dr. Dean James clearly remembers what she said the day she called her editor. He may have set a record for consecutive OMGs, an understandable reaction from a writer who just made it to the New York Times bestseller list.
That was five years ago, and it was just the beginning for the associate professor of academic information services, whose day job is at the rowland medical library, and whose pseudonym outside of work hours is miranda james, creator of the series. mysterious. , “a cat in the piles”.
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james, whose Ph.D. at Rice University is in medieval history and whoever speaks four languages - five, counting “feline” – also speaks to a large number of readers who wallow in the adventures of widowed librarian Charlie Harris and his Maine Coon cat, Diesel.
“Miranda seems to have struck a chord, especially the cat,” said James, a Grenada native who worked in Houston, Texas, for 33 years before joining UMMC seven months ago.
cats are intimate with a gender that rita mae brown, famous for such works as “the litter of the law”, boasts about.
unlike brown’s cat, mrs. Murphy, Diesel is more of a partner than a gumshoe throughout his owner’s exploits in amateur investigation, beginning with the first, Berkley Prime Crime.
“Diesel is sensitive to people’s moods, though,” said James, whose real-life partners are a calico female named Pippa, and Toby, a gray-and-white “huge cat.”
Toby (background) and Pippa
A Maine Coon is also known to be “intelligent, affectionate, loyal and possessive,” he said.
“I intended to get one myself, but I guess the universe had other ideas.”
“better behaved” than james’ nonfiction cats, diesel can, from time to time, pick up a clue in a suspicious purse, when its owner isn’t walking the 30+ pound goliath on a leash around the imaginary city of athena , Miss.
“Maine Coons are the defensive tackles of the cat world,” James writes in “Murder Beaten,” though this one is named after John “The Diesel” Riggins, a retired running back.
this formula has worked for half a dozen “cat on the stacks” books; virtually every one of them is a bestseller.
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It doesn’t take a detective to find the culprit at the heart of James’ passion for mysteries. actually, it does – nancy drew.
A voracious reader from the start, James, around the age of 10, discovered the teenage technician in “The Secret of Shadow Ranch,” a thriller involving a ghostly steed. he has been riding that horse ever since.
young james immersed himself in other like-minded series: “the tough boys”, “trixie belden”, etc., but nancy drew was his main love. “I guess partly because Nancy was, like me, an only child,” James said.
At the age of 12, he wrote his first crime novel, which, like the ghost, has disappeared.
As an adult, he wrote books that are still with us, including By the Hand of a Woman (Berkley, 1994), with co-author Jean Swanson, which won the Agatha Award for Best Mystery Novel, non-fiction.
co-wrote or co-edited other books before tackling novels; but sales success eluded him until the diesel engine.
just before that, vicki myron’s “dewey the library cat” had become a sensation; it was a true story about a cat abandoned in a library book depository.
“my editors thought, ‘well, a series about a librarian with a cat could catch on,'” james said. “They were right.”
just like nancy drew, dean’s charlie harris is an amateur. “I like to see how a murder mystery affects ordinary people,” James said. “I don’t want to have to learn about police procedures or weapons.”
In deference to his primarily female audience, James writes under the name Miranda, borrowed from Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.”
also, he said, referring to james dean, “a name like mine tends to get lost on the internet, with a dead movie star hogging most of the attention.”
Still, the fact that Miranda is a man is no longer “a closely guarded secret,” said James, the author of additional series, including a Miranda spin-off series, “Southern Ladies Mysteries.”
Both series are popular and appeal to mostly adult readers, but “there’s no blood or gore, so they’re very safe for a 12-year-old to read,” James said.
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Miranda James’ Facebook page has over 1,700 likes. One of his biggest fans is Beverly Linn Guy from Mickleton, N.J.
“dean’s books always leave me smiling and very happy and eager to read the next book,” guy said in an email. “with every new book that comes out, it’s… like coming home to all the amazing happenings in athens!”
another enthusiast is new york writer zac bissonnette, author of the current bestseller, “how to be richer, smarter and more handsome than your parents”.
“dean james is ridiculously cool,” bissonnette wrote in an email.
“is probably the greatest and most respected living writer of great American crime fiction, having achieved commercial success and the respect of his fellow writers…
“not so bold prediction: dean james, or rather, miranda james, will continue to experience rapid sales growth for years to come.”
That seems likely: James is under contract for three more Miranda books, including one to be published in hardcover in 2016 with a mystery wrapped in a title that may baffle diesel fans: “No Cats Allowed.” .
for more information
For more information on Miranda James’s “A Cat in the Stacks” series, visit www.catinthestacks.com or www.facebook.com/mirandajamesauthor.
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