I’m going to write an unusual review of Miranda James’ latest Cat in the Stacks Mystery, Cat Me If You Can. First, there’s the review of the mystery, a story that takes librarian Charlie Harris and Maine Coon cat Diesel out of their Athena, Mississippi home. Then, to highlight the setting of this book, Asheville, North Carolina, I’m going to share a couple pictures of Biltmore from our trip.
Charlie, his fiancee Helen Louise Brady, and Diesel, head to Asheville, North Carolina for a mystery week, a getaway Charlie and Helen Louise are anticipating. The Athena Public Library’s mystery group has taken over a small boutique hotel there, thanks to Miss An’gel and Miss Dickce Ducote, the beloved sponsors for the trip. The schedule includes talks about Golden Age mysteries, a trip to Biltmore, the Vanderbilt estate, and time to explore Asheville. It doesn’t take long, though, for their vacation to take a wrong turn.
Start with the woman’s body they find on the bed in their suite. It’s one of the housekeepers, Cora, who isn’t dead, but claims to have narcolepsy, and she falls asleep whenever she takes a break. Then, they just catch the end of an argument between two of the members of their group. When one of the members punches Denis Kilbride in the face that evening, it kicks off a week of trouble. Granted, Denis was about to attack another man, but it’s a startling way to end a lively discussion of Golden Age mysteries. Then, when a housekeeper finds Kilbride dead in the morning, it’s natural for the police to look at the mystery group.
There’s a great deal of tension in the group until the police announce Kilbride was murdered. Of course, Charlie and Miss An’gel, who have solved murder cases in the past, want to help. As Charlie says, they’re not interested in personal glory, but they want to bring the murderer to justice. Then there’s a second death, and the group feels trapped in the hotel. “We’re in a strange place, involved with a group in which we don’t know half the people as well as we thought we did. Now we have two murders and a killer amongst us.”
James does an admirable job forcing the solution to the mystery. As he intended, the book is an homage to the Golden Age mysteries, with a small group of people trapped together, the only suspects, and suspicious of each other. Naturally, there’s an excellent confrontation scene. That’s not a spoiler. Any astute reader of mysteries will expect that.
Fans of the series and of cozy mysteries will appreciate this enjoyable story. Readers don’t always enjoy it when amateur sleuths are out of their comfort zone. Because the mystery group came from Athena, Charlie Harris’ environment came with him; Helen Louise, Diesel, the Ducote sisters and their ward, as well as Charlie’s friend, Melba. One familiar friend is a phone link from home, and another makes an unexpected appearance. It’s a comfortable trip for the reader, with the added pleasure of the visit to Biltmore.
Miranda James knows just how to make the reader comfortable with the setting while taking the amateur sleuth out of his comfort zone. “Satisfactory.”
Miranda James’ website is www.CatInTheStacks.com
Cat Me If You Can by Miranda James. Berkley Prime Crime, 2020. ISBN 9780451491183 (hardcover), 292p.
*****
FTC Full Disclosure – Library book
As promised, just a couple pictures from Charlie Harris’ trip, two of Biltmore, and one of the atrium Charlie admires.
