Murder Past Due, by Miranda James
Murder Past Due is the first book in the "Cat in the Stacks" mystery collection. The second book, Classified as Murder, came out this past May.
The book follows humble librarian Charlie Harris and his Maine Coon, Diesel. Charlie works at the local college library and volunteers at the public library a few times a week. Having suffered the loss of his Aunt Dottie and his wife in the last year, Charlie lives alone in the house left to him by his Aunt Dottie in the small town of Athena, Miss. Just like his aunt did, Charlie uses the house as a boarding home of sorts for local college students. This year, Justin is living in the house. Athena is the sort of sleepy little town where everyone knows everything about everybody. And one of the things everyone knows is the success of former local Godfrey Priest, a now famous and bestselling author. Godfrey decided he's going to roll back into town for a few days, to grace everyone with his pompous presence. But once he's back in town, things go downhill, especially for Godfrey, since he winds up dead within 12 hours of arriving in Athena. Shortly before his death, it is revealed to the town that Godfrey is actually Justin's biological father. Justin only knew his father for a few hours before they were parted for good. Everyone in the town has been wronged in one way or another by Godfrey, and that means everyone has a motive. But who did it? Charlie and Diesel go snooping for clues to find out.
Warning: Spoilers follow here.
After talking to a few infamous busybodies in the town, Charlie gathers up a nice handful of clues on his own. He tries to help out Deputy Berry, the officer leading the investigation, much to her disapproval. It turns out that everyone has a little something to hide about Godfrey. The bookstore owner, the library's secretary, and a few others have had past love affairs with him, all to have been shunned when it counted. Perhaps a woman scorned, then? Then Charlie discovers that the last few books Godfrey wrote were actually written by someone else. AND that Godfrey had a half-brother, who never saw a dime of his riches, despite having to struggle to get by. With so many people out for Godfrey's blood, it was difficult to pinpoint the real perpetrator. At the end, everyone gathers at Charlie's house for the reading of the Will. Even though Godfrey just found out Justin was his son, he leaves him two-thirds of his estate, which comes out to around seventy million dollars. He leaves his half-brother, Rick, the remaining one-third. As the clues start coming together at the Will reading, and as Deputy Berry leans into Justin's mom, Julia, Julia finally cracks. She had gone to Godfrey's hotel room so that he could confront her because he figured out that Justin wasn't really his son. Upon being found out, Julia got mad and took Godfrey out. But that's not all. So who is Justin's real father? Rick, the half-brother. At the end, Julia gets hauled off to jail, and everyone starts being able to go about their lives again, armed with new gossip.
---------------------------------------------------------
I really enjoyed this book, for two reasons. One, because the book was not suspenseful. The book was written conversationally, which I enjoy, and flowed well. It kept me wanting to know what happened next, but I wasn't gasping for air on the edge of my seat. I enjoyed the pace. Second, mostly all the loose ends were wrapped up. There was one straggler I can think of (why Jordan got the signed copies), and I'm sure one or two more, but I'm also anal and tend to notice these things more than other people. But in all, the ends were wrapped nicely and the twist at the end really threw me for a loop! I really didn't see it coming. Several times, I thought I knew who killed Godfrey, because James makes such a plausible case for everyone involved. But when the killer is revealed, it all makes sense. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the book also, it really paints a nice picture. 4/5
---------------------------------------------------------
For Next Time
Classified As Murder (CitS #2), by Miranda James
Aging eccentric James Delacorte asks Charlie the librarian to do an inventory of his rare book collection - but the job goes from tedious to terrifying when James turns up dead. Relying on his cat Diesel to paw around for clues, Charlie has to catch the killer before another victim checks out.
-BarnesandNoble.com
No comments:
Post a Comment