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A review by underwater_reader
File M for Murder by Miranda James
4.0
In the third book in the cat in the stacks series Charlie's daughter Laura comes home to Athena, MS from LA for a semester to teach an acting class and produce the school's play. Unfortunately, Laura's ex-fiance, Connor Lawton, comes too and he is not the nicest playwright in the theater. He's so awful that everyone he comes into contact with seems to have a reason to want him dead. So when he ends up murdered and eyes fall on Laura as the killer, Charlie and his faithful friend Diesel must solve the case and clear her name.
I really enjoy this series. I bought the first book on a whim before I was reading cozies because there was a Maine coon cat on the cover and the back synopsis told me it was about a librarian and his pet cat. I am also a librarian who owns a Maine coon cat! I love this series. I love Charlie and Diesel and all of the borders that are living in Charlie's antebellum house. I really enjoy James's writing style. I thought it might be difficult for me to connect to a male protagonist, but it isn't at all. Charlie is so charming and kind. The mysteries in this series are super complex and often delve into Charlie's youth in some way. The mystery in this book was really intricate and I could not for the life of me solve it. There were just too many possibilities. Without going too deep into spoiler territory, there were two murders that happen in the book and there were several attempts made on Laura's life. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I didn't really like Laura. I wasn't thrilled when Charlie's son Sean showed up in the last book, but he grew on me and I ended up really liking him. I was hoping the same would happen with Laura in this one, but it just didn't. I couldn't connect to her at all and I thought she made way too many stupid decisions. If she stays in Athena instead of returning to LA hopefully she will grow on me or at least be less of a character in the following books.
The mystery, when it was solved, fell kind of flat for me. It didn't have that typical confrontation between the murderer and the protagonist that most cozies have. One quote towards the end summed it up pretty well,"It was all rather anticlimactic, as it turned out."
Overall, I loved this book just like I love this series. This one was not my favorite in the series so far, but I still really liked it. I give it four stars, more like 3.5 rounded up because I just love Diesel so much! I will definitely keep reading this series!
Some favorite quotes:
"A good book is a good book, I've always thought, whatever the genre. I had no patience for snobbery when it came to fiction reading." (34)
"'How did you find that out?" Sean sounded incredulous.
"Well, I am a librarian, you know." I grinned at them. "We know how to find things out."(254)
I really enjoy this series. I bought the first book on a whim before I was reading cozies because there was a Maine coon cat on the cover and the back synopsis told me it was about a librarian and his pet cat. I am also a librarian who owns a Maine coon cat! I love this series. I love Charlie and Diesel and all of the borders that are living in Charlie's antebellum house. I really enjoy James's writing style. I thought it might be difficult for me to connect to a male protagonist, but it isn't at all. Charlie is so charming and kind. The mysteries in this series are super complex and often delve into Charlie's youth in some way. The mystery in this book was really intricate and I could not for the life of me solve it. There were just too many possibilities. Without going too deep into spoiler territory, there were two murders that happen in the book and there were several attempts made on Laura's life. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I didn't really like Laura. I wasn't thrilled when Charlie's son Sean showed up in the last book, but he grew on me and I ended up really liking him. I was hoping the same would happen with Laura in this one, but it just didn't. I couldn't connect to her at all and I thought she made way too many stupid decisions. If she stays in Athena instead of returning to LA hopefully she will grow on me or at least be less of a character in the following books.
The mystery, when it was solved, fell kind of flat for me. It didn't have that typical confrontation between the murderer and the protagonist that most cozies have. One quote towards the end summed it up pretty well,"It was all rather anticlimactic, as it turned out."
Overall, I loved this book just like I love this series. This one was not my favorite in the series so far, but I still really liked it. I give it four stars, more like 3.5 rounded up because I just love Diesel so much! I will definitely keep reading this series!
Some favorite quotes:
"A good book is a good book, I've always thought, whatever the genre. I had no patience for snobbery when it came to fiction reading." (34)
"'How did you find that out?" Sean sounded incredulous.
"Well, I am a librarian, you know." I grinned at them. "We know how to find things out."(254)