Hiss and Tell (A Mrs. Murphy Mystery Book 31)

Author:    Rita Mae Brown

Genre:     Mystery

Hardcover; Digital Book

ISBN #:    9780593357545

Bantam Publishing

304 Pages
$28.00; $13.99 Amazon

March 23, 2023

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Christmas is coming and Harry's to-do list is a mile long.  The days are filled with delivering holiday baskets to neighbors in need, chopping down the perfect tree with her best friend, Susan Tucker, and hunting for that elusive special gift for her beloved husband, Pharamond "Fair" Harristeen.  Harry also decides to try her hand a dog showing, enrolling her handsome Irish Wolfhound puppy Pirate in classes to prepare for a future exhibition.  Through it all, holiday cheer -- and plenty of treats for Pirate -- keep spirits high.

But the holidays aren't cheerful for everyone.  Harry's friend on the police force, Cynthia Cooper, warns that the season can bring an uptick in crime.  Her words prove tragically prescient whe Harry and Susan discover the body of a man by the side of the road, dead, without any clues to his identity.  One suspicious death is bad enough, but when Cooper reports that two more bodies have been found, also unidentified, Harry knows that trouble is afoot.  The autopsies for all three bodies reveal the presence of a deadly drug.  Could their deaths have been accidental, or is a devious killer on the prowl?

With help from her feline sidekicks, Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, as well as Tee Tucker the corgi and Pirate, Harry vows to find the answers and stop the spate of deaths so that all of Crozet can have a very merry Christmas.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

"Harry" Harristeen is a farmer who loves living off the land.  Her husband "Fair" is a veterinarian, and they've managed to make a good life for themselves.  They live in Virginia near Richmond, but far enough away that they have a quiet life.  That is, at least until Harry and her best friend Susan Tucker are out driving one day and come across a dead body.  Harry wonders if it's related to the earlier accident that Fair had seen on the road -- one with a white van and people running away as fast as they could.  But the answers will have to wait; her friend Officer Cynthia Cooper, is working on the other case.  Still, she's willing to listen to Harry's theories and see if they make sense.

When it's discovered that the man died from a deadly drug, Harry is worried.  Especially when there are more deaths.  Could they be connected?  But Harry also has other things on her mind: finding the right gift for her husband, which could be tricky; and training her Irish Wolfhound puppy (all 150 pounds of him) Pirate.  There are other friends who are training theirs as well, but Pirate is holding his own.  

Meanwhile back in the eighteenth century, we revisit the neighboring estates of the Ewings and Holloways, watching as they forge a new country on their own terms.  Catherine Ewing Schuyler has decided to create a steeplechase, open to all who pay the small fee, and to anyone who wishes to watch the spectacle -- for only a penny.  She wants it to be a success, and hopes that it will.  But not all is pleasant: in the town of Richmond there is an infamous place called the Tavern, which houses ladies of the night as well as the best food in town.  We are given another look into the past, and while some are very pleasant, others show us the harshness of the time.

What those must understand is that people are a product of their times; and the past cannot be changed.  Nothing you do can erase it; we must learn not to repeat the sorrows that were.  Ms. Brown shows us the courage of these women, the courage of the ex-soldiers, and the courage of all to survive any way they can.  It is a lesson, and fascinating reading, to boot.  I am always in awe of these books, for I love a story within a story, and this one is especially intriguing.

In the present, Harry has her opinions (as always) on the drugs that are coming into our country and any attempts to stop them.  She worries for people, her kind heart showing through.  She worries for the future, and what drugs are doing to people who don't care.  It's dark reading, but I have never been disappointed in any of her books.  She knows how to weave a story skillfully, bringing the characters together through simple statements, and allowing the reader to try and find a murderer.

And of course, we have Mrs. Murphy and the ever-loveable Pewter offering their own opinions on the goings-on around them, along with the corgi Tucker and Pirate.  Their antics are worth watching, and even more so in this book, as you will learn.

In this one, it was not that easy.  That's a very good thing, as I am usually able to put the murderer in the picture early on.  Not in this tale.  Which isn't to say that there are not clues, because there are, if you look for them.  The ending is surprising, which is how it should be.  The book was finished far too soon as I love these so, and I not only highly recommend this, I eagerly await the next in the series.

