Yes and no on the seventeenth book in Miranda James’ Cat in the Stacks Mystery. Yes, it’s delightful with the Irish setting, more of Diesel the Maine Coon cat, and even a ghost cat named Fergal. But, if you’re looking for Charlie Harris, the librarian, to solve the crime in Something Whiskered, you’ll be disappointed. Charlie is out of his element in Ireland, and, he asks questions, but he’s not really the one who finds the solution in this one.
Charlie and Helen Louise are on a belated honeymoon two months after their wedding. They saw a little of Dublin, and now they head to O’Brady Castle, the ancestral home of some of Helen’s family. But, as they approach the castle, there’s a figure on the roof, and it suddenly lands on the driveway just in front of their car. Helen Louise recognizes it as Finn O’Brady, the one hundred-year-old Baron and owner of the estate.
Lorcan O’Brady, Helen Louise’s cousin and the new Baron, questions why his grandfather was on the roof, saying the old man was afraid of heights. The immediate family does not believe it was suicide. Although they call the Garda, Lorcan asks Charlie to talk with family and staff to see if he can learn what happened. But, lacking knowledge of the people, Charlie has to trust Helen Louise to talk with the people she knows. A second death causes the couple to believe even more that Finn was murdered. When Charlie and Diesel are threatened, they reluctantly send Diesel to a cattery for his own safety.
I found the ghost of Fergal appealing. Charlie sees him, and finds him comforting. Diesel can communicate with the apparition. And, of course, I would have taken even more descriptions of the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren, places I’ve visited in Ireland.
As I said, Charlie didn’t really have a hand in the solution of the mystery. He did tell the Garda what he overheard at times. But Something Whiskered was an enjoyable cozy for the cats and the landscape. As with so many cozies, when the amateur sleuth is out of his element and away from his support network, he isn’t as successful as a sleuth. It’s the cats and setting that are enjoyable in this one.
Something Whiskered by Miranda James. Berkley Prime Crime, 2025. 320p.
FTC Full Disclosure – The publisher allowed me to read a galley through NetGalley, with no promise of a positive review.
