Date published:
January
29, 2013
ISBN: 978-0425257272Genre: cozy mystery
Book format: Paperback
Obtained via: Publisher
Reviewed by name and email address: Gina Ginalrmreviews@gmail.com
The holidays are approaching and librarian Charlie Harris is
pleased that his two children, Sean and Laura are with him and all is well.
Adding to his household are still his boarders, college student Justin and
instructor, Stuart Delacorte along with pets Diesel and Dante. Charlie’s relationship
with long time friend, Helen Louise, is moving along. They are seeing more of
each other and their relationship is blooming as is Sean’s with lawyer
Alexandra Pendergast and Laura’s with theatre instructor, Frank. Charlie has
also taken on some new responsibilities by joining the Friends of the Library
and is participating in their upcoming fundraising gala.
But the Friends aren’t all quite friends. Upstart diva Vera
Cassity is once again vying to have the gala at her house while the Ducote
sisters, An’gel and Dickce, are determined to one again hold it at theirs.
After all, the Ducote family and it’s mansion date back to the original
founding of Athena whereas Vera’s family is new money. When a vote is taken the
Ducotes once again win as the venue for the gala. So sure of themselves they
already sent out the invitations before the meeting that night at Charlie’s.
Vera isn’t about to give up so easily—she first approaches
Charlie as keeper of the rare books and papers of the library and asks to see the
Ducote family papers. When Charlie refuses she takes a different tack and
threatens Charlie’s lady, Helen Louise. Make no mistake though, Helen Louise
can hold her own. Vera seems to lay low as the night of the gala approaches,
the theme for this year which is dressing up as your favourite character.
Charlie and his clan go as their favourite detectives but Vera appears as
Scarlett O’Hara—a rather elderly Scarlett. During the course of the gala the
Ducote sisters present quite an award to Vera—but is it an award she would
truly like to have? Before anyone can find out Vera turns up dead with one of
the last people you would expect standing over the body. Is Vera’s death an
accident or did one of the characters do her in?
I have totally enjoyed Miranda James’s Cat in the Stack’s
mystery series and OUT OF CIRCULATION has
to be the best one yet. The first three books in the series, MURDER OVER DUE, CLASSIFIED AS MURDER and FILE
M FOR MURDER, gradually add the characters and their romantic partners in
each story. It is a nicely done progression so the reader isn’t overwhelmed meeting
too many people all at one time. In OUT
OF CIRCULATION we meet a few more characters such as Azalea’s sister Lily
and the relationships between the principals grow and develop at a believable
pace. Charlie’s moving along and out of his widowhood is well done as well.
Of course the real hero and main character of the series is
Charlie’s Maine Coon cat, Diesel. Miranda James so completely captures the
nuances of a cat’s personality you feel like Diesel has become part of your
life as well.
The mysteries, especially in this one, keep you guessing until
the very end. There’s a good reason why each of the suspects could be the one.
Even when you don’t want that particular character to be guilty there’s a good
chance he or she could be the culprit. And the twists in what the witnesses see
are complete surprises.
Each book is a standalone and you do not need to read the earlier
ones to delve into any particular book. This is due in part to how well Miranda
James tells the reader the backstory behind each particular character. That
said, you don’t want to miss any of them. Even if you aren’t a cat person, like
Azalea, you may well find yourself warming up to Diesel before you know it. And
if you are a cat person you will smile and nod that yes, this is exactly what
your cat would do.
This is an objective review and not an endorsement of
this book.
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