This time Diesel and Charlie have to find out who murdered Vera Cassity when Azalea, Charlie's housekeeper, becomes the prime suspect. I liked how Charlie becomes the one that Kanesha turns to for help when she is taken off the investigation because her mother is the chief suspect. She always has gotten mad with Charlie in the past but now she needs his skills to help keep her mother from being arrested. Once again, I figured out the family but not the right member who murdered Vera. I love these characters. I also like seeing how Charlie and his children are relearning each other and living together. I loved the Ducote Sisters and their plan to negate someone who is constantly behaving badly. I look forward to the next installment. ( )

3.5 stars

This is the 4th in the series. Vera is on the library board and everyone in town seems to hate her. She is found dead at the bottom of the stairs during a fundraising event by Charlie’s housekeeper, Azalea. Although Azalea hated Vera (for some reason she will not disclose to Charlie), it appears there was no way she could have pushed Vera down the stairs. But someone could have.

As with many cozy mysteries, it took some time to set things up, including introducing the characters and conflicts with Vera. I do like many of the characters and I love Diesel the Maine Coon cat. This is a good story. ( )

A practically universally loathed member of the library board is killed at a charity fancy-dress party and Azalea, Charlie Harris's housekeeper, is found with the body.

Another fun outing for Charlie and Diesel and the other denizens of Athena ( )

Out of Circulation is the fourth Cat in the Stacks mystery. The cat is a rescued Maine Coon named Diesel for the loudness of his purr. His rescuer is a librarian named Charlie Harris. They live in fictional Athena, Mississippi.

Our book opens in Charlie's house, where he's expecting something he finds unsettling: a confrontation. He joins under the orders of Miss An'gel Ducote, who has been ordering Athena's citizens around for most of her 80+ years. Vera Cassity is not going to let Miss An'gel tell her what to do. The object of contention is the same as it is every year the Friends of the Athena Public Library board members are discussing their fundraising winter gala. The Ducote sisters want it held at their 1823 River Hill mansion, which has been in their family since it was built. Mrs. Cassity wants it held at Ranelagh, the antebellum mansion she and her husband Morton ('Morty') bought 15 years ago. Vera is the grande dame wannabe. I'm not getting the impression that anyone else would like for her to obtain her goal. (Charlie, now 52, inherited his house from his Aunt Dottie. He spent much of his adult life in Texas, where his wife Jackie died. So he's part of the town, yet being away so long means he's not always up on the undercurrents.)

We soon learn that Sissy Beauchamp, one of the board members, and Vera Cassity loathe each other. We're also treated to a morsel of juicy gossip about them, not long after a morsel about Vera's brother, Amory Hobson. Meow! Charlie and his boarder, Stewart Delacorte, are both new members of the board. Stewart is definitely on the Ducote sisters' side. No one likes Vera, so no points for guessing which side Charlie chooses. If you enjoy barbed conversation delivered in mock-sweet tones, you'll have fun with this scene.

After that meeting, Charlie decides he and Diesel need a break at the delicious-sounding patisserie owned by their dear friend, Helen Louise Brady. There we're introduced to Sissy's brother, who has the high-falutin name Henry Ainsworth Beauchamp IV. (At least he has the sense to go by 'Hank'.) There's obviously tension between them, but they're not sharing in public.

See book one, Murder Past Due, for more about Charlie's younger boarder, Justin Wardlaw. See book two, Classified As Murder, for the first meeting of Charlie's son, Sean, and the lovely Alexandra Pendergrast, daughter of the Ducotes' lawyer, Q. C. Pendergrast. (Book two is also where we were introduced to Stewart Delacorte and his champagne-colored poodle, Dante. Luckily, Dante and Diesel are friends.) We met Laura Harris, Charlie's daughter, in book three, Classified As Murder. She's dating one of the local professors, Frank Salisbury. Charlie is hoping Frank can persuade Laura to stay in Athena.

Vera Cassity may not be popular in Athena, but someone who truly despises her is Azalea Berry, Charlie's housekeeper. She's African-American and works for Charlie by her choice, not her daughter's. Azalea won't tell Charlie what she has against Vera, but she tells him that if he lets that woman back in his house, his late aunt will haunt him and Azalea herself won't come back.

