fb2
As the principal of St.
Elizabeth's, an exclusive private
school that caters to Crozet,
Virginia's, best families, Roscoe
Fletcher has proven himself to
be a highly effective and vastly popular administrator. So when
his obituary appears in the local
paper, everyone in town is
upset. Yet nothing compares to
the shock they feel when they
discover that Roscoe Fletcher isn't dead at all. Someone has
stooped to putting a phony
obituary in the newspaper. But
is it a sick joke or a sinister
warning? Only Mrs. Murphy, the
canny tiger cat, senses the pure malice behind the act. And
when a second false obit
appears, this time of a
Hollywood has-been who is
Roscoe Fletcher's best friend,
Mrs. Murphy invites her friends, the corgi Tee Tucker, and fat cat
Pewter, to do a bit of sleuthing.
It's obvious to this shrewd puss
that two phony death notices
add up to deadly trouble. And
her theory is borne out when one of the men is fiendishly
murdered. "Harry" Haristeen, in
her position as Crozet's
postmistress, is the first to hear
all the theories on whodunit -
starting with the man's jealous wife. Then a second bloody
homicide follows, and a third.
People are dropping like flies in
Crozet and no one seems to
know why.
The annual steeplechase races at
Montpelier, once the home of
James and Dolley Madison, are
the high point in the social
calendar of the horse-mad
Virginians of cozy Crozet. The race meet offers a cracking good
time with old friends and a
chance to get even—on the
racecourse—with old enemies.
Postmistress Mary Minor "Harry"
Haristeen will be in the thick of the action on this day of high
spirits and fierce competition.
But the glorious thoroughbreds
and the pinks and greens and
purples worn by the riders do
not blind Harry to the dangerous undercurrents that
start to surface. There's sure to
be some emotional fireworks at
Montpelier. Still, no one expects
the day to end in tragedy.
Found dead in the main barn is one of the day's riders, a knife
plunged through the jockey's
heart. The only clue is a playing
card, the Queen of Clubs,
impaled over the fatal wound.
Within the wealthy, tight-knit world of horse owners, trainers,
and jockeys, the victim had both
admirers and enemies.
Was the murderer's motive
greed, drugs--a pervasive evil in
the race world—or sexual rivalry? Luckily for Crozet's
humans, the tiger cat Mrs.
Murphy is right at home in the
stable yard...and on the trail of
the shocking truth. But will
Harry catch on in time to stop a killer grown bloodthirsty with
success?
In Murder, She Meowed Sneaky Pie Brown and her co-author,
Rita Mae Brown, have penned
another clever and sassy
mystery that probes the depths
of human depravity and the
heights of feline genius.
Winter has come to Crozet, Virginia, bringing with it a fresh blanket of snow. Harry and her husband, Fair, are hip deep in their usual end-of-the-year activities: distributing food to needy residents, and shopping for outfits for the Silver Linings youth organization’s annual fundraising gala. But buried beneath the white stuff are dark secrets from Crozet’s past—and Harry and her posse of pet detectives are determined to sniff them out.
Two Silver Linings mentors have been found dead in suspicious circumstances. If that weren’t enough to chill the bones of the locals, a pair of severed human fingers has turned up in a pencil jar in the bookkeeper’s office at St. Cyril’s church. What does this grisly display have to do with the mysterious disappearance of Harry’s voluptuous high school Latin teacher, a quarter of a century ago? Maybe nothing. But when the animals make another gruesome discovery in the woods behind Harry’s farm, it becomes clear that terrible crimes have been committed in Crozet—and somebody’s gone to great lengths to cover them up. It’s time to stop shoveling snow and start digging for clues.
The truth will be revealed. A cold case will be solved. And a twenty-five-year-old love triangle is about to get untangled. The weather outside may be frightful, but Harry and her four-legged friends refuse to be spooked off the case.
"Sister" Jane Arnold and her hounds must sniff out a thief with expensive taste when a string of missing paintings leads to murder in this exciting foxhunting mystery from New York Times bestselling author Rita Mae Brown.
