Mississippi librarian Charlie Harris and his cat, Diesel, are on their guard. Oscar Reilly, the new director at the Athena College library, is on a mission to cut costs and replace Charlie's fiery friend Melba with someone younger. But his biggest offense is declaring all four-legged creatures banned from the stacks. With enemies aplenty, the suspect list is long when Reilly s body is discovered in the library, but incriminating evidence throws suspicion on Melba. Now it's up to Charlie and Diesel to prove her innocence.