Charlie Harris, along with his feline companion, finally decide to take a bookish vacation, but unfortunately, murder never takes a holiday in this all-new installment of the New York Times bestselling series.Charlie and Diesel, along with Charlie's partner, Helen Louise Brady, are heading to western North Carolina to spend a week at a boutique hotel on the grounds of a luxurious estate and participate in a gathering of a mystery reader's club. The group is composed of patrons of the Athena Public Library, and in addition to seeing the local sights, the members will take turns giving talks on their favorite authors. The Ducote sisters, friends of the owners of the hotel, are helping underwrite the week's expenses, and they insisted that Charlie, Helen, and Diesel join them. Anxious to get Helen Louise away from her bistro for a vacation, Charlie readily agrees. While Charlie is looking forward to relaxing and spending time with Helen Louise and Diesel, other...

Charlie Harris and his Maine Coon cat, Diesel, are entangled in a new mystery when college gossip turns deadly in the latest installment of the New York Times bestselling series...Charlie is thoroughly enjoying a course on early medieval history offered by young, charismatic history professor Carey Warriner. Warriner is married to Irene, a beautiful colleague at the college. Charlie is charmed to discover that Irene Warriner writes historical romance under a pseudonym. He has read several of her books, and he recalls that the heroes in the books are all tall, muscular, blondes. When he meets one of Carey Warriner's colleagues in the history department, he is struck by his resemblance to Irene's fictional heroes. Charlie soon learns that the Warriner marriage may be on the rocks. Both Carey and Irene have been spotted with possible paramours and the gossip mill is working overtime. When a body turns up, Charlie finds himself once again involved in murder....

Librarian Charlie Harris and his faithful feline companion, Diesel, have inherited Charlie’s grandfather’s house, along with a deadly legacy: a decades-old crime scene, in this all-new mystery in the New York Times bestselling Cat in the Stacks series.Charlie has always believed that his grandfather had sold his house to his longtime tenant, Martin Hale. So when Martin dies, Charlie is surprised to discover the house was not left to Martin but instead belongs to Charlie. As he and Diesel check out the house he remembers fondly from his childhood, he is pleasantly surprised that it is in better condition than expected. That is, until they find a literal skeleton in a closet.While the sheriff’s department investigates the mysterious remains, Charlie digs deeper into the past for clues to the identity of the bones and why they are there. But the cold case heats up quickly when Martin’s grandson is found dead on the farm.As Charlie...

In Athena, Mississippi, librarian Charlie Harris is known for his good nature—and for his Maine coon cat Diesel that he walks on a leash. Charlie returned to his hometown to immerse himself in books, but taking the plunge into a recent acquisition will have him in over his head... Lucinda Beckwith Long, the mayor of Athena, has donated a set of Civil War-era diaries to the archives of Athena College. The books were recently discovered among the personal effects of an ancestor of Mrs. Long's husband. The mayor would like Charlie to preserve and to substantiate them as a part of the Long family legacy—something that could benefit her son, Beck, as he prepares to campaign for the state senate. Beck's biggest rival is Jasper Singletary. His Southern roots are as deep as Beck's, and their families have been bitter enemies since the Civil War. Jasper claims the Long clan has a history of underhanded behavior at the expense of the...

Charlie Harris and his Maine Coon cat, Diesel, are back and investigating the murder of a new, nosy neighbor in the latest installment of the New York Times bestselling series.Christmas is only a couple of weeks away and Charlie is busy looking after his two grandkids, Charlie and Rosie, and the five kittens someone left on the front doorstep. Diesel is always hovering nearby to lend a paw during babysitting duties. During this time of peace and goodwill, Charlie is trying hard to fend off the attentions of a new neighbor who has designs on his house...and maybe on him as well. The neighbor is a real estate agent who, despite Charlie's lack of interest in selling, wants to sell Charlie's house for him. She has also taken on the role of the neighborhood busybody and throws the most lavish holiday party in Athena. But, before the night is over, the new neighbor is found dead at her own party. Several guests overheard Charlie's girlfriend Helen Louise having a...

The New York Times bestselling author of Bless Her Dead Little Heart and the Cats in the Stacks mysteries brings back the Ducote sisters, two spry Southern sleuths.An'gel and Dickce Ducote tend to stay put in Athena, Mississippi, but a wedding is a good reason to say a temporary farewell to Charlie Harris's cat Diesel and go visit relatives. But while their stay in Louisiana is scorching hot, the atmosphere at the wedding is downright cold, with bride-to-be Sondra Delevan putting her trust fund above little things like love and loyalty.When a violent storm supposedly sweeps Sondra off a balcony to her death, the sisters discover that many of the guests attending the wedding had major reasons to object to Sondra's marriage. Now, it's up to An'gel and Dickce to use their down-home instincts to expose dubious alibis, silver-plated secrets, and one relentless murderer who lives for "till death do us part."

The New York Times bestselling author of No Cats Allowed and Arsenic and Old Books is back with more Southern charm and beguiling mystery as Charlie and Diesel must find a killer in a room full of librarians... Light-hearted librarian Charlie Harris is known around his hometown of Athena, Mississippi, for walking his cat, a rescued Maine Coon named Diesel. But he may soon be taken for a walk himself—in handcuffs... Charlie is stressed out. The Southern Academic Libraries Association is holding this year's annual meeting at Athena College. Since Charlie is the interim library director, he must deliver the welcome speech to all the visiting librarians. And as if that weren't bad enough, the keynote address will be delivered by Charlie's old nemesis from library school. It's been thirty years since Charlie has seen Gavin Fong, and he's still an insufferable know-it-all capable of getting under everyone's...