Spring is peeking through the frost in Virginia, and though the hunting season is coming to a close, the foxes seem determined to put the members of the Jefferson Hunt Club through their paces. Sister and her friends are enjoying some of the best chases they've had all season when the fun is cut short by the theft of Crawford Howard's treasured Sir Alfred Munnings painting of a woman in hunting attire riding sidesaddle. When another painting goes missing five days later--also a Munnings, also of a woman hunting sidesaddle--Sister Jane knows it's no coincidence. Someone is stealing paintings of foxhunters from foxhunters. But why?
Perhaps it's a form of protest against their sport. For the hunt club isn't just under attack from the thief. Mysterious signs have started to appear outside their homes, decrying their way of life. stop foxhunting: a cruel sport reads one that appears outside Crawford's house, not long after his painting goes missing. no hounds barking shows up on the telephone pole outside Sister's driveway. Annoying, but relatively harmless.
Then Delores Buckingham, retired now but once a formidable foxhunter, is strangled to death after her own Munnings sidesaddle painting is stolen. Now Sister's not just up against a thief and a few obnoxious signs--she's on the hunt for a killer.
From the bestselling author of the landmark work Rubyfruit Jungle comes an engaging, original new novel that only Rita Mae Brown could have written. In the pristine world of Virginia foxhunting, hunters, horses, hounds, and foxes form a lively community of conflicting loyalties, where the thrill of the chase and the intricacies of human-animal relationships are experienced firsthand--and murder exposes a proud Southern community's unsavory secrets. . . .
As Master of the prestigious Jefferson Hunt Club, Jane Arnold, known as Sister, is the most revered citizen in the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountain town where a rigid code of social conduct and deep-seated tradition carry more weight than money. Nearing seventy, Sister now must select a joint master to ensure a smooth transition of leadership after her death. It is an honor of the highest order--and one that any serious social climber would covet like the Holy Grail.
Virginian to the bone with a solid foxhunting history, Fontaine Buruss is an obvious candidate, but his penchant for philandering and squandering money has earned him a less than sparkling reputation. And not even Sister knows about his latest tawdry scandal. Then there is Crawford Howard, a Yankee in a small town where Rebel bloodlines are sacred. Still, Crawford has money--lots of it--and as Sister is well aware, maintaining a first-class hunt club is far from cheap.
With the competition flaring up, Southern gentility flies out the window. Fontaine and Crawford will stop at nothing to discredit each other. Soon the entire town is pulled into a rivalry that is spiraling dangerously out of control. Even the animals have strong opinions, and only Sister is able to maintain objectivity. But when opening hunt day ends in murder, she, too, is stunned.
Who was bold and skilled enough to commit murder on the field? It could only be someone who knew both the territory and the complex nature of the hunt inside out. Sister knows of three people who qualify--and only she, with the help of a few clever foxes and hounds, can lay the trap to catch the killer.
A colorful foray into an intriguing world, Outfoxed features a captivating cast of Southerners and their unforgettable animal counterparts. Rita Mae Brown has written a masterful novel that surprises, delights, and enchants.
Each member of the class of
1980 has received the letter.
Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen,
who is on the organizing
committee for Crozet High's twentieth reunion, decides to
take it as a compliment. Others
think it's a joke.
But Mrs. Murphy senses trouble.
And the sly tiger cat is soon
proven right ... when the class womanizer turns up dead with
a bullet between his eyes. Then
another note followed by
another murder makes it clear
that someone has waited
twenty years to take revenge. While Harry tries to piece
together the puzzle, it's up to
Mrs. Murphy and her animal pals
to sniff out the truth. And there
isn't much time. Mrs. Murphy is
the first to realize that Harry has been chosen Most Likely to Die,
and if she doesn't hurry, Crozet
High's twentieth reunion could
be Harry's last.
The residents of tiny Crozet,
Virginia, thrive on gossip,
especially in the post office,
where Mary Minor "Harry"
Haristeen presides with her
tiger cat, Mrs. Murphy. So when a belligerent Hell's Angel crashes
Crozet, demanding to see his
girlfriend, the leather-clad
interloper quickly becomes the
chief topic of conversation. Then
the biker is found murdered, and everyone is baffled. Well,
almost everyone...Mrs. Murphy
and her friends, Welsh corgi Tee
Tucker and overweight feline
Pewter, haven't been slinking
through alleys for nothing. But can they dig up the truth in time
to save their humans from a
ruthless killer?
