Mystery

Reilly, the interim head of the Athena College Library, has upset most of the staff, and to top it all wants to ban Diesel from the library and sacrifice the rare books and archive department to budget cuts, thus putting Charlie out of a job. So nobody is terribly upset to hear that he has been murdered. But since initially Melba is a suspect, Charlie gets involved with the investigation.

Despite some twists and turns, the murderer was fairly obvious early on. ( )

I always know when I pick up a book written by Miranda James I'm in for a cozy, good time that can be read on a dark and dreary night as well as a bright sunny day. There really is nothing more comforting than a smart, solid mystery that is light on the violence and heavy on the problem solving who-done-it. And let's face it, Diesel is absolutely charming as Charlie's empathetic Moon Cain cat and side kick. ( )

Athena College's new library director, Oscar Reilly, is a brash, unfriendly man who’s on a mission to cut costs, the former director left in disgrace after overspending the library's budget by $500,000 His first two targets are the college's archives and the rare book collection. Reilly very quickly enemies of everyone on staff, including Charlie, his fiery friend Melba, and the other three library department heads. Reilly has forbade to let Charlie bring Diesel into work with him any longer, and he wants to replace Melba with someone younger. Someone os playing pranks on Reilly to get back at him for how he has treated them. When Reilly's body is discovered in the library's basement between the compact shelving, the suspect list is filled with suspects aplenty. When an threatening e-mail puts the suspicion on Melba things take a turn for the worse. Charlie and Diesel are convinced that their friend is no murderer. The college's president convinces Charlie to act as the interim directory for the library. With this appointment Charlie is able to look into the problem of the overspent budget. When someone smashes Charlie's windshield and then takes a shot at him as he is entering his house, he knows he has to find the real killer before it's too late.

The characters are still as well written and delightful as they always are. We do get some advancement on a few of the ongoing subplots in the series which is nice. The mystery is full of suspects and motives for the crime, which Charlie works through until the solution is reached in a nice logical way. I did like the surprises the Sean sprang on Charlie. I also liked how Stuart's relationship is still going strong. I didn't like the character of Reilly even before he was killed off, he seemed to be a one dimensional jerk. ( )

Athena College's new library director, Oscar Reilly, is a brash, unfriendly man who’s on a mission to cut costs, the former director left in disgrace after overspending the library's budget by $500,000 His first two targets are the college's archives and the rare book collection. Reilly very quickly enemies of everyone on staff, including Charlie, his fiery friend Melba, and the other three library department heads. Reilly has forbade to let Charlie bring Diesel into work with him any longer, and he wants to replace Melba with someone younger. Someone os playing pranks on Reilly to get back at him for how he has treated them. When Reilly's body is discovered in the library's basement between the compact shelving, the suspect list is filled with suspects aplenty. When an threatening e-mail puts the suspicion on Melba things take a turn for the worse. Charlie and Diesel are convinced that their friend is no murderer. The college's president convinces Charlie to act as the interim directory for the library. With this appointment Charlie is able to look into the problem of the overspent budget. When someone smashes Charlie's windshield and then takes a shot at him as he is entering his house, he knows he has to find the real killer before it's too late.

The characters are still as well written and delightful as they always are. We do get some advancement on a few of the ongoing subplots in the series which is nice. The mystery is full of suspects and motives for the crime, which Charlie works through until the solution is reached in a nice logical way. I did like the surprises the Sean sprang on Charlie. I also liked how Stuart's relationship is still going strong. I didn't like the character of Reilly even before he was killed off, he seemed to be a one dimensional jerk. ( )