I was given an advance copy of this book from Bantam and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.

https://www.amazon.com/Hiss-Tell-Mrs-Murphy-Mystery-ebook/dp/B09QQ9HJR4/ref

Goodreads:    https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5421250448

More on Rita Mae Brown's Books:    https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/rita-mae-brown/

Claws for Alarm (A Mrs. Murphy Mystery Book 30)

Author:    Rita Mae Brown

Genre:     Mystery

Hardcover; Digital Book (Audiobook Available)

ISBN#:    9780593130094

Bantam

288 Pages

$20.66; $13.99 Amazon

October 12, 2021

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Pharamond "Fair" Harristeen is known throughout Crozet, Virginia, as a good horse vet and a better man.  So when Benjamin Wagner, a new vet in town, is found dead in his unopened clinic, local police turn to Fair for help getting to the bottom of things.  Fair quickly realizes Ben's clinic has been robbed of ketamine, used by doctors as a horse tranquilizer but also a popular recreational drug.  Then Fair's own ketamine goes missing from the back of his truck.  Was Ben killed for his supply?  Or was he mixed up in something bigger?

Meanwhile. Candida Perez, one of Crozet's oldest and most beloved citizens, is found dead at her desk.  Not so alarming, given her ninety years of life.  But the bickering of her children, Ballard and Constance, over her will and the family's valuable collection of historical letters threatens to drive the rest of the town to madness.  Harry tries to place peacemaker, but the bad blood between the two siblings runs deep.  Just how far will they take their family squabble?

With a little aid from hungry helpers Tee Tucker the corgi and sweet puppy Pirate, as well as feline sleuths Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, Harry and Fair team up to restore justice -- and maybe a little peace and quiet -- to Crozet.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Fair Harristeen, big animal vet, is making his rounds one day and decides to drop in on new vet Ben Wagner, to see how he's doing.  But when he arrives, he finds Ben dead, and immediately calls the police.  It seems Ben has been shot at close range, and the only thing missing from his practice are bottles of ketamine, used to tranquilize horses.  But who would want them and why?

Meanwhile his wife Harry is visiting her friend Nancy, an antiques dealer, when in walks elderly Candida Perez, who likes nothing more than to talk, and especially about her past.  With her are her children, Constance and Ballard,  After a lengthy talk with a young woman, Ballard hustles his mother out, but not before greeting Nancy and Harry.  Candida mentions as how she wants to re-read her precious family letters, some dated from centuries ago.  But while perusing them alone, Constance comes across her mother, face down at her desk, dead.  After Ballard and Constance argue about autopsies and burial, the people of the town are drawn into their squabbles about the will and their home, Lone Pine, which has also been in the family for centuries.  

Even though the upkeep is going to cost more than either can afford, Constance is determined to keep the home, while Ballard sees no way out but to sell it.  They do employ someone to catalog the letters and put them in order, but even this distresses the pair.  When there's another murder, this time the police are taking a more serious look at everything that's gone on before, and wonders what to make of it.  So does Harry, especially when she's unwittingly drawn deeper into the investigation...

This is the thirtieth book in the series and I practically devour them when they come out.  I love mysteries within mysteries, and tales within them as well.  Not only are we reading about Harry and her friends in our time, but the book takes us back to the original owners of the farms the families are living on, this time back to 1789, after the American Revolution is recently over, and the struggles the families have there to make their lives in the new country.  It's fascinating fiction, and it ties in with the present day so seamlessly that you don't even mind going back and forth in time, as it were.

In our present day, Harry can't help but be curious as to why Ben was murdered, and she shares those questions with her friends Susan, Nancy, and Tazia.  Why ketamine?  And why would he be murdered over such a small thing when there were thousands of dollars of equipment that wasn't touched?  It even gives Fair pause as he is wondering along with his wife.

Ah, but the pets -- Mrs, Murphy, Tucker, Pewter, and puppy Pirate are wondering themselves, but they are not only trying to figure out, but might hold the key to everything.  If only they can get their mother Harry to listen...

