Book Review: “Murder Past Due” by Miranda James

The cover of this book hooked me. I mean a cat, books, and well, books in a library! What is not to love?

murderpastduebymirandajames book review cover 8Mar16
Murder Past Due is set in a small Mississippi town named Athena. Athena is a small, quiet town where Charlie and Diesel live. Charlie had recently moved back and brought Diesel with him. As they walk the streets they make quite a pair. Charlie and Diesel tag team in the library. Charlie works there, and Diesel sleeps there. The perfect setup for the impending trouble.

Small town gossip flies as Geoffrey, the best-selling novelist, slides into town on a book tour. Then things and life become interesting for Charlie & Diesel.

This book is the first in the new (new to me) series, Cat in The Stacks. At first, I found the book sluggish. I believe it was the characters and not the plot. After a period of the time, the characters did develop, and the plot moved sufficiently forward that I could see the characters more clearly in my mind’s eye. In saying that, I did not find myself sympathetic to some of the characters as I knew I was supposed to feel. Those few characters had much to do and say in the plot, but I felt they were more two-dimensional than the book needed.

Let me add this, Charlie does an excellent job of sleuthing, and several people have taken notice. I will read the next book in the series. And if you read /follow my reviews you know that I will not complete a set if I do not like the first book I read whether it is the first book in the series or the last book in a series. So yes, I think ‘Cat in The Stacks’ books are worth my reading time and dollars.