Hiss Me Deadly by Miranda James

Available June 27, 2023

Rated: 4 cats

Charlie and Diesel don't remember Wil Threadgill from high school but Wil's a household name now, 40 years later, and he certainly remembers Charlie! When Wil Threadgill asks to meet with Charlie and his famous crime-solving cat, little do they know just how many mysteries will need solving and just how much danger they'll all be facing before the curtain comes down on Wil's visit to Athena.

This is the long-awaited 15th book in the Cat in the Stacks series. In the acknowledgements at the end, the author thanks the readers for being patient and offers some cryptic reasonings behind the delay. To be fair, the gap between this book and the last was not an excessively long one, book 14 having been released less than two years ago (though this can seem a lifetime in the fast-paced world of cozy mysteries).

Charlie and Diesel have a lot going on besides murder. Diesel is still dealing with his annoying little brother Ramses, Charlie and Helen Louise are finally nailing down their wedding plans, and something is rotten in the state of Denmark (Denmark being Charlie's son Sean and his wife Alex). All these goings on made for an exciting backstory for the murders themselves. We also get a glimpse into Athena's sordid past as Charlie and Melba try to figure out what could have happened all those decades ago that would cause someone to seek revenge so many years later. This is further complicated by the fact that the murders seem completely unconnected with the exception of the victims' connection to Wil. With Wil at the center, is he behind it all? Or is he simply being subjected to the horror of having to watch those around him picked off before he meets his own fate?

Overall this is probably one of the more exciting books in this series, which is one I have been reading since very early on. I look forward to many more to come!