Arsenic and Old Books by Miranda James

Reviewed by Jeanne

Librarian Charlie Harris and his Maine Coon cat Diesel are hard at work in the college archives when Mayor Lucinda Long drops off a treasure:  the Civil War diaries of a Long ancestor.  They're a gift for the archive.  Charlie is delighted with such a piece of local history, but his pleasure is short lived when he is accosted separately by two different women, both demanding instant access to the fragile old books.  The first woman is a reporter who seems to feel that the diaries will play a role in an upcoming election, while the second is a history professor anxious for tenure.  Charlie's explanation that the books will be unavailable for public viewing until they have been properly assessed for damage does nothing to mollify either woman, both of whom seem determined to be the first to view them.

When Charlie returns from lunch, he finds the question of access may be beside the point: his office has been broken into and the diaries are gone.  What could possibly be in those 150 year old books?  Is it something someone wants to find-- or something someone wants to keep hidden? As William Faulkner said, "The past is never dead  It isn't even past."

Arsenic and Old Books is the sixth in the line of the Cat in the Stacks  mysteries  by Miranda James but the first to appear in hardcover.  Charlie Harris is a good-natured, gentle man who returned to Mississippi to take care of an elderly aunt after he became a widower.  He has a romance going with Helen Louise, the local baker, and has two grown children who are in and out of his house as is the long-time housekeeper, Azalea. Of course, Diesel steals most of the scenes: like his master, he's a good-natured gentle giant of a cat who loves his food.  He's over thirty pounds and usually startles folks with his size.  While Diesel doesn't solve any mysteries, he makes this cozy-- well, a bit cozier.  

The series is long on Southern charm, descriptions of food, and interaction with Diesel, but James does keep track of the mystery as well.  Many of the solutions to the mysteries lie in the connections between long-time residents and the history of the place, making this a very good cozy mystery.  I thought this one had an especially good flow, and kept the pages turning while I tried to figure out what was in those diaries.  If you haven't read any of the previous books in the series, this would be a good place to start. It also features a bonus short story telling how Charlie met Diesel.

Interesting aside:  Miranda James is the pen name of Dean James, who does work in a library and lives in Mississippi. He has just begun a spin off series The Southern Ladies Mysteries featuring two elderly sisters who have appeared in some of the Cat in the Stacks books.  The first title is Bless Her Dead Little Heart.

"If you ask me, the Maine Coon needs to be a lot furrier. Just my two treats' worth!"

Out of Circulation & Silence of the Library by Miranda James

Reviewed by Jeanne 

The “Cat in the Stacks” mystery series by Miranda James is set in Athena, Mississippi, where widower Charlie lives with a part time housekeeper and some assorted lodgers. He works part time as an archivist at the local university and volunteers at the public library. Charlie has two adult children and a budding romance with Helen Louise who runs a café featuring French pastries. He also has an unusually large Maine Coon cat named Diesel who accompanies him everywhere.

In Out of Circulation, Charlie is on the library’s fund raising committee along with the Ducote sisters, two elderly ladies who preside over much of town society.  Also on the committee is Vera Cassity, an abrasive outsider with more money than grace or sense, and the knack of infuriating people.  When Vera turns up dead at the costumed gala, the suspects are many and include Charlie’s housekeeper, Azalea. The Ducotes are some of James’ best characters, feisty but well-bred ladies who are going to have a mystery of their own later in the year.  I like the way that the author used the gala to lightly explore character and to give a clue to the solution.

Silence of the Library, the latest book in the series, has the public library setting up a display devoted to teen sleuths, including Veronica Thane whose short lived series was overshadowed by Nancy Drew and company.  Surprisingly, the author is still alive and lives nearby.  She’s also willing to make an appearance in conjunction with the display. Suddenly fans and collectors are showing up, all anxious to meet the elderly woman or at least make some cash by having her autograph books. When someone turns up dead, Charlie feels he needs to try to figure out the mystery before anything else goes wrong.   For me, part of the fun of this one was reading about the teen sleuths of yesteryear, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden, and others.  James even wrote some chapters for Victoria’s adventures in the style of the old mystery series. I especially appreciated the mentions of the lesser known series, which brought back fond memories.

Overall, this is a gentle cozy series, given to chaste romance and little cursing.  Charlie is good- natured, mild, and calm, while Diesel chirps and purrs. There’s some Southern atmosphere and usually some literary references for fun. I appreciate the series’ overriding theme of tolerance: for characters who are different, or for allowing people to live their own lives.  For example, Charlie struggles mightily not to interfere with his children’s lives.  He knows what he thinks they should do, but is careful to let them make their own decisions. Occasionally, there’s some repetition—everyone who meets Diesel for the first time wants to know what kind of cat he is and how much he weighs, which is natural, but when he meets three new people in short order it gets a bit old. 

Incidentally, when James decided to write the series, a deliberate decision was made to have a male protagonist instead of the more usual female cozy sleuth. On the other hand, tradition was upheld with a female author.  “Miranda James” is the nom de plume of Dean James. Perhaps it was felt that a male author and male protagonist wouldn’t be cozy enough!

