Genre: Mystery
Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN : 9780425287156
Bantam Publishing
352 Pages
$27.00; $13.99 Amazon
May 29, 2018
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With the New Year just around the corner, winter has transformed the cozy Blue Ridge Mountain community of Crozet, Virginia, into a living snow globe. It's the perfect setting for Mary Minor "Harry" Harristeen to build a new work shed designed by her dear friend, local architect Gary Gardner. But the natural serenity is shattered when out of the blue, right in front of Harry and Deputy Cynthia Cooper, and in broad daylight, Gary is shot to death by a masked motorcyclist.
Outraged by the brazen murder, Harry begins to burrow into her friend's past - and unearths a pattern of destructive greed reaching far back into Virginia's post-Revolutionary history. When Harry finds incriminating evidence, the killer strikes again.
Heedless of her own safety, Harry follows a trail of clues to a construction site in Richmond, where the discovery of mysterious remains has recently halted work. Aided as always by her loyal, if opinionated, companions, crime-solving cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, and Tee Tucker the Corgi, Harry hunts for a link between the decades-old dead, the recently violently deceased - and ancient secrets that underlie everything. And while other deaths are narrowly averted in a flurry of fur, the killer remains at large - even more desperate and dangerous. The deep-rooted legacy of corruption that's been exposed can never be buried again. But if Harry keeps pursuing the terrible truth, she may be digging her own grave.
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"Harry" Harristeen lives in Crozet, Virginia with her veternarian husband Fair and her assortment of animals, including her felines Pewter and Mrs. Murphy and her Corgi Tucker. She has decided to build a new work shed and she's hired architect Gary Gardner, a good friend, to build it. But when she's standing outside his shop along with Gary and Deputy Cynthia Cooper, a motorcyclist stops and shoots Gary once then drives away. The bullet is perfectly aimed and he quickly dies from the wound.
But who would want Gary dead? And why? When Harry - cautioned by Coop not to interfere - starts a little investigation on her own anyway, she's having trouble putting the pieces together. It isn't until another murder that she's finally able to figure it out, and even with the help of her faithful companions Pewter, Mrs. Murphy, Tucker, it may very well cost her her own life if she's not careful...
This is the latest book in the Mrs. Murphy series, and as such, does not disappoint. Ms. Brown has a real talent for weaving the past and the present together without losing her readers in the process. The stories - one taking place in the present and the other in the 1700's - are seamlessly merged; and both tales are interesting enough that while reading of one century, you long to go back to the other.
The tale in the 1700's tells of the original landowners in the area and how their families fared during that time; and often it connects with the present-day tale; but this time out we are going farther back - back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and how it still affects us in the present day.
It is always interesting to see how far greed will take people, and the lengths they are willing to go to in order to acquire wealth. That can be said for both eras in the stories told; yet while the tales do not mirror each other, each is fascinating in its own way.
The mystery was extremely well done, and the murderer was unexpected as well. There were several suspects, but if you watch the clues, it leads in but one direction. The characters are well-drawn, the scenery is highly descriptive, and I absolutely adore Harry, who is not your run-of-the-mill protagonist, but a woman who is not only smart, but strong, brave, and self-sufficient. It is easy to see why her husband Fair is enamored of her; this is a woman who can think on her feet (much like Catherine Garth) and stays calm in the face of danger.
While we know Harry could not have solved anything without the help of the delightful (and egotistical) Pewter (as I feel I must give credit where credit is due), I have to say that I truly enjoyed reading this book as much as I have the others, and I look forward to the next in the series. Highly recommended.
https://www.amazon.com/Probable-Claws-Mrs-Murphy-Mystery/dp/0425287157/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2397484573
More on Rita Mae Brown's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/rita-mae-brown/
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