Murder Past Due

Murder Past Due by Miranda James
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars, actually.

Charlie Harris is a part-time college archivist and reference librarian who lives in the house his Aunt Dottie left to him. He takes in boarders to both help with finances and alleviate the loneliness he's lived with since both his wife and his aunt died three years ago. Soon after 18-year-old Justin Wardlaw, Charlie's current boarder, learns his biological father is the famous novelist Godfrey Priest, he argues with both his dad and then his biological dad over plans for his future. However, Justin never imagines he'd return to Godfrey's hotel room to discover his body lying on the floor, and he panics, turning to Charlie for help. Since the acting Chief Sheriff's Deputy is the daughter of Charlie's housekeeper, he promises Azalea he'll do what he can to poke around and help uncover the murderer--interference that is not always welcome nor prudent.

This is book one in a lovely cozy mystery series. I accidentally read book three first, but thankfully it was long enough ago that I had forgotten many of the continuing details of the characters. (I hate reading series books out of order.) The library theme is what first caught my eye: I love books that have librarian heroes and heroines!

For readers' advisors: story and character doorways are primary. The book is set in Athena, Mississippi. All the sex mentioned happened nearly 20 years in the past, and if there is any swearing, I can't recall it right now.

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