Out of Circulation

Out of Circulation by Miranda James
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book #4 in the Cat in the Stacks series is just as delightful as the first three. This time, librarian Charlie Harris is back in the thick of things when he finds his housekeeper trapped in a dark stairwell with the body of the most loathed woman in town. Since her mother is the primary suspect, Chief Deputy Kanesha Berry is taken off the case, and she asks for Charlie's help in proving her mother's innocence. With his enormous Maine Coon cat, Diesel, by his side, Charlie obliges, enlisting the help of his household to ferret out decades-old secrets and grudges.

For readers' advisors: character doorway is primary, story secondary. Once again the pace is relaxed, with the murder occurring relatively late in the story. It's a cozy mystery, so no sex, bad language, or on-screen violence.

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Classified as Murder

Classified as Murder by Miranda James
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In the second book in the Cat in the Stacks mystery series, librarian Charlie Harris lands in the middle of another murder mystery when he discovers James Delacorte dead at his desk in the middle of his locked home library. Mr. Delacorte had hired Charlie to do a complete inventory of his rare book collection because he suspected one of his relatives had been stealing valuable volumes. Chief Deputy Sheriff Kanesha Berry requests that Charlie complete the inventory as quickly as possible, before anything else goes astray...and while he's at it, to please keep his eyes and ears open and report back his observations to her. This puts Charlie, and his son Sean, who's temporarily moved back in with him and is acting as Charlie's assistant, at the center of the deadly family drama.

What a light, fun read! I did actually guess the murderer fairly early on, but I didn't figure out the mystery of the missing books until the end. For a mystery novel, this was much more a character-driven story about a father and son trying to reconnect after an estrangement that began with the loss of a wife/mother. I really enjoyed that aspect of the book.

For readers' advisors: character doorway, with story as secondary. No sex or onscreen violence. Nor any bad language that I can recall, although occasionally it's implied.

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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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File M for Murder

File M for Murder by Miranda James
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Librarian Charlie Harris is delighted to learn his daughter has returned to Athena, Mississippi, to spend a semester teaching drama at the college, but when her unpleasant ex-boyfriend, playwright Connor Lawton, dies under suspicious circumstances, delight turns to worry. Laura discovers the body and the next day becomes the target in a series of increasingly dangerous attacks.

This is the third installment in the Cat in the Stacks mystery series--named for the large Maine Coon cat, Diesel, Charlie's boon companion. "Miranda" James is actually a pseudonym for Dean James...because men don't typically write cozy mysteries?? Not sure about the reasoning, as I know of men who DO write cozies, but perhaps it helps the marketing.

I just love that the protagonist/sleuth is a librarian and uses library resources to help solve the crime. Hooray for microfilm!

For readers' advisors: story doorway primarily, a couple of mild expletives here and there, a couple of "smirks," and a couple of instances of "sputtered with laughter." A light, fun read.

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The Help

The Help by Kathryn Stockett


My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It took me a while to adjust to reading the written dialect/accent of Aibilene and Minny, but once I got going, I fell in love with this book. The characters felt like real people--even Hilly wasn't a one-dimensional villain. I was never entirely sure where the story would lead, not even when I guessed a bit of someone's secrets here or there. I had a hard time putting the book down at the end of my lunch breaks because I wanted to find out what happened next.

I kept wanting to put everyone in a room and make them TALK to each other and see how artificial and arbitrary their differences were, founded on ignorance and prejudice. (I especially wanted Minny to talk to Miss Celia.) But then, I was born more than a decade after this book took place and in an entirely different part of the country. I have very little personal experience with racial prejudice. Or domestic help, for that matter! :) I don't know how I would have handled the cruelty and shameful miscarriages of justice. Would I have been brave enough to risk my life to challenge the hateful status quo? It's really amazing to me just how far we've come in a generation. To have improved that much gives me hope that we will be able to continue the progress into--and beyond--the next generation.

For Reader's Advisors: story and character doorways, with setting also pretty important.

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