Charlie Harris and his Maine Coon cat, Diesel, are embroiled in a new mystery when a cold case suddenly heats up in the latest installment of the New York Times bestselling series.Charlie Harris is busy enjoying his new grandson when a mysterious man with a connection to Charlie's family starts visiting the library, bringing with him troubling questions about an unsolved murder...Charlie may be a proud new grandfather, but he and Diesel still have work to do at Athena College and the small Mississippi town's public library. He's too busy to deal with true-crime writer Jack Pemberton, who wants Charlie as the subject of his latest book—and who won't take no for an answer. A more appealing proposition for Charlie is spending time helping a kind, elderly man navigate the library's genealogical database. But he's shocked when he learns that the visitor's search is focused on a member of his own family: his late aunt's husband.Charlie befriends...

The New York Times bestselling author of Dead with the Wind and Bless Her Dead Little Heart is back with more of those sleuthing Southern belles, the Ducote sisters...An'gel and Dickce Ducote, busy with plans for the Athena Garden Club's spring tour of grand old homes, are having trouble getting the other club members to help. The rest of the group is all a-flutter now that dashing and still-eligible Hadley Partridge is back to restore his family mansion. But the idle chatter soon turns deadly serious when a body turns up on the Partridge estate after a storm... The remains might belong to Hadley's long-lost sister-in-law, Callie, who everyone thought ran off with Hadley years ago. And if it's not Callie, who could it be? As the Ducotes begin uncovering secrets, they discover that more than one person in Athena would kill to be Mrs. Partridge. Now An'gel and Dickce will need to get their hands dirty if they hope to reveal a killer's...

At the turn of the nineteenth century, ten-year-old James Miranda Barry enrolled as a medical student in Edinburgh, the start of a glorious career as a military surgeon. Across the Empire, Barry achieved fame not only as a brilliant physician, but also a legendary duellist and a celebrated social figure. But James Miranda Barry was also a woman. Her greatest achievement of all had been to 'pass' for a man for more than fifty years. Patricia Duncker's novel tells Barry's story for the first time, in a richly inventive and entertaining tale of dark family secrets, adultery, questioned paternity and colonial history. It confirms her rare talent as a writer of profound ideas and immense storytelling power.

Everyone in Athena, Mississippi, knows Charlie Harris, the librarian with a rescued Maine coon cat named Diesel. He's returned to his hometown to immerse himself in books, but when a feud erupts between the town's richest ladies, the writing on the wall spells murder.The Ducote sisters are in a tiff with Vera Cassity over the location of this year's library fundraising gala, and Charlie would rather curl up in a corner than get into the fray. It seems everyone--even his housekeeper Azalea--has it in for Vera. And at the gala, she gives them good reason, with a public display of rancor aimed at anyone who gets in her way.But those bitter words wind up being her last. When Charlie discovers Azalea standing over Vera's dead body, it's up to him--with a little help from Diesel--to clear Azalea's name, and catch a killer before his last chapter is finished.Review"Miranda James should soon be on everyone's list of favorite authors."--Leann Sweeney, author of the Cats in Trouble Mysteries"[A] kind-hearted librarian hero...and a gentle giant of a cat that will steal your heart."--Lorna Barrett, New York Times bestselling author"Courtly librarian Charlie Harris and his Maine coon cat, Diesel, are an endearing detective duo."--Carolyn Hart, author of the Bailey Ruth MysteriesAbout the AuthorMiranda James is a pseudonym for Dean James, the Agatha Award-winning author of several works of mystery nonfiction as well as four mystery series including the New York Times bestselling Cat in the Stacks series.

In the latest mystery in the New York Times bestselling Cat in the Stacks series, librarian Charlie Harris and his Maine Coon cat Diesel must clear a friend when the evidence is stacked against her... Springtime in Mississippi is abloom with beauty, but the library's employees are too busy worrying to stop and smell the flowers. The new library director, Elwyn Dillard, is a brash, unfriendly Yankee who's on a mission to cut costs—and his first targets are the archive and the rare book collection. As annoying as a long-overdue book, Dillard quickly raises the hackles of everyone on staff, including Charlie's fiery friend Melba—whom Dillard wants to replace with someone younger. But his biggest offense is declaring all four-legged creatures banned from the stacks. With enemies aplenty, the suspect list is long when Dillard's body is discovered in the library. But things take a turn for the worse when a threatening e-mail throws...

The New York Times bestselling author of the Cat in the Stacks Mysteries and Digging Up the Dirt returns with the latest Southern Ladies Mystery...It's autumn down south, and An'gel and Dickce Ducote are in Natchez, Mississippi, at the request of Mary Turner Catlin, the granddaughter of an old friend. Mary and her husband, Henry Howard, live in Cliffwood, one of the beautiful antebellum homes for which Natchez is famous. Odd things have been happening in the house for years, and the French Room in particular has become the focal point for spooky sensations. The Ducotes suspect the ghostly goings-on are caused by the living, but when a relative of the Catlins is found dead in the room, An'gel and Dickce must sift through a haunted family history to catch a killer.