Stewart and Justin give us more information about Vera Cassity in chapter four. She's Stewart's godmother because she and his mother were high school best friends. Vera doesn't approve of Stewart being gay, so they see very little of each other.

Vera gets a chance to show off how nasty she can be when she tries to bully Charlie into letting her see papers that cannot be viewed by the public without written permission from the donating family or their legal representative.

The festive gala lets us find out who is the favorite literary character for our hero and his supporting cast. It's also the scene of the crime. Whoever did it made sure that Azalea was trapped with the corpse. Sheriff Tidwell decides that Azalea is the one who did it. Her daughter, Chief Deputy Kanesha Berry, tells Charlie he's going to have to help clear her.

NOTES:

Chapter 5:

a. See Classified As Murder for how Athena College acquired the Delacorte Collection.

b. Charlie believes that Beauregard Ducote was one of the founders of Athena.

Chapter 6 contains Charlie's visit to River Hill, with some description of the place. It also mentions a photo Aunt Dottie took of Charlie after he'd been making mud pies when he was a child.

Chapter 8: The Biblical saying that Charlie quotes correctly is Proverbs chapter 16, verse 18. (I am also annoyed when it's misquoted.)

Chapter 9: Look here for which literary characters Charlie and Helen Louise chose for the the big gala (wearing costumes in new for the gala). The Ducote sisters have chosen to portray two of Elizabeth Peters' heroines.

Chapter 10 gives us more characters' chosen costumes.

Chapter 11 gives us even more costumes.

Chapter 12 shows us how the Ducote sisters have spiked Vera's guns.

Chapter 14: Charlie has known Azalea for a long time. He'd met her during several visits to his Aunt Dottie, for whom Azalea started to work 2 years ago. Azalea has been working for Charlie for four years. As he puts it, 'I inherited Azalea along with the house. I had little say in the matter.'

Chapter 15:

a. Diesel takes advantage of Azalea's upset state to get her to decide he's not so bad after all.

b. Look here for the childish nicknames Sean and Laura have for each other.

c. Laura found the body in book three, Fire M for Murder.

Chapter 17: We find out what Azalea had against Vera. Perjury was involved. We also find out what Azalea thinks of Charlie.

/hapter 19: Vera's late mother was Essie Mae Hobson. Her father was Jedediah, as we learn in chapter 20.

Chapter 23 has some descriptions of Helen Louise Brady's home.

Chapter 25 has a description of Beauchamp House.

Chapter 26 tells us a bit about the Ducote papers. Also, Diesel weighs 36 pounds (16.3 kilograms).

Chapter 27:

a. The Ducote sisters' parents were Richard and Katherine Cecelia (she went by her middle name, but Dick called her 'Kitce') Ducote.

b. Cecelia Ducote's mother's Great-Aunt Matilda's granddaughter was Esther McMullen.

c. Dickse Ducote's name is actually Richelle.

Chapter 29: Azalea's sister, Lily, used to work for the Beauchamps. In chapter 30, we meet Lily.

Chapter 30: Vera's middle name was Micaela. Her brother Amory's name is McMullen.

Chapter 32: Here Aunt Lily calls Kanesha 'Nesha.

This is an enjoyable series and this entry is no exception. There were some unexpected revelations in it. I feel more sorry for the killer than the victim. The extra Christmas present Laura gives Charlie at the end was particularly nice. (I like the image of Diesel and Dante playing with boxes, wrapping paper, and ribbons.)

Cat lovers: Of course the magnificent Diesel has plenty of page time.

Dog lovers will have to be content with two small scenes for Dante the poodle. ( )

When you are the town busybody and have antagonized so many people in your community, it’s a big job to narrow down the suspect list when you turn up murdered. This was Vera’s plight and Charlie’s quest. He is hard-pressed to find the real killer when his beloved housekeeper becomes a person of interest to the sheriff, her daughter having been taken off the case. There are some twists and turns in this cozy as well as some developments in the characters’ lives. This entertaining cozy has books, a cat, a dog, the murder of a scoundrel, and it’s Christmas - what more is there! ( )