Reading Order
Miranda James Books in Order
Quick answer
Read the Cat in the Stacks mysteries in publication order, starting with Murder Past Due (2010). There are 17 books as of October 2026, and the newest is Something Whiskered (2025), in which Charlie and Helen Louise go to Ireland on their honeymoon. Its paperback came out September 29, 2026. No book 18 has been announced yet. Miranda James also wrote the four-book Southern Ladies spinoff (2014–2017), set in the same town. Read it any time after Out of Circulation (book 4), the book where the Ducote sisters first take center stage.
Miranda James is the pen name of Dean James, a mystery writer and longtime librarian. Both series are set in Athena, a small college town in Mississippi. Charlie Harris is a widowed librarian, and Diesel is the leash-trained Maine Coon who goes everywhere with him. Below: every book with its year, a spoiler-free one-line setup, what's confirmed about book 18, and a checklist you can print. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Cat in the Stacks Books in Order
| # | Title | Year | Setup (no spoilers) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Murder Past Due | 2010 | Charlie's old high-school classmate, now a bestselling novelist, comes home to Athena and doesn't leave alive. |
| 2 | Classified as Murder | 2011 | An elderly collector hires Charlie to work out who is quietly stealing from his rare-book library. |
| 3 | File M for Murder | 2012 | A famous playwright arrives as writer-in-residence; when he is killed, Charlie's daughter Laura is the obvious suspect. |
| 4 | Out of Circulation | 2013 | The Ducote sisters feud with Vera Cassity over the library gala, and the gala ends in murder. |
| 5 | The Silence of the Library | 2014 | A library exhibit on a long-reclusive author of vintage girl-sleuth novels draws her fans to Athena. |
| 6 | Arsenic and Old Books | 2015 | The mayor gives a set of Civil War diaries to the college archive, and several people want them badly. |
| 7 | No Cats Allowed | 2016 | The new library director bans cats and goes after Charlie's friend Melba, then turns up dead in the library. |
| 8 | Twelve Angry Librarians | 2017 | Charlie's old nemesis gives a keynote nobody likes at a librarians' conference, and the conference gets a body. |
| 9 | Claws for Concern | 2018 | Charlie is a brand-new grandfather when the next case finds him and Diesel. |
| 10 | Six Cats a Slayin' | 2018 | The Christmas one: five kittens on the doorstep, then a murder at a neighbor's holiday party. |
| 11 | The Pawful Truth | 2019 | Charlie signs up for a history class and a classmate is murdered. |
| 12 | Careless Whiskers | 2020 | An actor dies on stage after drinking from a glass Laura handed him. |
| 13 | Cat Me If You Can | 2020 | Charlie, Diesel and Helen Louise head to Asheville for a mystery readers' club retreat that turns deadly. |
| 14 | What the Cat Dragged In | 2021 | Charlie inherits his grandfather's house and finds a skeleton in a closet. |
| 15 | Hiss Me Deadly | 2023 | A rock star comes home to Athena, and the harassment aimed at him escalates. |
| 16 | Requiem for a Mouse | 2024 | A woman working at Helen Louise's bistro is attacked, and her past turns out to be full of surprises. |
| 17 | Something Whiskered | 2025 | Charlie and Helen Louise's Irish honeymoon reaches a family castle just as a body falls from the roof. |
Years are first US publication. Most of these came out in hardcover or mass-market paperback from Berkley, and a later edition sometimes has a different year printed on it. A detail worth knowing: books 14 and 15 are listed the other way round on some sites. What the Cat Dragged In (2021) is book 14 and Hiss Me Deadly (2023) is book 15, which is how the publisher numbers them.
Is There a Chronological Order?
No separate order is needed. The books are written in story order, and Charlie's life moves forward with them: his children Sean and Laura grow up, find partners and start families, and his long courtship of Helen Louise Brady ends in marriage just before book 17. That running family story is the only reason order matters. Each murder is solved in the book where it happens.
Where to Start
Start with Murder Past Due. It sets up Charlie's return to Athena, the boarders in his house and his volunteer work at the archive. If a friend has handed you a later book, don't worry. Every book stands on its own, and the most you'll lose is a few surprises about Charlie's family.
If you only want to sample the series, read book 1 and then Six Cats a Slayin’ (book 10), the Christmas entry. It is a favorite December reread, and it shows how much the household has grown.
