Book Review: Hiss Me Deadly by Miranda James (Cat in the Stacks Mysteries #15)

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Charlie, Diesel, and the rest of the characters

Cons: Plot is weak

The Bottom Line:

Musician in town

But he brings danger with him

Weaker than normal

Don’t Hiss at Me, but This Was a Weak Entry

When I first started reading the Cat in the Stacks Mysteries, it quickly became a favorite series.  The characters were great, the cats were charming, and the mysteries were complex and kept me engaged.  We’ve had to wait almost two years for Hiss Me Deadly, the fifteenth in the series.  Sadly, it wasn’t really worth the wait.

If you haven’t started the series yet, it features Charlie Harris, part time librarian for the Athena College Library, and his Maine Coon cat, Diesel.  They go just about everywhere together and are quite the famous duo in their small town of Athena, Mississippi.

In this book, the college is getting ready to welcome Wil Threadgill back to town.  Wil left Athena before he even graduated high school, but in the years since he’s left, he has become a famous, Oscar nominated composer.  He’s coming back with his band to work with the music students at the college.  While he hasn’t kept in touch with many people in the last forty years since he left, he has corresponded off and on with Charlie’s friend Melba.

In his most recent letter, Wil’s asked to meet Charlie and Diesel.  Something has happened to make Wil uneasy about his return to town, and he’s hoping that Charlie can help him.  It turns out Wil does have something to worry about because before his welcome reception and concert is over, someone is dead.  Will Charlie find out what happened?

As a fan of the series, it was wonderful to be back in Athena.  All the regular characters get at least a cameo (although a couple of recurring players are just mentioned in passing).  One subplot involving some of Charlie’s family seemed a little stretched out, but there are some other developments that fans will be happy with.  Anyway, it was great to see these old friends again and get to spend more time with them.

Unfortunately, the main plot was weak.  After a good opening quarter or so, things go downhill and never really recover.  Charlie hears about so much of what is happening second hand instead of being an active participant.  We get more speculation than actual investigation.  And the climax, while answering most of the questions I had, felt very abrupt.  There was one minor thing left unexplained at the end, but it was minor.

Charlie also seems to have found a time turner since he manages to repeat time twice over the course of this book.  Since I read an ARC, maybe those were caught and corrected before the final version got published, but that would require some rewrites, not just fixing typos.

On the other hand, Diesel is charming as always.  I’m allergic to cats, but this series always makes me want to get one of my own.

I’m hoping this is a temporary slip in quality and that the next book in the series will be up to the normal high standards I expect from this series.  Fans will still want to catch up with Charlie, Diesel, and the rest of the characters in Hiss Me Deadly.  If you haven’t started the series yet, I recommend you start with the earlier books.

Here are the rest of the Cat in the Stacks Mysteries.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.