Berkley Prime Crime titles by Miranda James
Cat in the Stacks Mysteries
MURDER PAST DUE
CLASSIFIED AS MURDER
FILE M FOR MURDER
OUT OF CIRCULATION
THE SILENCE OF THE LIBRARY
ARSENIC AND OLD BOOKS
NO CATS ALLOWED
TWELVE ANGRY LIBRARIANS
Southern Ladies Mysteries
BLESS HER DEAD LITTLE HEART
DEAD WITH THE WIND
DIGGING UP THE DIRT
BERKLEY PRIME CRIME
Published by Berkley
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375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014
Copyright © 2017 by Dean James
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: James, Miranda, author.
Title: Twelve angry librarians / Miranda James.
Description: First edition. | New York : Berkley Prime Crime, 2017. | Series:
Cat in the stacks mystery ; 8
Identifiers: LCCN 2016042276 (print) | LCCN 2016048829 (ebook) | ISBN
9780425277768 (hardback) | ISBN 9780698181991 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Librarians—Mississippi—Fiction. |
Libraries—Mississippi—Fiction. | Murder—Investigation—Fiction. |
BISAC: FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths. | GSAFD: Mystery fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3610.A43 T93 2017 (print) | LCC PS3610.A43 (ebook) |
DDC 813/.6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016042276
First Edition: February 2017
Cover art by Dan Craig
Cover design by Lesley Worrell and Katie Anderson
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Version_1
For a decade of unfailing support, encouragement, and enthusiasm, I dedicate this book with boundless gratitude to my wonderful editor, Michelle Vega.
Truly, sine qua non.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks as always to the usual suspects: my agent, Nancy Yost; and her associates: Sarah E. Younger, Natanya Wheeler, and Amy Rosenbaum for all they do; the team at Berkley: Michelle Vega, Bethany Blair, and Roxanne Jones for constant support and help in numerous ways; the art department for consistently beautiful covers; and the copyeditors who always work so hard to catch my mistakes and lapses in logic.
My dear friends Patricia Orr and Terry Farmer read and encouraged as the chapters popped up in their e-mail boxes, and I can never thank them enough for what they do.
Finally, special thanks to Patrick B. Kyle, PhD, DABCC, director of clinical chemistry and toxicology, at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, for graciously answering questions about poison that came to his e-mail inbox out of the blue. He is not responsible for any errors or misinterpretations that I have made based on his answers to my questions.
CONTENTS
Berkley Prime Crime Titles by Miranda James
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
About the Author
ONE
“But I don’t want to do it.”
I glared at my administrative assistant and longtime friend, Melba Gilley. “You know how much I hate public speaking. Why can’t Forrest Wyatt do it? College presidents do this kind of thing all the time.”
“Forrest will be welcoming everyone to open the conference. If you’d actually read the schedule instead of whining like a three-year-old you’d see that.” Melba Gilley glared right back at me.
My Maine Coon cat, Diesel, obviously disturbed by the sudden tension between two of his favorite people, started meowing loudly. He butted his head against my leg, and I immediately felt exactly like the three-year-old Melba labeled me. I rubbed the cat’s head to reassure him. The meowing slowed and softened in volume.
“Sorry.” I sighed as I skimmed the first page of the document Melba gave me a few minutes ago. Surely I wouldn’t be expected to give a lengthy speech. “You’re right. Forrest is speaking before me, I see. How long do I have to talk?”
“Only two or three minutes,” Melba said. “If you look at the times on the schedule, you can see that there’s only ten minutes allotted for both you and Forrest.”
“He’ll probably talk for nine and a half of the ten.” I grinned. “So I can have thirty seconds to say ‘Welcome to Athena and have a nice time.’ That ought to do it.”
Diesel warbled as if he agreed with me, and Melba laughed.
“I think you should say more than that.”
“We’ll see. How many people usually attend this meeting?” I asked.
Melba shrugged. “We hosted it ten years ago, and as I recall, there were about three hundred people. Nowadays with travel budgets being cut, fewer people may attend.”
I glanced at the header of the document. “Southern Academic Library Association. I’ve heard some of the other librarians talk about it.” I shrugged. “I had my fill of library meetings from my days in the public library system in Houston. The Texas Library Association Annual Conference is about the largest of its kind in the country, and I went to over twenty of them. I thought I was done with them when I moved back here.”
“Stop trying to sound so dang pathetic.” Melba cocked her head to the right and frowned at me. I knew that look. No more whining, or she’d get really testy with me.
“Yes, ma’am,” I said in a pert tone. Diesel chirped, and Melba’s expression relaxed into a grin.
“At least you’ve only got a couple days to worry about what you’re going to say, with everything starting on Thursday.”