Checking Out Crime

Zusatztext Praise for Laurie Cass "Charming...Librarian Minnie Hamilton is kindhearted, loyal, and resourceful. And her furry sidekick, Eddie, is equal parts charm and cat-titude."-- New York Times bestselling author Sofie Kelly "A likable heroine, feisty and opinionated cat, and multidimensional small-town characters."--Kings River Life Magazine "With humor and panache, Cass delivers an intriguing mystery and interesting characters."--Bristol Herald Courier (VA) "Almost impossible to put down...Filled with humor and warmth."--MyShelf.com Informationen zum Autor Laurie Cass is the national bestselling author of the Bookmobile Cat Mystery series. Klappentext Librarian Minnie Hamilton and her clever cat Eddie solve a purr-fect murder, in the newest installment of the delightful Bookmobile Cat Mystery series. Minnie and her rescue cat Eddie can often be found out and about in their bookmobile near Chilson, Michigan, delivering great reads to grateful patrons all over the county. But they always brake for trouble, and when Minnie sees a car speeding away down the road, and soon comes upon a dead bicyclist, she assumes she just missed seeing a hit-and-run. Minnie is determined to discover who was behind the wheel, but it soon turns out that things are far more complicated than they seem and there's more to this case than meets the eye. Luckily, this librarian is ready to read the killer his rights. Leseprobe Chapter 1 When we're children, we have all sorts of expectations. We expect to go to school. To learn things. Make friends. Memorize locker combinations. We also expect that someday we'll do things. Maybe great things. That we'll go forth and conquer. Be successful. Marry. Have children. Travel. For me, the husband and child predictions had been a bit fuzzy, but my career expectations had been specific. At the ripe old age of seven, I decided I wanted to work in a library because then I'd be able to read all day and no one would order me to put my book down and go outside and play because otherwise my eyes were going to get stuck and I'd have to wear progressively stronger glasses the rest of my life. In due course, I followed through with my decision and was now, at age thirty-five, the happy assistant director of a library in Chilson, Michigan, a lakeshore town in northwest lower Michigan. What I hadn't expected was that I'd be living on a houseboat and driving a bookmobile with a cat as my copilot. But it was an adorable houseboat, running the bookmobile program was tremendously rewarding, and the cat . . . well, he somehow made everything shinier. Most of the time, anyway. It was a fresh September morning. Birds were singing, the sun was shining, and I was humming to myself as I tidied up after breakfast, when my feline companion started making troubling noises. "Eddie," I asked, "what are you doing?" Catlike, he didn't say a thing. Which could have been because he was busy trying to get his nose into the tiny gap at the back of the houseboat's dinette seats. More likely, he didn't feel like responding. And, since he was a cat, whatever he didn't feel like doing, he didn't do. "There are days," I said, "that I wish I were more like you." Eddie's yellow eyes flicked in my direction, then away. For once, reading between the kitty lines was easy. "Yes, I know that anyone with any sense wishes to be a cat in general, and you in particular, but not everyone has sense, now, do they?" My black-and-white tabby abruptly abandoned his efforts, jumped to the floor, and bumped the top of his head against the back of my leg. Since Eddie is a good-sized cat, this popped my leg forward against the kitchen cabinet. "Ow!" I tossed the dish towel onto the tiny counter and rubbed my knee. ...

Autorentext

Laurie Cass is the national bestselling author of the Bookmobile Cat Mystery series.

Klappentext

Librarian Minnie Hamilton and her clever cat Eddie solve a purr-fect murder, in the newest installment of the delightful Bookmobile Cat Mystery series.

Minnie and her rescue cat Eddie can often be found out and about in their bookmobile near Chilson, Michigan, delivering great reads to grateful patrons all over the county. But they always brake for trouble, and when Minnie sees a car speeding away down the road, and soon comes upon a dead bicyclist, she assumes she just missed seeing a hit-and-run.

Minnie is determined to discover who was behind the wheel, but it soon turns out that things are far more complicated than they seem and there's more to this case than meets the eye. Luckily, this librarian is ready to read the killer his rights.

Leseprobe

Chapter 1

When we're children, we have all sorts of expectations. We expect to go to school. To learn things. Make friends. Memorize locker combinations. We also expect that someday we'll do things. Maybe great things. That we'll go forth and conquer. Be successful. Marry. Have children. Travel.

For me, the husband and child predictions had been a bit fuzzy, but my career expectations had been specific. At the ripe old age of seven, I decided I wanted to work in a library because then I'd be able to read all day and no one would order me to put my book down and go outside and play because otherwise my eyes were going to get stuck and I'd have to wear progressively stronger glasses the rest of my life.

In due course, I followed through with my decision and was now, at age thirty-five, the happy assistant director of a library in Chilson, Michigan, a lakeshore town in northwest lower Michigan. What I hadn't expected was that I'd be living on a houseboat and driving a bookmobile with a cat as my copilot. But it was an adorable houseboat, running the bookmobile program was tremendously rewarding, and the cat . . . well, he somehow made everything shinier.

Most of the time, anyway.

It was a fresh September morning. Birds were singing, the sun was shining, and I was humming to myself as I tidied up after breakfast, when my feline companion started making troubling noises. "Eddie," I asked, "what are you doing?"

Catlike, he didn't say a thing. Which could have been because he was busy trying to get his nose into the tiny gap at the back of the houseboat's dinette seats. More likely, he didn't feel like responding. And, since he was a cat, whatever he didn't feel like doing, he didn't do.

"There are days," I said, "that I wish I were more like you."

Eddie's yellow eyes flicked in my direction, then away.

For once, reading between the kitty lines was easy. "Yes, I know that anyone with any sense wishes to be a cat in general, and you in particular, but not everyone has sense, now, do they?"

My black-and-white tabby abruptly abandoned his efforts, jumped to the floor, and bumped the top of his head against the back of my leg. Since Eddie is a good-sized cat, this popped my leg forward against the kitchen cabinet.

"Ow!" I tossed the dish towel onto the tiny counter and rubbed my knee. "That's proof. Washing breakfast dishes is hazardous to my health."

"Mrr."

"A bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice is the definition of breakfast, my furry friend. At least for all five feet of Minnie Hamilton." I eyeballed myself from toe to shoulder. Other youthful expectations of mine had been that I'd grow taller than my mother and that my freakishly curly black hair would magically straighten. I'd given up on the height thing, but there was always a chance my hair would fix itself someday.

"Ready, Freddie?" I opened the door of the cat carrier. Eddie trotted inside, flopped onto his soft pink blanket, and glared at me.

"Giving me The Look won't get us there any faster," I told him.

"Mrr," he said, and kept on saying that as I carried him into my car, as we pulled out of the marina parking lot and drove past the house where I'd soon be living, and the entire time we drove through downtown Chilson and to the library.

Downtown, with its…