Rita Mae Brown and her feline co-author Sneaky Pie Brown return with a new tale in their bestselling Mrs. Murphy series, as mysteries past and present converge in Albemarle County, Virginia.
Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen and her friends and animal companions pursue the threads of a mystery dating back to Virginia's post-Revolutionary past, when their 18th-century predecessors struggled with the challenges of the fledgling country. In the present day, Harry's new friendship with Marvella Lawson, doyenne of the Richmond art world, leads her to rediscover her own creative passions--and reveals evidence of an all too contemporary crime.
Instead of a proper second honeymoon, the newly remarried Harry and Fair Haristeen leave cozy Crozet, Virginia, for Shelbyville, Kentucky, site of the famous saddlebred horse show. There they'll visit dear friends Joan Hamilton and Larry Hodge and enjoy a week among some of the finest horses, trainers, and riders in the country.
But soon after they arrive, events veer mysteriously-and murderously-off course. First, Joan's ruby and sapphire horsehead heirloom pin is stolen from her private box at the fairgrounds. Next, a young film star's prize three-gaited mare disappears into thin air. There is no lack of suspects, from hotheaded trainers and jealous rivals to vicious ex-spouses. Then a body is found flagrantly murdered and it's obvious to Harry that someone at Shelbyville is sending a strong message: winning is only secondary-first prize is survival.
As Harry searches for clues, rediscovers life as a married woman, and deals with her upcoming fortieth birthday, her four-legged detective friends are already on the case. But is animal instinct any match for human depravity? Especially with two humans to protect and a killer on the prowl?
Mrs. Murphy thinks the new
man in town is the cat's
meow.... Maybe she should
think again. Small towns don't
take kindly to strangers--unless
the stranger happens to be a drop-dead gorgeous and
seemingly unattached male.
When Blair Bainbridge comes to
Crozet, Virginia, the local
matchmakers lose no time in
declaring him perfect for their newly divorced postmistress,
Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen.
Even Harry's tiger cat, Mrs.
Murphy, and her Welsh Corgi,
Tee Tucker, believe he smells A-
okay. Could his one little imperfection be that he's a
killer? Blair becomes the most
likely suspect when the pieces
of a dismembered corpse begin
turning up around Crozet. No
one knows who the dead man is, but when a grisly clue makes
a spectacular appearance in the
middle of the fall festivities,
more than an early winter snow
begins chilling the blood of
Crozet's very best people. That's when Mrs. Murphy, her friend
Tucker, and her human
companion Harry begin to sort
through the clues . . . only to
find themselves a whisker away
from becoming the killer's next victims.
Bestselling authors Rita Mae
Brown and her feline partner,
Sneaky Pie Brown, are back for
the holidays in a mystery
featuring Mary Minor “Harry”
Haristeen, the sleuthing cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, and
corgi Tee Tucker. Can they save
the season from a killjoy who’s
decided to gift the festive little
town…with murder?
As Harry well knows, there’s hardly a place on earth cozier
than Crozet, Virginia, at
Christmastime. The snowflakes
drifting lazily down, the soft
glow of the winter light, the
sound of old carols in the streets…even cats Mrs. Murphy
and Pewter get into the spirit
batting ornaments and climbing
the holiday tree. In fact, it’s this
year’s tree that Harry and her
husband, Fair, have gone to fetch when they find the one
they’ve chosen grimly decorated
with a dead body.
The tree farm is run by The
Brothers of Love, a
semimonastic organization that tends to AIDS patients. The
brothers live in a monastery
atop the scenic Blue Ridge
Mountains. Harry is surprised to
find an old high-school friend
associated with The Brothers of Love. Christopher Hewitt wasn’t
a bad man, but good works
weren’t exactly one of his
priorities. But then, if even
Scrooge could turn over a new
leaf, certainly Chris could. And after the scandal that all but
destroyed his life, there were
probably few in Crozet who
needed the gift of a second
chance more.
