It’s National Library Week, and the librarians at the Athena Public Library are planning a display about teen girl detectives, as well as an exhibit to honor the famous author Electra Barnes Cartwright of the Veronica Thane series. Charlie's got a soft spot for the girl detective stories, as well as a collection of her books that he inherited from his Aunt Dottie. When Electra Barnes Cartwright agrees to make a public appearance, the news of her being alive and her whereabouts goes viral overnight, and Veronica Thane devotees and book collectors ascend on Athena. There's also a rumor going around that Cartwright has 5 unpublished Veronica Thane manuscripts, and one serious fan will stop at nothing to get a hold of the books, even if it means killing someone.

This mystery has a nice book in a book plot with Charlie rereading one of his books in the Veronica Thane series whose plot helps him solve the main stories mystery. Charlie's relationship with Diesel is so realistically you can see the two of them walking down the streets of Athena, Diesel in his harness and Charlie stopping to visit with friends or just waving at people as they pass. Diesel is also intuitive to when people need a little comfort during tense and difficult situations. Charlie, his son Sean, and his daughter Laura have all grown closer into together, and each of them have found love and maybe potential spouses. The mystery is full of twists and turns with plenty of secrets that are revealed that make the conclusion even more of a surprise.

The library where Charlie volunteers is setting up a classic girl detective display when they discover that the author of the Veronica Thane series is not dead. They visit her to see if she is able and willing to come to the library to give a talk. She agrees and collectors of her books are coming out of the woodwork to meet her. Then the president of her fan club is found dead. Why?

I love Charlie and Diesel as they solve mysteries. I, once again, failed to discover the murderer before Charlie explained it. I enjoyed the story and would love to see what Diesel looks like. Everyone has an opinion. The characters are an interesting lot. The side mystery was fun especially when solved. I like the recurring characters as well as the new ones brought in for this book. I learned a lot about the girl detectives series of the past.

This is an excellent book: well-written and well-plotted as is the rest of the series so far.  In fact, I probably enjoyed this one more than the previous four, as the mystery revolved around a children's mystery series (think Nancy Drew) author thought dead but very much alive and the five unpublished manuscripts she's squirrelled away all these years.  Charlie's re-read of one of his childhood favorite reads by the author helps him solve a very clever crime.

 

In spite of the quality of the story and writing, I've decided I'm going to drop the series from my reading lists.  I just can't get excited about reading them even though I know they are better than average, so rather than buying them only to have them languish on my TBR piles, contributing to the structural instability, I'm just going to say good-bye with high recommendations to anyone who might enjoy a slower paced mystery with a more sedate, mature MC.

Folks,

 

We don’t just want to do something, we want to do the very best we can. Right now CJ is laying in a hospital bed while they pump poison into his veins for four straight days…96 hours. Can you imagine that? Forget about how utterly horrible it would make you feel to have that stuff entering your body. Forget about how uncomfortable it would be to stay in the same place for all that time wondering if this time it’s actually going to work. Just think about how expensive that must be to lay in that bed for four days constantly getting medication. My husband was in the hospital for just the weekend getting saline in his veins and that was over $25,000 for just two nights of basically salt water.

 

CJ doesn’t have a job that gives him medical leave, or disability, or even basic health care. If CJ can’t work, CJ doesn’t get paid. Can you imagine worrying about that while lying in that hospital bed? Worrying about your wife and daughter, your mother-in-law, all who depend on you to provide their basic needs? Heck, worrying about all the convention organizers and fans you are disappointing each time you have no choice but to cancel a show…that’s what CJ’s doing. I know because CJ is my friend and I hear these things.

 

Let me say it again, we DON’T just want to do something, we want to do the VERY BEST we can. That doesn’t just mean meeting our campaign goal. That doesn’t mean hitting a few stretch goals. That means blowing them all out of the water. We need your help for that. We are providing our time, effort, and talent for absolutely NO compensation beyond the satisfaction that we are doing everything we can to help our friend, a man who has given so much to the fannish community in time and enjoyment and brilliant writing. In answering the hopeful author’s questions and offering guidance to those just starting out. CJ doesn’t just look out for himself, he keeps an eye out for all of us and does a good turn where he can.

 

We aren’t asking much, just return the favor. Chip in a few bucks to get a fantastic anthology. Post or Like or Share our updates on what we are doing and why. Maybe even dance a little…for a good cause. All it takes is a click of a button. Maybe one day of bringing your lunch to work. The sacrifice of the smallest bit of your dignity. Not much. But together think what we can accomplish with those little efforts. Everyone who pledges even just $10 gets an anthology full of high-quality stories by authors at the top of the industry. If we hit stretch goals there are a ton of perks that come with it. Free ebooks. Free music. Free audiobooks. Extra stories. We take this high enough and you get more than one anthology and CJ gets just a little bit of breathing room.

 

Keep those monkeys dancing and keep those nickels coming!

 

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/monkeying-around-for-a-good-cause/x/6753223

You can see my January wrap up post @ my blog, The Silence in the Library