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The Silence of the Library (Cat in the Stacks, #5)The Silence of the Library by Miranda James

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Just polished off The Silence of the Library by Miranda James. It's part of the "Cat in the Stacks" mystery series featuring librarian Charlie Harris and his Maine Coon cat, Diesel.

When the Athena public library plans an exhibit to showcase books with famous girl sleuths, Charlie is delighted. His own favorite series had Veronica Thane as the heroine. A bit of research reveals that the author, Electra Barnes Cartwright (or EBC, to her fans) is still alive at age 100, Charlie and fellow librarian Theresa go to visit her to see if she'll appear at the library's event.

Once news hits the internet of EBC's scheduled appearance, some of her devoted fans descend on Athena. One of them publishes a newsletter devoted to EBC and Veronica, while another is a diehard collector who wants the elderly woman to sign all of his Veronica Thane books. Charlie is somewhat taken aback by the rabid intensity of these fans, but things really come to a head when the publisher of the newsletter is murdered, and her files on EBC are stolen.

Charlie soon finds himself passing information on to Deputy Kanesha Berry, in regards to what he's observed and overheard while dealing with EBC, her daughter, her grandson, and the fans who've arrived in Athena. In the meantime, Charlie has been re-reading the first book in the Veronica Thane series, and the plot of that book leads him to the solution of whodunnit.

I must say, it was refreshing to read a cozy mystery, in which the main character neither found the body nor wound up in mortal peril at the end of it. Charlie is a likable hero, and Diesel is quite the character on his own. The plot got a bit silly there towards the end, what with taking a page out of a vintage amateur sleuth novel (no pun intended), but it was all quite fun.

Favorite line: I'd bet even his imaginary friends thought he was a jerk.

Good for a lite read, four stars.

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