Out of Circulation: A Cat in the Stacks Mystery

Humor and plenty of Southern charm buoy James’s fifth Cat in the Stacks mystery (after 2012’s File M for Murder). At the annual fundraising gala for the Friends of the Library, attended by the cream of Athena, Miss., society and held at the Ducote sisters’ stately antebellum mansion, someone does in Vera Cassity, the least popular belle of the ball. Enter widowed librarian Charlie Harris and Diesel, his Maine coon cat with an attitude. Was there a witness to the murder? Charlie’s maid, Azalea Berry, saw something, but she’s reluctant to say what. And since the sheriff considers Azalea a suspect, the maid’s deputy sheriff daughter, Kanesha, has been warned to stay off the case. Cozy fans will hope James (a pen name of Dean James) will keep Charlie and Diesel in action for years to come. Agent: Nancy Yost, Nancy Yost Literary Agency. (Feb.)