Book 49, 2025

Cat Me If You Can by Miranda James

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


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On Tuesday night I finished reading Cat Me If You Can, which is the 13th installment in author Miranda James’ “Cat in the Stacks” cozy mystery series. The main character is librarian Charlie Harris, along with his Maine Coon cat, Diesel.

Charlie, his fiancée Helen Louise, and Diesel travel to Asheville NC to participate in a week-long retreat for members of a local mystery book club. Everyone is excited to be staying in a boutique hotel, which the Ducote sisters have reserved exclusively for their group. While expecting to discuss literary murder mysteries, the guests find themselves embroiled in an actual murder mystery when someone is killed at the hotel. Charlie is dismayed to realize that someone he knows is a murderer, and he can’t resist trying to piece together clues, back stories, and timelines. Helen Louise would prefer he stay out of it, but Charlie is much too curious for his own good.

While the guests weren’t exactly confined to the hotel, virtually all of the story was set there. I am not fond of the trope of everyone being cooped up with a killer. Overdone. I was also surprised that Charlie refused to leave well enough alone. In previous books he’s been portrayed as a reluctant sleuth, but in the most recent ones he’s been almost too eager to investigate. It seems an odd character change. Also, I’d always thought Charlie was in his mid-60’s, but this particular story intimated he was about 10 years younger.

Favorite lines:
♦ “Occasionally a thought hits me and out of my mouth it leaps.”
♦ One thing about having cats—and dogs, too—you rarely had to go to the bathroom by yourself.
♦ “When the cat agrees, you know you have a problem.”

I enjoy this series and typically fly through the books, but this one did not engage me at all. Giving it three stars.