Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Strong mystery and delightful characters as always
Cons: Despite my rant, none
The Bottom Line:
New library boss
Creates plenty of conflict
In fast moving book
New Director is Nothing but Trouble
I think I’ve mentioned my allergies to dogs and cats in some
of the reviews I’ve written recently since I’ve been reading more pet themed
mysteries. As the main character takes
their pets with them everywhere, I think about the poor people who are allergic
to animals. That issue finally comes up
in No Cats Allowed, the newest Cat in
the Stacks mystery by Miranda James.
You see, the Athena College library has a new director, and
Oscar Reilly is making enemies among the staff.
He’s accused Charlie Harris’s friend Melba Gilley of lying on her time
card and threatened to scrutinize her attendance as an excuse to get someone
younger in her job. The heads of the
various departments in the library are angry with him for other reasons and
Charlie has caught him leering at students and student workers. In fact, Charlie’s complaint, that Oscar has
said Charlie can’t bring his cat Diesel to his part time job in the archives
any more, is rather minor compared to the other issues if no less annoying.
With the number of enemies that Oscar has made in a short
amount of time, it’s not too surprising when he turns up dead, although his
death seems especially brutal. Charlie
doesn’t intend to get involved, but the police think that Melba is their top
suspect. As others on the library staff
come to Charlie with tidbits, he finds himself completely involved in another
murder investigation. Can he figure out
who killed Oscar?
Okay, I do have to get a minor rant off my chest that has
nothing to do with how I truly feel about the book. I just get so tired of how allergies are
portrayed in books, TV, and movies.
Oscar claims he is allergic to Diesel, which is why he doesn’t want
Charlie to bring the cat to work anymore.
Charlie doesn’t believe this claim because he hasn’t seen the signs of
it the two times Oscar and Diesel have been in the same room. As an allergy sufferer, I will argue that if
you are looking for the over the top signs we usually see in the media, you
will often miss the signs of an allergy attack.
For me, it’s an itchy throat and allergy induced asthma that would be
the first signs followed by watery eyes with sneezing being the last. So after 15 minutes in the same room with a
cat, I might be miserable but you would most likely never know. Of course, I would also talk to the person
who has the pet first instead of going straight to Human Resources like Oscar
does here. Having said all that, I am as
confident as Charlie that Oscar was lying about his allergies. Oscar is a complete and total jerk who would
lie about this for his own reasons. In
other words, he’s the kind of person we love to see as the victim in a murder mystery
because of all the suspects it sets up.
And let me be clear – I absolutely loved this book. In fact, it might be my favorite in the
series. As always, the author does a
great job of setting up the suspects and motives before the murder takes
place. At that point, it is up to
Charlie to figure out what is really happening and which of the motives was
enough to commit murder. There are some
good twists and turns before we reach the solution. The climax might have been a tad rushed, but I’m
being very nitpicky here since all of our questions and lose ends are tied up.
I absolutely love these characters. I will always wish to see more of the
supporting cast, but we actually got to see a good amount of most of them here,
including some nice advancement in series plot lines for a couple of them. There are great new characters as well who
fill the suspect slots perfectly. Diesel
is his usual charming self. I love
getting to visit animals via the page since I wouldn’t last long around them in
person.
One of the things I love most about this series is how
Charlie goes about doing his investigation.
He has a respect for the sheriff who is officially investigating the
murder. He shares what he learns with
her immediately. And even when he feels
she is looking in the wrong direction, he trusts her to be fair. He even does his best to avoid dangerous
situations. It’s a refreshing change
from most of the cozies I read.
I can’t say this strongly enough, if you’ve yet to start the
Cat in the Stacks series, do so today.
These are fun and charming books that will be over before you know
it. And if you are already a fan, don’t
hesitate to pick up No Cats Allowed. You’ll be charmed again.
Need to backtrack?
Here are the Cat in the Stack Mysteries in order.
NOTE: I received a copy of this book in the hopes I would
review it.
I recently found out that I'm allergic to cats and like you said it's not over the top symptoms. Really it just made the fact that my eyes were constantly irritated make sense. I've read one book in the series and enjoyed it but wasn't wowed but the later books have sounded really good. I definitely need to revisit this series!
ReplyDeleteI've read every book in this series and have thoroughly enjoyed them all. Can't wait for the next to come out, in February, I believe! The spin-off series, The Southern Ladies Mysteries, is excellent, as well. Readers can't go wrong with Miranda James!!!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely need to read this series!
ReplyDelete