Thursday, June 22, 2023

Review: Hiss Me Deadly by Miranda James

 



About the Book


Genre
Cozy Mystery

Format
E-ARC

Publisher
Berkley

Release Date
June 27, 2023


Synopsis from Goodreads:

Charlie and Diesel must catch a killer before he strikes another deadly note in this latest installment of the New York Times bestselling Cat in the Stacks Mysteries.

Charlie Harris remembers Wilfred “Wil” Threadgill as one of the outsiders during high school in Athena. Although Wil was a couple of years ahead of him and his friend Melba Gilley, Melba had a big crush on Wil, who dropped out after his junior year. An aspiring musician, Wil hit the road for California and never looked back. Wil eventually became a star, fronting a band and writing award-winning songs.

Coming back to Athena to work for two weeks with students in the college music department, Wil is now the big man on campus. Not everyone is happy to have him back, however. His entourage have been the target of several acts of petty harassment. At first they are easy for Wil to shrug off, but the incidents escalate and become more troubling. When one of the band members is killed Charlie worries that Melba, now deeply involved with the man at the center of the attacks, could be in deadly danger. It is up to Charlie and Diesel to find out who hates Wil Threadgill enough to silence his song . . . forever!

My Review

Charlie Harris has his hands full with family problems.  When his good friend Melba Gilley begs him to help her, he can’t say no. 

A former high school friend of theirs, Wil Threadgill, returns to Athena and turns the town upside down.  Many of the people he left behind are conflicted with their feelings about him.  Melba is one of those people.  It doesn’t take long before they discover someone is after Wil.  Someone close to him is murdered.  They realize Wil is in more danger than they thought.

Charlie agrees to help Wil and Melba get to the bottom of this and his handsome maine coon kitty, Diesel, is right by his side for all of it.  Charlie is surprised to find out there are quite a few people who are angry with Wil, but who is angry enough to kill?

This is the 15th book in the Cat in the Stacks series and I loved every minute of it.  This is one of my favorite cozy mystery series and it did not disappoint.  I haven’t read all the books in the series, but I’ve read six of them and plan to do some catching up soon.  

The relationship between Charlie and Diesel, of course, is my favorite part of these books.  I love how Charlie takes Diesel with him everywhere.  I’m, also, enjoying Charlie’s relationships with the humans in his life.  All the characters are well-rounded and realistic.

The plot is intriguing, captivating and difficult to guess whodunit.  I didn’t realize it until the last couple of chapters.  It is a fast-paced book that I couldn’t put down.

Miranda James is a master storyteller and never lets me down.  I’m hoping the next book will be out soon.  Until then, I’m going to be playing catch up with this series.



For reading challenges:

The Purrfect Reading Challenge 2023
What An Animal Reading Challenge 2023
Cruisin’ thru the Cozies Reading Challenge 2023
NetGalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge 2023


FTC Disclosure: I voluntarily reviewed a free Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.  All opinions expressed are my own.


3 comments:

  1. I'm about to start this series and am so looking forward to it! Diesel may be my favorite cozy sidekick.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It sounds like it's a page-turner.

    ReplyDelete

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