HISS ME DEADLY

Hiss Me Deadly by Miranda James is the fifteenth A Cat in the Stacks Mystery. It is hard to believe that we have had fourteen adventures with Charlie and Diesel. If you are new to the series, I would recommend starting with one of the earlier books in the series. Charlie and Diesel find themselves caught up in a mystery when musician and composer Wil Threadgill returns to Athena after forty years. Wil has a bad feeling that something is wrong within his entourage. He is hoping Charlie and Diesel will have some insights. I found that to be vague and odd. Then an old friend and high school bandmate of Wil's end up dead. Charlie is not very hands on in this investigation. He does ask some questions (that's it). There are a couple of incidents that happen to other people, but we are not privy to them. We are only told about them. The whodunit can be solved before the reveal. I felt the mystery was lacking. There is no sleuthing and no action. There was a subplot involving Wil that added nothing to the book. The story moves along lethargically. All our favorite characters are present including the adorable Diesel (love his warbles and chirps). We get to follow Charlie as he goes about his day-to-day life (getting up and having breakfast, feeding the cats, heading off to work, talking to Sean, etc.). His son, Sean, has an issue with his wife regarding her coming back to work and their new home. He seeks his father's advice and so does Charlie's daughter-in-law. There is lots of talking and eating in this installment. Melba acted like a lovesick fool. There was even a moment of jealousy which I thought was out of line. Hiss Me Deadly is my least favorite book in A Cat in the Stacks Mysteries. It needed some oomph (action, humor, sleuthing). I was not a fan of the foul language in the book. There was too much of it and it was unneeded. I am glad that Charlie and Helen Louise are in a good place. I am looking forward to their nuptials. Hiss Me Deadly takes us back to Athena with a returning rocker, an electric killing, curious occurrences, a chirruping cat, a family fuss, a dwelling decision, and matrimonial determinations.