The clues are there all along, but they are given to us sparingly and we must use our own minds to put the pieces together.  Ms. Brown is one of my favorite novelists; her books are so well-written and so well thought out that I am always amazed at how she manages to write stories that are centuries apart but moments together in time.  

When we come to the end of the book and the killer is revealed, it is a motive as old as time itself.  Having been faced with the same motive from someone close at hand, it never surprises me anymore how people can allow their lives to be twisted like this.  But it is what it is, and the book not only gives us a satisfactory ending, it gives us a terrific story to read.  Highly recommended.

I received an advance copy from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.

https://www.amazon.com/Claws-Alarm-Mrs-Murphy-Mystery/dp/059313009X/ref

Goodreads:    https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4289848554

More on Rita Mae Brown's Books:    https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/rita-mae-brown/

Furmidable Foes (A Mrs. Murphy Mystery #29)

Author:  Rita Mae Brown
Genre:   Mystery

Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9780593130032
Bantam
304 Pages
$28.00; $13.99 Amazon
May 19, 2020

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Spring arrives in northern Virginia, and as the ground thaws and the peonies begin to bloom a bright magenta, the women of St. Luke's Lutheran Church prepare for a Homecoming celebration like no other.  Harry, Susan Tucker, and their friends are busy planting flowers and trimming hedges to get the church grounds in shape for the big day.

But a note of a menace mars the beautiful spring: the brewery owned by Janice Childs and Mags Nielsen, two members of the gardening committee, gets robbed, with hundreds of dollars in merchandise taken off their delivery trucks in the dead of night.  Is this the work of a random thief?  Or is something more sinister afoot?

When Jeannie Cordie drops dead at a charity auction, poisoned by a fatal weed, Harry's worst suspicions are confirmed: a killer lurks in their midst, one with a keen understanding of poisonous plants.  Although she can't yet prove it, Harry knows the murder is related to the thefts at Bottom's Up Brewery.

With help from her feline sidekicks, Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, as well as Tee Tucker the corgi and sweet puppy Pirate, Harry sets out to find the weed in St. Luke's garden -- and stop a killer before they can strike again.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

It's the time of year in Virginia when everything is blooming, and Harry is at her happiest.  She lives on her farm with her husband, Fair, a veterinarian, and her four pets -- two cats, Mrs. Murphy and Pewter; and two dogs, Tee Tucker and Pirate.  She's involved with the Dorcas Guild in making the churchyard gardens beautiful for the upcoming Homecoming celebration, along with lifelong friend Susan Tucker, and others.

But two of the friends -- Janice and Mags, own a brewery named Bottoms Up.  One of their trucks is stolen, along with all its contents and no one knows why.  Then at a charity auction, another friend, Jeannie Cordie, drops dead suddenly and no one knows how.  Harry, with her strong sense of curiosity, is driven to find the answers to these questions.

In between, the church is still trying to figure out who belonged to the old bones which were found on top of a couple who died in the 1700's, wearing a set of priceless jewels.  It's another question Harry wants an answer to, but rightly, it will have to wait in favor of the other problems.  When the bones of a much more recent murder are discovered by none other than Pewter, Harry now needs to piece together a more modern mystery, and hope she doesn't lose her own life in the process...

I've been following this series for a long time, and own all of the books.  It is that enjoyable.  Not only are we watching Harry in her usual quest for answers and looking for a killer, but we have the added bonus of a book-within-a-book.  For, you see, Virginia has a rich history, and Ms. Brown melds past with present seamlessly.

We also have the story of the Holloways and the Ewings, two wealthy neighboring families who were part of this country in the aforementioned 1700's, and who have their own mysteries to solve.  Watching their stories unfold is almost like having your own window to the past, where while you are in the present, you see bits and pieces of things that have come before.  Yes, this is fiction, but as in the present, there are pieces of history interspersed with the story that is completely fascinating.

When we watch Harry go about her daily routine, it is amusing to hear the animals tell their own stories in their own ways and put their own spin on everything.  I love listening to their tales of woe (as cats and dogs are wont to do when they don't get their own way); and as a pet owner myself, I can relate. 

