Claws for Concern
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
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 man and considers inviting him to stay in his home, but he's soon given reason to question that notion. Jack is certain that Charlie's new houseguest was involved in a shocking homicide that took place years ago in a small town near Athena. As this cold case heats up, Charlie and Diesel have to uncover a killer who may already be too close to home...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The endearing relationship between widower Charlie Harris and his Maine coon cat, Diesel, lifts James's lightweight ninth Cat in the Stacks mystery (after 2017's Twelve Angry Librarians). While volunteering at the public library in Athens, Miss., Charlie befriends an elderly stranger researching genealogical records. The man is seeking information on the father he never knew, who just happened to be Charlie's aunt's late husband. Meanwhile, true-crime writer Jack Pemberton enlists Charlie's help in looking into a previously solved case. Despite his wish to stay out of the limelight, Charlie eventually works with Pemberton to investigate the stranger, who may have committed multiple murders long ago. The clues to the real killer come together a little too easily, and all the detail of Diesel's moment-to-moment activities gets a little tedious. Still, Diesel is an intelligent, well-behaved cat, who opens doors for Charlie and gets people to talk. That the animal isn't essential to the plot and his presence at times seems tacked on won't bother cozy fans.
