Hiss Me Deadly
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 has 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!
The Details
Series: Cat in the Stacks Mystery – Book #15
Author: Miranda James
Genre/Category: Cozy – Amateur Sleuth/Pet
Publisher: Berkley
ISBN: 0593199499
Page Count: 320
Rating: 
The Review
Hiss Me Deadly is the fifteenth book in the “Cat in the Stacks” series. I have enjoyed this series from the beginning. I love Diesel and Charlie. In this book, former band members start dropping like flies when Wil, a native son of Athena, comes home to work with students at the local college’s music department. But someone decides that this music maker needs to die before he even gets started and will go to almost any length to make it happen.
The suspects in this addition are easy to spot, but the evidence doesn’t point to anyone in particular. When the killer is revealed, I felt let down. I knew who it was, even their motive, but I am never a fan of the killer being introduced in the last half of a book. The pace of this story was slower than I would have liked, and there was way too much eating and feeding Diesel. The side stories didn’t work for me as they seemed unnecessary to the plot. In and of themselves, they would have made a good story on their own and weren’t a necessary part of this book. There wasn’t all that much action, but that is not unusual for this series. The old high school band angle, I felt, was pushed a bit too much as the motive and lacked believability.
Charlie and Diesel are an incredible duo; they always have been. I can clearly see them walking down the sidewalk enjoying the weather or at a restaurant where Charlie would feed his beloved cat under the table. Other characters, such as Helen Louise and Melba and the other returning cast members, add fun and real life to this series and are invaluable to Charlie and his investigations. I was not crazy about the ending, as I wanted to know what happened to Wil and the band after the killer was caught, but we didn’t get those answers which made their stories feel unresolved. I did like that Charlie and Helen finally set a date for the wedding, and I can’t wait to read about it, hopefully in the next book. I enjoyed this book but not as much as I thought.
The Author
Readers will enjoy other books in this series, but they should start with the first one rather than in the middle or with the latest. Check out Dean’s website or social media for titles of all books and series, or send him a message.
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