It all seems so simple -- Harry and her friends are doing no more than any of us would -- go to lunch, prepare gardens, etc.; but it is the mystery itself that is the most absorbing -- who would want to kill a woman who supposedly had nothing to do with anything?  Harry's investigation, while it does not involve asking people questions, involves only her using her wits, and she is indeed one who is able to put things together quickly.

When we get close to the end and it all comes together, I have to say that it leaves me wanting more: more of the historical side, and the next book in this series.  My only hope is that I won't have to wait long to read the next one.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Furmidable-Foes-Mrs-Murphy-Mystery/dp/0593130030/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3228253503

More on Rita Mae Brown's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/rita-mae-brown/

Probable Claws (A Mrs. Murphy Mystery)

Author:  Rita Mae Brown
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN : 9780425287156
Bantam Publishing
352 Pages
$27.00; $13.99 Amazon
May 29, 2018

✮✮✮✮✮

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.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

"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/

A Hiss Before Dying (A Mrs. Murphy Mystery)

Author:  Rita Mae Brown
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Ebook
ISBN #:  9780553392494
Bantam Publishing
384 Pages
$14.16; $13.99 Amazon
May 30, 2017

✮✮✮✮✮

Autumn is in the air in the Blue Ridge Mountain community of Crozet, Virginia - and all the traditions of the changing seasons are under way.  Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen cleans her cupboards, her husband, Fair, prepares the horses for the shorter days ahead, and the clamorous barking of beagles signals the annual rabbit chase through the central Virginia hills.  But the last thing the local beaglers and their hounds expect to flush out is a dead body.

Disturbingly, it's the second corpse to turn up, after that of a missing truck driver too disfigured to identify.  The deaths seem unrelated - until Harry picks up a trail of clues dating back to the state's post-Revolutionary past.

The echoes of the Shot Heart Round the World pale in comparison the dangerous shootout Harry narrowly escapes unscathed.  Next time, it may be the killer who gets lucky.  But not if Harry's furry friends Mrs. Murphy, Pewter and Tucker can help it.  Lending their sharp-nosed talents to the hunt, they'll help their mistress keep more lives from being lost - and right an injustice buried since the early days of America's independence.

********

Harry Haristeen and her husband Fair live on a farm in Virginia along with their two cats, Pewter and Mrs. Murphy, and corgi Tucker.  It's coming on autumn, the days are cooler and nights shorter.  While attending the annual rabbit chase on a friend's land, the pack of beagles discovers the dead body of a man.  While he's unknown to anyone, Harry does recognize what's around his neck: a chit from the American Revolution with the number 5 on it.  Why he would have it is a mystery until Harry informs her friend Coop, a local police officer, that it came from a group of them owned by her friend Liz Turner, who has an antique store.  

But why he was found there, and what he was doing there, is a question that can't be answered right now.  No one even knows who he is, until a clue comes out from left field that might just identify him, and answer all the questions swirling around in everyone's head.

Also, Liz's shop is broken into, and thousands of dollars worth of items taken, adding to the mystery of what's been going on.  Even though Harry has been lightly warned to stay out of the investigation, it isn't until she finds herself in danger that the pieces start coming together, and when they do, the result is something no one could have imagined, and something that stuns everyone in their circle of friends.

First off, let me say that I absolutely love Ms. Brown's books.  They not only create a delicious mystery to dig into, but a bit of history as well - another 'mini-book' within the first one, and that one dealing with times around the American Revolution; in this one the year is 1768.  It deals with life revolving around the Ewing family and their circle of friends and those on neighboring farms.  This time out, we have intrigue with a runaway slave, neighbors Maureen and Jeffery Holloway, how the church St. Luke's came to be built, and even a duel.  It is fascinating, to say the least, and the author ties the past in with the present in a seamless manner that connects the two easily.

Back to the present story, the mystery itself is well-crafted, and we watch while Harry, without even trying, is thrown into the middle of a conspiracy by uttering only words; we see that while she might be worried, she's angry as well and refuses to play the victim.  Harry, indeed, is the type of strong woman I love to see in a book, one that refuses to be intimidated and can hold her own, but isn't rash enough to run into danger headlong.

