The Two Newest by Miranda James

     Cozy mysteries are my favorite. I enjoy a hard-boiled detective story every once-in-awhile, but cozies are my favorite because the protagonist is usually your average Joe or Jane and the blood and guts and gore is usually kept to a minimum. One of my more recent discoveries has been author Miranda James. This author writes a series of books called the Cat in the Stacks Mysteries and a new series, begun this year, called the Southern Ladies Mysteries.

     Bless Her Dead Little Heart  is the title of the Southern Ladies Mysteries. This series takes two minor characters from the Cat in the Stacks series and gives them the spotlight. Miss An'gel and Miss Dickse Ducote are two elderly sisters who live a life of philanthropy in Athena, Mississippi. They are from a very old, wealthy Athena family. Most of their time is spent sitting on boards and committees that benefit the arts and scholastic community in their small college town. They happen to be friends with semi-retired librarian, Charlie Harris and his very large, very vocal Maine coon cat, Diesel. While Charlie is away in France with his family, the Ducote sisters have agreed to cat sit Diesel; after all, he is the most gentlemanly cat they have ever entertained.
     One afternoon, an old sorority sister surprises the sisters by showing up at their door and begins to spin a tale of how someone in her family is trying to kill her. The Ducote sisters have known Rosabelle Sultan for about fifty years and they know what kind of woman she is--self-centered, overly dramatic, and money hungry. The sisters begin to wonder, however, when Rosabelle's n'er do well family begin turning up on their doorstep as well. The first day, Rosabelle's daughter-in-law is killed when she falls down the marble staircase. Was it a horrible accident, or was it murder? Was the daughter-in-law the intended target or was Rosabelle meant to have suffered that fate? Two more murders and a fire take place before the Ducote sisters can get their house and sanity back from these rich, but classless bunch. All the while, Diesel helps the sisters to suss-out who they can trust and who may be a potential killer. This is a very quick and satisfying read. The author keeps you guessing until the end which makes for my favorite king of mystery.

     The other Miranda James novel I have recently read is Arsenic and Old Books. This is the sixth cozy featuring librarian Charlie Harris and his Maine coon cat, Diesel. Charlie is feeling a little lonely in the old house he inherited from his aunt since his daughter got married and his son is practically living with his girlfriend. He still has his boarder, but he, too, is spending more time with his lover than at home. When Athena's mayor, Lucinda Beckwith Long, brings Charlie some old books and papers for the archives at Athena College's library, he hopes that cataloging these items--including several Civil War-era diaries--will provide a much needed distraction. He doesn't expect, however, for these diaries to cause such an uproar in both the college's faculty and in the political race for a seat in the state Senate. Charlie is even more horrified when the diaries lead to a murder! Do the diaries hold the key to long held rivalries, or will the be responsible for more pain and suffering? As usual, Charlie and Diesel get caught-up in the melee.

     These are great cozies to read. I still haven't read the first few books in the series; and it really isn't necessary to do so because James does a wonderful job of writing in the pertinent information whenever there is a reference to some past event. Diesel's reactions to Charlie and the other characters in these books is priceless. He is a very vocal, chatty cat and very discerning in his choice of humans. Also included in this book is a short story telling how it is that Diesel came to live with Charlie.
     Miranda James is actually the pseudonym of Dean James, a native Mississippian who resides in Texas and is currently a librarian at the Texas Medical Center in Houston. He has written several scholarly articles and has collaborated with other authors. He has had nearly twenty novels published since 2000 using the pseudonyms Jimmie Ruth Evans, Honor Hartman, and Miranda James.