Book Review: Murder Past Due

Murder Past Due by Miranda James

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Cozy Mystery - a subgenre of the mystery genre, usually defined by the atomsphere of the book, such as the coofeeshop, the bookshop, the tea shop, knitting or other craft. Of all the cozy mysteries I have read, 99% feature a woman as the lead character who is unwittingly dragged into investigating the mystery.

This book is classified as a Cozy Mystery, in that it features a Maine Coon cat as the lead character, Disel. He is a fixture in town and goes everywhere with his owner, Charlie Harris. And his owner is what makes this different than all the other cozy mysteries I have read, Charlie Harris is actually Mr. Charles Harris, that's right, a gentleman! The first ever cozy mystery that I have read with a male in the lead role.

Charlie has moved back to his old hometown, after the death of his wife from cancer, and then shortly thereafter his Aunt, from whom he inherited the house he now resides in, the housekeeper, Azeala that sorta comes with, and the habit of having boarders from the local college. Life for Charlie revolves around working three days at the college rare books department, and volunteering one day a week at the local library, after having retired from running a library in Houston before his return to Athena.

In this first book in the series, we meet Charlie and get a feel for how wounded he still is from his wife's death, and how he has surrounded himself with Disel the cat, and no one else. The murder of a local man, went off to become a big writer and returning home for some glory, brings Charlie out of his shell, and reminds him that we need people in our lives.

As you are drawn into this book, you will find two mysteries unfolding at once, one about the authorship of the books, and one about the murder, and you find Charlie in the middle of it all, asked first by his housekeeper, Azeala to help her daughter, who happens to be the chief deputy in town, without her knowing it.

It was defintely a page turner and kept me hooked until the last page! Great read for anyone who love a good mystery!



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