What's Next: Book 18
Confirmed Something Whiskered is book 17. Berkley published it in hardcover on July 29, 2025, and the paperback followed on September 29, 2026 (Penguin Random House and retailer listings, checked October 2026).
Not confirmed Book 18 has no title, cover or release date. Neither the publisher nor the author's book listings show one as of October 2026. Some fan sites say it is expected in 2027, but we could not trace that date to an announcement. Treat it as a guess until Berkley lists the book.
The series has usually produced a book a year since 2023, so a 2027 book would fit the pattern. That is a pattern, though, not a promise. Look out for a Penguin Random House listing for book 18.
Southern Ladies Mysteries in Order
An’gel and Dickce Ducote are two sisters in their eighties who have run Athena society for decades. They live at Riverhill, their family home, and they have no patience for a murderer in the guest room. The spinoff is a shade sharper and funnier than Cat in the Stacks, and Southern manners do much of the detective work.
| # | Title | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bless Her Dead Little Heart | 2014 |
| 2 | Dead with the Wind | 2015 |
| 3 | Digging Up the Dirt | 2016 |
| 4 | Fixing to Die | 2017 |
The four books came out between 2014 and 2017, and no fifth has been announced. Where they fit: both series share the same town and characters, and the crossovers go both ways. Charlie and Diesel show up in the sisters' books, and the sisters show up in his. Nothing in either series depends on the other. We recommend reading Cat in the Stacks in order and slotting the Southern Ladies books in once you've met the Ducotes in Out of Circulation. If you love the sisters more than the librarian, you can also read all four back to back.
Other Books by Dean James
Before Miranda James, Dean James wrote mysteries under his own name and as Jimmie Ruth Evans (the Trailer Park Mysteries, 2005–2008). Those books are not connected to Athena. If you're here for Charlie and Diesel, the 21 books above are the whole set.
Adaptations and Audiobooks
No film or TV adaptation of Cat in the Stacks or the Southern Ladies books has been announced as of October 2026. The series is available on audio. Something Whiskered, for example, is published as an audiobook by Tantor Media.
Who's Who in Athena
Half the pleasure of a long cozy series is the standing cast, and this one builds a real one. Here's who you'll meet:
- Charlie Harris narrates. He is a widower who moved back to Athena after his wife died and now works at the college library and the town archive. He can't leave a loose end alone.
- Diesel is the Maine Coon. He is enormous, walks on a leash, and reads people better than most of the humans do.
- Sean and Laura Harris are Charlie's adult children. Their careers and families run through the whole series.
- Helen Louise Brady owns the French bistro on the square. She and Charlie take a long time to get together, and they marry just before book 17.
- Azalea Berry is the housekeeper, with firm views on Charlie's diet and his snooping. Her daughter Kanesha Berry is the chief deputy who has to put up with a librarian solving her cases.
Like these? They are traditional cozies: the violence happens off the page, there's nothing graphic, and the town matters as much as the crime. For more in that vein, try our Miss Marple reading order (the original village sleuth), Louise Penny's Three Pines books in order, or our pick of the best Agatha Christie books. All our series guides live on the reading order guides page.
Printable Checklist
Miranda James FAQ
Is there a new Miranda James book in 2026?
No new Cat in the Stacks novel has come out in 2026. The newest is Something Whiskered (book 17, hardcover July 2025), whose paperback edition came out September 29, 2026. As of October 2026 no title or date for book 18 has been announced.
How many Cat in the Stacks books are there?
Seventeen, from Murder Past Due (2010) to Something Whiskered (2025). Add the four Southern Ladies Mysteries and Miranda James has 21 books in the two Athena series.
What order should I read the Miranda James books in?
Publication order, starting with Murder Past Due. Each mystery is solved within its own book, but Charlie's family life moves forward from book to book, so reading out of order spoils it.
Who is Miranda James?
Miranda James is the pen name of Dean James, an American mystery writer who worked as a librarian for many years. He has also published under his own name and as Jimmie Ruth Evans.
Will there be more Southern Ladies Mysteries?
None has been announced. The series ran four books, from 2014 to 2017, and An’gel and Dickce Ducote still appear in Cat in the Stacks.
Which Cat in the Stacks book is the Christmas one?
Six Cats a Slayin’, book 10 (2018).
Seventeen books, one library, one very large cat. Start with Murder Past Due and work forward from there.
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