The last time I was a student was over a quarter-century ago. More like thirty-odd years ago. I’m a bit nervous about going back to school, but I take comfort in reminding myself that it’s not like I’m really going to school. I simply want to audit the class, not take it for a grade. I don’t need another degree, not at my age. I want to indulge my own interest in the subject, that’s all. I’ve read books set in the Middle Ages for years, like mysteries by Ellis Peters, Sharan Newman, and Candace Robb.

Not to mention the superb historical novels of Sharon Kay Penman. I’ve picked up a lot of medieval history this way, but other than my long-ago course in western civilization, as they called it back then, I really don’t have a complete framework for medieval English history.

Athena College has a hotshot professor whose specialty is early medieval England, by the name of Carey Warriner. I’ve heard great things about his courses. He’s supposed to be an enthralling speaker, and the students who manage to make it through one of his classes generally praise him to the skies. He’s not for those who want an easy grade, apparently, because he demands work, and a lot of it, to judge by the syllabus posted on his page on the history department website.

That’s why I want to audit the class. I don’t think I’m really up to the kind of work he’s expecting from the students in the class. I could take it for credit, I suppose, but given my work and home responsibilities, I don’t think I’d have enough time to devote to the work. So auditing it is, as long as the professor agrees.

After my last adventure in sleuthing, over the Christmas holidays, my family wants me to occupy my time with something else. Auditing a class seems safe enough, right? What could possibly go wrong?

To find out what does go wrong, you’ll need to read The Pawful Truth, the eleventh book in the “Cat in the Stacks” series, available in print, ebook, and audiobook on July 17, 2019.

When Charlie Harris decides to go back to school, he and his Maine Coon cat, Diesel, find themselves entangled in a deadly lover’s quarrel on campus in the latest installment of the New York Times bestselling series.

In addition to his library duties and his role as doting grandad, Charlie has enrolled in an early medieval history course offered by young, charismatic professor Carey Warriner. Charlie feels a bit out of place- his fellow classmates are half his age- except for Dixie Bell Compton, another ‘mature’ student. When Charlie hears an angry exchange between her and their professor, his interest in piqued. He’s even more intrigued when she shows up at his office asking for a study partner. Charlie turns her down and is saddened to learn just a few days later that Dixie has been killed.

Charlie wonders if Professor Warriner had anything to do with Dixie’s death. Warriner is married to a fellow professor who happens to be a successful author. There are rumors on campus that their marriage was on the rocks. Was Dixie’s death the result of a lovers’ triangle gone bad? Charlie soon discovers that the professor’s wife may have some secrets of her own and his suspect list is only getting longer.

As he and Diesel step further into the tangled web of relationships, someone else is viciously killed. Whose jealousy finally erupted into murderous rage? Was it a crime of passion or is there another more sinister motive? Charlie races to unravel this mystery: and to draw out the culprit, he may just have to put his own life on the line. . .

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About the author
Miranda James is the New York Times bestselling author of the Cat in the Stacks Mysteries and the Southern Ladies Mysteries. James lives in Mississippi. Visit the author at at catinthestacks.com and Facebook.

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