Book Review: Something Whiskered by Miranda James (Cat is the Stacks Mysteries #17)

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Good (mostly new) characters

Cons: Dark premise, anti-climactic ending

The Bottom Line:

Trip to Ireland

Celebration becomes dark

Average again

Meeting the New In-Laws is Murder

I’ve struggled a bit with the last couple Cat in the Stacks Mysteries. They are just missing some of the charm from the earlier entries. Couple that with a change of location I knew was coming in this one, and I decided to wait and get Something Whiskered, the newest, from the library.

If you are new to the series, it’s a rare cozy with a male protagonist (and male author using Miranda James as a pen name). Charlie Harris is a widower living in a college town where he works part time in the library archives. He also has his family in town. Those following the series know that Charlie has recently remarried, and this book finds him and his new wife, along with Diesel, Charlie’s Maine Coon cat, taking a belated honeymoon to Ireland to spend time with some of his new relatives. 

They’ve timed their arrival at the castle Helen Louise’s family own to coincide with her uncle’s 100th birthday. However, as they arrive, her uncle, a baron, plunges to his death. Naturally, the family is devastated. There are also questions, like what was the baron doing up there since he hated heights. When the family asks Charlie to do a little poking around, he reluctantly agrees. But his investigation leads to secrets that could hurt the family. Will Charlie find out what lead to the baron’s death?

Honestly, this was a time when a cozy didn’t work outside its normal setting. I missed the rest of the regulars too much. I get it, we need new locations every so often. But so much of the charm in this series is the supporting cast. I really missed seeing them and getting updates even if it only has been two months book time since we last saw them. 

Now, this isn’t a slight on the new characters. There were quite a few I really enjoyed. Since many of them also served as suspects, I felt they did a good job of keeping me engaged and guessing in the mystery. And Charlie, Diesel, and Helen Louise were all charming. 

I have to say, the opening of this one was a bit dark. Not because of any violence, but because of how it impacted the characters. But I was able to get caught up in the plot and enjoy the twists and turns. However, the climax in this one felt a little anti-climactic. And that’s saying something for a cozy series where Charlie often tells the cops his suspicion and then later finds out what happened when they arrest the killer. (And yes, I usually love that ending for these books.) Plus, there was a major plot point that isn’t resolved from what we get here. 

I’ve developed a new pet peeve in recently months of summarized conversations. That happens here, although most of the time, these summarized worked because they were about mundane things. Heck, I felt they could have been summarized more. But we did have a couple of times things were summarized that should have been more of a scene. 

It’s a shame that this once great series seems to be dropping off. But I’ll keep hoping for a return to form. Sadly, we didn’t get it with Something Whiskered.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Cat in the Stacks Mysteries.