Classified as Murder

This the 2nd installment in Miranda James' "Cat in the Stacks" series starring rare book cataloger, Charlie Harris and his Maine Coon cat, Diesel (see my post on Murder Past Due, the 1st in the series). Diesel has his own Facebook page here by the way. And why not? He has been Charlie's constant companion ever since Charlie's wife and his aunt Dottie died a couple years ago and he always seems to understand what Charlie is saying. He goes with Charlie everywhere-- on a leash when they walk to work at the university library archives where they live in Athena, Mississippi, or in the car when Charlie runs errands. On one of the Friday afternoons when Charlie is volunteering at the reference desk of the public library, a frequent patron, James Delacorte, asks Charlie if he would consider doing an inventory of Delacorte's rare book collection. He is afraid one of his family members has been stealing books from his personal library. Since the university is on spring break, Charlie agrees, but first he must meet the family, who all live in the Delacorte mansion: a hypochondriac sister, Daphne; her ne'er do well son Hubert and his wife, Eloise, who spends a lot of her time in a world long past; a great niece, Cynthia, a nurse at the local hospital; a great nephew, Stewart, who is a professor at the university; and the very proper English butler, Nigel Truesdale, who has been with Mr. Delacorte for decades. Mr. Delacorte isn't sure who is stealing his priceless books, or even if they have been stolen, but before he can find out, he is murdered with cookies--he was deathly allergic to peanuts. Deputy Sheriff Kanesha Berry as well as Mr. Delacorte's attorney think Charlie should complete the inventory, and maybe also keep an eye on the rest of the family while he's at it. With the help of his son, Sean, who has unexpectedly quit his job as a corporate attorney in Houston and moved home, Charlie discovers that several valuable first editions have indeed been swapped out for inferior copies, and that Delacorte's most recent purchase, a near-priceless copy of Poe's Tamarlane, is, in fact, missing. Diesel solves the theft, but it turns out it's not the same culprit that murdered Mr. Delacorte. This series continues to hold up with interesting characters, local color, and solid plotting.