, Dean/Miranda, Cats always get top billing when visiting. Like/Find Diesel on Facebook!