Librarian
Charlie Harris always brings his beloved Maine Coon cat, Diesel,
to work with him. His co-workers love Diesel, and patrons
look forward to seeing him. When the new library director,
Oscar Reilly, demands that Diesel no longer be allowed at
the library, Charlie is ready to quit or take a leave of absence.
He's hoping Reilly won't last long at his new job, since he
is making enemies of many of the staff members with his unpopular
changes and obnoxious behavior.
Reilly
doesn't last long, but not because he is fired. Instead he
is murdered in a brutal manner between compacting bookcases
that crush him to death. Since Reilly was so unpopular, there
is no shortage of suspects among the staff. Charlie's good
friend, Melba, is brought in for questioning because there
is some physical evidence against her. Charlie knows Melba
wouldn't kill anyone, and fortunately she is soon released.
Charlie reluctantly accepts the position of Interim Library
Director until a permanent replacement can be found, but things
start to happen which make Charlie fear for his own life.
What exactly is going on at the college library, and why?
Is the same person who is perpetrating nasty pranks also the
killer? As the body count rises, so does the level of fear
in Athena, Mississippi.
I have
been blessed to read and review this series from the beginning,
and as with most series, by about the sixth or seventh book,
I go into it with a little trepidation. Will the new book
be as good as the others, or will the author have begun to
run out of steam? I'm here to tell you that author Miranda
James just keeps getting better and better. My favorite characters,
Charlie and Diesel, remain true to their natures and are lovable,
smart and kind. There are many characters, including Charlie's
son Sean and daughter Laura and their respective mates, other
librarians, and members of Charlie's household who carry on
from book to book. There are also enough new characters to
enrich the series and widen Charlie and Diesel's world even
more. The mystery is current and realistic, and I honestly
couldn't figure out whodunit or why until the very end, which
is always a delight to this reader.
No Cats
Allowed is the epitome of the cozy mystery, featuring a small
enough circle of people who know each other well, an amateur
sleuth, a lovable cat, a library, a Southern town, and enough
warmth, compassion and humor to make reading about murder
fun. It's an intelligent read, so well-written that I couldn't
stop reading it. Every single time I turned out my light for
the night, I found myself thinking about the story, flipping
the light switch again and reading just "one more chapter,"
until I reached the satisfying conclusion. Run, don't walk,
to get your copy today!!
Reviews
of other titles in this series
Classified
as Murder #2
File
M for Murder #3
Out
of Circulation #4
The
Silence of the Library #5
Arsenic
and Old Books #6
No
Cats Allowed #7
Twelve
Angry Librarians #8
Claws
for Concern #9
Reviewer
Notes: Miranda James also writes the Southern Ladies Mystery
Series |