When we come to the end and the killer is revealed, it is bittersweet closure; an end that was truly not expected and may change the lives of some of those in Crozet, Virginia; and leaving us looking forward to the next book in the series where we can visit with the past and the present together.  Highly recommended.  

https://www.amazon.com/Hiss-Before-Dying-Murphy-Mystery/dp/0553392492/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2007482844

More on Rita Mae Brown's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/rita-mae-brown/

Tall Tail: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery

Author:  Rita Mae Brown
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover, Ebook, Audible
ISBN #:  9780553392463
Bantam Publishing
352 Pages
$18.39, $13.99 Amazon
May 17, 2016

Five Stars

At any moment a perfect summer day in Crozet, Virginia - nestled within the Blue Ridge Mountains - might turn stormy and tempestuous, as Harry knows too well when a squall suddenly sweeps in.  In a blink, Harry's pickup nearly collides with a careening red car that then swerves into a ditch.  Harry recognizes the dead driver slumped over the vehicle's steering wheel:  Barbara Leader was nurse and confidante to former Virginia governor Sam Holloway.

Though Barbara's death is ruled a heart attack, dissenting opinions abound.  After all, she was the picture of health, which gives Harry and her four-legged companions pause.  A baffling break-in at a local business leads Harry to further suspect that a person with malevolent intent lurks just out of sight.  Something evil is afoot.

As it happens, Barbara died in the shadow of the local cemetery's statue of the Avenging Angel.  Just below that imposing funereal monument lie the remains of one Francisco Selisse, brutally murdered in 1784.  Harry's present-day sleuthing draws her back to Virginia's slave-holding past and the hunt for Selisse's killer.  Now it's up to Harry and her furry detectives - Mrs. Murphy, Pewter, and Tee Tucker - to expose the bitter truth, even if it means staring into the unforgiving eyes of history and cornering a callous killer poised to pounce.

********

Mary 'Harry" Haristeen is driving home one afternoon when she is almost in an accident with a red Camry.  When the car finally stops, she finds that the driver is Barbara Leader, nurse to former Virginia governor Sam Holloway, grandfather of her best friend Susan.  She also finds that Barbara is dead.

While it appears to be an accident, everyone agrees that Barbara was in the peak of health, and her husband insists on an autopsy...which only proves Barbara was murdered...

Where Barbara died, though, could be ominous - it was near the statue of the Avenging Angel, an imposing monument which holds the remains of Francisco Selisse, who was murdered in 1784.  The monument still gives Harry the creeps every time she passes it, but in this case, there may be more that ties Selisse to Barbara in ways no one ever thought about...

Ms. Brown has a way of telling a story that merges one within another:  two tales for the price of one, as it were.  We are treated to the modern-day events of Harry and her friends, while also trying to solve another mystery set in the past.  In this, Ms. Brown emerges triumphant.  For while reading about Francisco Selisse and those around him, we are transported to the world of the 1780's, shortly after the Revolutionary War.  In this book, we learn more about the life of those from the previous effort, Tail Gait, and how they connect to Selisse, and he to the future.

We are also treated to the question of why Barbara Leader was murdered, and who would want her dead.  It doesn't seem she had enemies, and there doesn't seem to be any real reason for the murder.  But yet, she is dead, and someone wanted her to be so.  There doesn't seem to be any real front runner in that category, and all are suspect, but it was not easy to discover the killer because no one had a clear motive.  When it was discovered, I was surprised, but not unpleasantly so.

It was truly an interesting book, and I love the fact that Ms. Brown is able to deftly weave fact with fiction, history with modern-day.  It all comes together seamlessly, and it all makes sense.  This is the 25th book in the series, and I hope that there will be many more.  It can be read as a stand-alone, but after doing so, you might just want to go back and start at the beginning.  Highly recommended.

http://www.amazon.com/Tall-Tail-Mystery-Mysteries-Hardcover/dp/0553392468/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1647904600

More on Rita Mae Brown's books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/rita-mae-brown/