COLUMBUS — Dean James likes killing people, but it’s a lot more fun if they’re obnoxious.

At least, that’s what the cozy mystery writer told a small group on Wednesday afternoon at a table talk held by the Friends of the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library. James discussed the process he uses to choose the victims in his books, particularly the soon-to-be 17 book “Cat in the Stacks” series he writes under the pen name Miranda James.

“I don’t usually murder more than one person, but sometimes I do, because there are some people that just need killing,” James said.

James grew up in Grenada, and he said his fascination with books began at eight years old when he got his first library card, checking out biographies from the Elizabeth Jones Library. But once he’d read almost every children’s biography in the collection, he moved on to reading about Greek and Roman mythology and eventually, mystery novels.

“I was about 10 or 11 when I discovered Nancy Drew,” James said. “My cousin, Terry, had some Nancy Drew books. And the first one I ever read was ‘The Secret of Shadow Ranch.’”

One book quickly led to another, and James started devouring mystery books, along with romantic suspense novels throughout his teenage years.

James decided to try writing for himself for the first time at around 12 years old, submitting the first novel he ever wrote to the same publisher that printed the Trixie Belden series. He received a rejection letter back, temporarily dampening his enthusiasm for writing mysteries.

But while he was attending graduate school at Rice University in Houston, Texas, James also started working at a mystery book store, Murder by the Book. There, he picked up writing once again with his first adult mystery.

A publisher also rejected that novel, initially. But James said he revised the book several times, even switching main characters, until it was published in 2005 under the title “Death by Dissertation” – drawing from some of James’ frustrations from his master’s program.

“I tell people, it’s not a direct corollary between being in graduate school and wanting to kill people, but… you know, there you are,” James said. “Because the murder victim in the book was this thoroughly obnoxious professor. Old and grumpy and just nasty to everybody.”

“I sort of enjoyed killing him,” James joked.

After his initial success in fiction, James wrote a nonfiction survey of women mystery writers, which he said “got the attention” of an editor in New York, who published multiple editions.

While the survey was published under his real name, James said due to the rise of search engines, he realized anyone looking for his books would first see results for the famous actor James Dean. As he moved back into fiction, James decided to pick pseudonyms to make his books easier to find online.

At the same time, his agent convinced him to write a series about trailer park murders. The first book became “Flamingo Fatale,” which James published under the pseudonym Jimmie Ruth Evans.

After writing the trailer park series, which included five books, James’ editor approached him again, asking if he would write a series focused on a character similar to his own life working as a librarian. That became the “Cat in the Stacks” series, which James is still adding to currently under the name Miranda James.

The series follows widower and librarian Charlie Harris, who spent many years working in a library in Houston, Texas until his Great Aunt Dottie passes away, leaving him a house in his hometown – the fictional town of Athena, Mississippi.

As the mysteries unfold, Harris is accompanied by a fictional Maine Coon named Diesel. The cat was inspired by a real-life cat that is probably 40 pounds, owned by fellow mystery author Barbara Bird, James said.

Throughout each book, James said, his characters work through family issues, interact with other characters in the small town, and deal with the complexities of the South. Then, of course, there are the murders to be solved.

While James generally writes deaths for obnoxious characters, he said some of his series’ victims are inspired by people in his life, like a former coworker who suggested getting rid of all the print in the library he worked at at the time.

“I ran over her with a car, and she got pushed down the stairs in another one,” James said. “That got rid of some of my aggression. But I’m not the only mystery writer who has done that. Sue Grafton killed two of her ex-husbands that way.”

Apparently, the aggression-reliever has worked.

“I haven’t killed anybody I know for a while,” James said. “I’m not really planning to, unless somebody really peeves me.”

The series’ 17th book,“Something Whiskered,” is coming out on July 29, James said. In this novel, Charlie, his wife, and Diesel go to Ireland to visit relatives, when a murder happens unexpectedly.

“They’re pulling up to the driveway, and all of a sudden … a body, right in front of them,” James said. “This is the first time I have ever written a book with a body in the first chapter. And this is the first time I’ve killed a nice person.”

Hope Oakes, President of the Friends of the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library, has been a personal friend of James for about a decade. Oakes said having James visit the library has been “a long time coming.”

“I am so thrilled that my good friend, Dean James, was able to do this. He’s an incredibly talented author and is always so entertaining when he speaks,” Oakes said in a text message to The Dispatch. “Having worked as a librarian and book store manager in the past, he has an excellent rapport with his readers and audience, because he knows what they like and is able to deliver every time.”

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