For fans of:  Carolyn Hart and Kate Kingsbury

When librarian Charlie Harris agrees to help old, rich James Delacorte perform an inventory of his rare book collection, the only excitement he expects to see is that which he’ll get from handling a three-volume first edition of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice or thumbing through a four-volume set of George Eliot’s Middlemarch.  But then Delacorte reveals to Charlie that he suspects one of the eccentric family members who live with him of stealing from his collection.  And shortly thereafter, Charlie finds Delacorte dead.  The police think the thefts and the murder might be linked, and therefore want Charlie to continue his inventory.  But then Charlie receives a threatening phone call, and another member of the Delacorte clan turns up dead.  Can Charlie help the police nab the thief and catch the killer before another victim falls prey?

Classified as Murder is the second in author Miranda James’ A Cat in the Stacks Mystery series (so named for Diesel, the thirty-three pound Maine coon cat who accompanies Charlie everywhere he goes).  Classified as Murder is your basic Agatha-Christie-style locked-room manor-house mystery; there isn’t a whole lot of gore or action, but the cast is packed to the gills with eccentric characters – all of whom appear to be guarding a secret or two (and every one of whom is a suspect).  The mystery is solid (though James unfortunately telegraphs the solution well in advance of the ending); the prose, while formal, has a nice flow; and though the pace is slow, the plot is engaging, nonetheless.

In my opinion, the book’s major weakness is its protagonist.  To be frank, I find Charlie Harris insufferable.  Judgmental, fussy, and overly proper, he comes off more like an octogenarian spinster than a sexagenarian widower.  Though James writes the strained relationship between Charlie and his adult son, Sean, quite brilliantly (I particularly love the scene between the two when Sean accuses Charlie of emotionally abandoning him after Sean’s mother’s death), it’s no wonder Sean is perpetually irritated with his father; Charlie’s passive-aggressive tendencies are obnoxious at best.  He’s even patronizing to his cat. 

It’s not that James doesn’t know how to write a good character; on the contrary, I was a big fan of the book’s more irreverent personalities.  Headstrong son Sean, flamboyant Delacorte-clan-member Stewart, perpetually irritated sheriff’s deputy Kanesha – all are fun to read and add texture and complexity to the story.  James would do well to add a dose of that to Charlie; it’s awfully difficult to get hooked on a series when you can’t bring yourself to root for the main character.  

In sum, Classified as Murder is a good, if not great, read, and if James can mange to rehabilitate her hero’s image a bit, I think her series could have real potential.

~ Kat