Portrait of a Dead Guy by Larissa Reinhart

Reviewed by Jeanne


Cherry Tucker is back in her hometown of Halo, Georgia after earning a degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design, hoping to earn a living with her art. Alas, commissions are far and few between, so when she hears that the Bransons want a portrait of their son Dustin she grabs her portfolio and makes her pitch. The fact that Dustin is deceased and his stepmother thinks a coffin portrait would be nice doesn’t faze her—well, not much, anyway. Not as much as finding out that her rival Shawna, a “smooth-talking Amazonian poacher who wrestled me for the last piece of cake at a church picnic some fifteen years ago,” is going after the commission as well and Shawna’s penchant for hearts, polka dots, and curlicue letters has made a mighty favorable impression on the bereaved.

To make things worse, Dustin’s stepbrother Luke is back in town. Luke has the knack of turning Cherry into a puddle of butter and then sticking her with the check at the local Waffle House. Cherry’s strong resolve to have nothing to do with him doesn’t last any longer than her Las Vegas marriage to another local hunk, but that doesn’t stop her from trying to resist—for a couple of minutes anyway.

Cherry isn’t really interested in who brained Dustin in the garage. She just wants to get a paying job, even if it means sneaking into the funeral home after hours and doing her sketches for the portrait. Then someone bashes her over the head and ransacks the funeral home, making it seem that Cherry is adding grave-robbing to her resume. A girl just has to clear her name, doesn’t she? So Cherry starts asking questions, and gets answers that involve things like meth labs and illegal poker games.  This has the unfortunate side effect of drawing some unwanted attention Cherry's way.

Then there’s Cherry’s family who, as the T-shirt says, put the fun in dysfunctional. Her sister Casey is a waitress at the local diner and cooks fried chicken that would make Col. Sanders look for a day job, while brother Cody is a typical car-crazy young man with a collection of them up on blocks. Grandpa is a retired farmer who likes to keep his goats around, especially Tater who thinks Cherry’s beat up truck is a rival that needs to be butted into the next county.

Portrait of a Dead Guy is a good, light mystery with an entertaining heroine and engaging cast. Larissa Reinhart knows her Southern landscape—she even mentions Bristol Motor Speedway—but she doesn’t lay it on with a trowel. There are some moments that are a bit over the top, but it’s all in good fun. Two points stood out for me: the first is that Cherry doesn’t set out to solve the murder and really doesn’t care who offed Dustin, which is a refreshing change from most amateur sleuths. Secondly, the sections in which Cherry talks about art show a true passion for form, color, and composition, giving some needed heft to her character.

The second book in the series is titled Still Life in Brunswick Stew and is due out in May 2013. My name is on the reserve list.

If you like your mysteries down home, with an impulsive heroine and a cast of characters, this might just be your cup of sweet tea.

What’s a Few Wrinkles and Slobber Among Friends?

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My name is Doris and I am an addict.

I am addicted to Southern mysteries which feed my love for sweet tea, Paula Deen, and odd characters. I have spent large chunks of time living in other regions of the United States and in Europe, but it is the South that calls to me and is the place I feel at home. In reading some of the numerous Southern mysteries, I find comfort, laughter, a sense of the absurd and just plain old-fashioned enjoyment. For me, there’s nothing better than a comfortable chair on a screened-in-porch, a glass of lemonade, a cool breeze, and a Virginia Lanier book.

Like so many of her peers, Lanier carries on the tradition of the feisty Southern female who has an irresistible assortment of colorful friends and relatives surrounding her. Jo Beth Sidden has an ex-husband named Bubba who is determined to kill her, a streak of Southern stubbornness a mile wide, and a deep love for her unusual line of work. Jo Beth has something else very hard for me to resist—bloodhounds. Be forewarned: if you love dogs, you are going to want a bloodhound by the time you finish this book.

Jo Beth is a breeder and trainer of bloodhounds for search and rescue teams. She and her bloodhound partner cover a three county area of deep Georgia, right on the Okefenokee Swamp. Committed to helping the law enforcement agencies and individuals that contact her, Jo Beth often places herself in extreme conditions. Testing herself and her dog Bobby Lee in every search, Jo Beth is an interesting blend of stubbornness, pride and strength with a dash of quirkiness but she also has a vulnerability that shows up at times, especially when she has to face the reality that someone she once loved is planning to kill her.

Death in Bloodhound Red is the first book of Virginia Lanier’s bloodhound series. It won the 1996 Anthony Award for Best First Novel and was a finalist for both the 1995 Agatha Award and the 1996 McCavity Award for Best First Novel. Something of a late bloomer, Lanier was sixty-nine years old when she began writing. She once told an interviewer that it all started because she was reading a book she hated. She tossed the book across the room and told her husband Hoss she could write a better book anytime. He dared her to do so and five months later Death in Bloodhound Red was accepted for publication. It is a well-crafted blend of character development, fast action, introspection, and lore of the Okefenokee Swamp region. The plot in this one takes a couple of really interesting twists that will catch you off-guard, and you will absolutely fall in love with Bobby Lee. Lanier’s voice is true to the southern region she knew so well and to Jo Beth and her dogs. Unfortunately for those who have loved this skillful series of mysteries, Virginia Lanier died in 2003. Oh, how I wish she had written many more books!

Available at Main and Avoca: Death in Bloodhound Red, The House on Bloodhound Lane, A Brace of Bloodhounds, Blind Bloodhound Justice, Ten Little Bloodhounds, and A Bloodhound to Die For. Just look for F LAN.

Reviewed by Doris