When the mayor donates the recently discovered American Civil War diaries of her husband's great x 3 grandmother to the archive, an academic and a journalist are both very keen to get their hands on them. A storm in a teacup until the diaries are stolen from Charlie's office and the academic is killed in a hit-and-run.

Another fun read which doesn't tax the brain. And the bonus short story is sweet. ( )

A lovely cozy that was a total page turner. The kind of book that keeps you up past your bedtime wanting to know what will happen next. Especially love Diesel the Maine Coone kitty! ( )

Summary: Charlie, a university archivist, is given diaries from the Civil War to authenticate because the contents might help a local politician. When the diaries are stolen and one of the parties interested in the diaries is murdered, Charlie decides to investigate with the help of his cat Diesel.

My Rating:
3/5

I had a very complicated relationship with this book. There was a point, early on where it almost was a DNF. Then, there were several times I thought it was going to be a 4 star read.

This is my first Cat in the Stacks mystery but Arsenic and Old Books it isn't the first in the series and that may have impacted my reading experience.

Let's start with what I enjoyed.

I absolutely loved Diesel the Cat. He was probably my favorite character in the book.

I also really enjoyed the mysteries. We have the mystery of the stolen diaries, the murder, and then there is a mystery within the diary themselves. All of them had me eagerly turning pages and excited to get the next clue.

We are shown snippets of the diary and it was wonderfully balanced. There was enough from the diary that I wanted more but it didn't overwhelm the stories (as can happen when there is a book within a book). I thought the balance of the present mystery with the diary was just about perfect and I never felt bored when we switched to the diary to learn about what had happened during the Civil War.

Unfortunately, there were also several things in the book that didn't work for me.

Early in the book, and one of the reasons it was almost a DNF, there was quite a bit of info dumping. I think that was because the author was trying to catch us up on the characters in Charlie's world but for me it was too much too fast. I also didn't feel like I necessarily needed to know about characters who played very small roles or no roles in the story.

I also did not like the portrayal of the person who was murdered and Charlie's attitude towards them. I know that is many mysteries the person who is murdered is awful but I felt like Charlie's interactions with the victim made them seem awful but not for reasons they should have seemed awful. I know that is a bit vague but trying not to spoil anything.

Another issue I had was that the back of the book suggested to me that Charlie would be in danger as he tried to solve the mystery but I didn't feel much suspense in this book or worry that Charlie would be harmed as he investigated.

For me, the biggest issue I had with this book was the ending. Not only did I not love the resolution of the primary mystery but I hated the way the reveal happened. It was very abrupt.

I think the best way to summarize my feelings for this book was we had a slow start then things sped up and I was loving the ride, then we stumbled pretty hard at the end.

I can't really recommend this book because of how disappointed I was at the way the book ended but it wasn't a bad ride to that point either. ( )

Pretty insipid cozy dealing with Civil War era diaries that become the target of theft and mayhem as two political candidates each become convinced that the contents will destroy his opponent.

James is generous in doling out clues, and most readers will have figured things out long before the book's cast does.

The main character, college librarian Charlie Harris, is a beige character throughout. The reader never really finds out much about him, except that he is owned by Diesel, a Maine Coon cat.

This volume is part of a series "A Cat in the Stacks", but does little to tempt the reader to find additional volumes. It also includes a bonus short story, "When Charlie Met Diesel". ( )

Enjoyed the story but really liked the short story at the end with the meeting between Charlie and Diesel.