The Silence of the Library

Finished October 4

The Silence of the Library by Miranda James

This is the fifth book in the "Cat in the Stacks" series featuring retired librarian Charlie Harris. Charlie is a widower and lives with his two adult children, Sean and Laura; a boarder; and his beloved Maine coon cat Diesel in Athena, Mississippi. Diesel goes almost everywhere with Charlie, and most people are familiar with him. Charlie is close friends with the library director and seems to give her advice and help with events as well as volunteer at the service desk on a regular basis. 

They have an upcoming event planned that is focused on classic children's and youth mystery series like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. One of the series is Veronica Thane and as the book opens they find out that the author is still alive, even though she is over a hundred. She also lives fairly locally, so plans begin to visit her and see if she might be willing to make an appearance at the event. 

Charlie grew up with these books, after being introduced to them by his favourite aunt. 

When word begins to leak out about the author, some of her most ardent fans show up, and when someone associated ends up dead, things start to get worrisome for the library and Charlie. 

This is a cosy series I hadn't come across before, and I found it didn't grab me as much as others. Charlie's role with the library was vague and for a small town, it was surprising how many people seemed to be unfamiliar with library staff and the other main players. 

The plot was interesting in some ways, and I did like how the old series books played a role in figuring out what was going on.