Harry knows she shouldn’t take it personally, but it was her tree
that someone left the corpse
under. Now, as the season
grows merrier, a murderer is
growing bolder. One by one,
prominent men of Crozet are being crossed off Christmas
shopping lists and added to the
morgue. And if Harry and her
four-legged helpers aren’t very
good—and very careful—this
Christmas may be her last.
"Sister" Jane Arnold hopes to play matchmaker, but winds up playing detective when hunting season kicks off with a murder in a riveting mystery from the bestselling author of Homeward Hound.
Every fall, the start of hunting season brings crowds of people to Tattenhall Station. "Sister" Jane Arnold has long served as the proud Master of Foxhounds for the Jefferson Hunt, but this year she's noticed a new phenomenon: the men in their hunting scarlets are having an amorous effect on the women in the club. Delighted, she sets her mind to playing matchmaker, but the joys of hunting season are cut short when a body is discovered.
Was the death from illness, as everyone, including Sister Jane, is led to assume? She isn't so sure, and soon, with the help of hunters, horses, foxes, and hounds, she uncovers a nefarious scam involving an inheritance--turning this seemingly innocuous death into a murder.
Finally, a candidate representing all Americans—both predator and prey!
Tired of politics as usual? Despair not: This election year, Rita Mae Brown has thrown her cat into the ring. Her intrepid feline co-author, Sneaky Pie Brown, is taking time off from her busy schedule writing bestselling mysteries to run for President of the United States.
Hail to the Chief: Sneaky Pie heads to the Oval Office with an animal-friendly agenda to unify all Americans—regardless of whether they walk on two or four feet or even if they fly.
With help from her friends—the irascible gray cat Pewter, the wise Corgi Tee Tucker, and Tally, the exuberant Jack Russell—Sneaky crisscrosses her home state of Virginia hoping to go where no cat since Socks Clinton has gone: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. In the tradition of her heroine, Sojourner Truth, she takes her case to the masses. Journeying from the lair of the red-shouldered hawk to the nest of the tufted titmouse, from a pasture full of curmudgeonly cows to the stately halls of Monticello, the tenacious tiger cat even secures the chattering support of Thomas Jefferson’s mice.
Mice backing a cat for president? Yes, we can!
Now, if Sneaky can get the animal community to band together for the common good, why not the humans? After all, who better to get the economy purring again than an honest tabby with authentic political stripes? Human candidates have had their chance in Washington, with dubious results of late: nowhere does it say in the Constitution that the president cannot be a cat.
Isn’t it time for real change? Vote Sneaky!
The feline co-author of the
irresistible "Mrs. Murphy"
mysteries dishes up delectable
fare for cats and humans alike in
this unique collection of recipes
spiced with witty personal anecdotes.
In this latest whodunit, Rita Mae
Brown and her feline partner-in-
crime-detection, Sneaky Pie
Brown, return to the scene of
their bestselling crimesâ
€”picturesque Crozet, Virginia. Love is in the air as spring
comes to the small town, but no
sooner has Mary Minor â
€œHarry†Haristeen remarried
than she is rudely interruptedâ
€”by murder. And no sooner does the trouble start than
curious cats Mrs. Murphy and
Pewter, along with corgi Tee
Tucker, sink their claws into the
case.…
After an unexpected rekindling of their romance, Harry and her
veterinarian ex-husband, Fair
Haristeen, have happily
remarried. But the excitement
of their nuptials is quickly
overshadowed by the murder of Professor Vincent Forland, a
world-famous grape and fungal
expert who was in town
visiting the local vineyards.
Within days of giving a lecture
on how distilled fungus and cattle diseases are the current
basis of chemical warfare,
Forland’s decapitated body
is discovered. After their initial
fright, the residents of Crozet
believe that this was a political murder and settle back into
their routines–until a local is
also found dead, killed in the
same gruesome manner as
Professor Forland. Now
residents can’t help wondering, is this really the
work of an
outsider—or one of their own?
No longer working in the post
office, Harry had just planted a
quarter acre of grapes, which fuels her natural curiosity over
just what the two murder
victims knew and had in
common. Once the warmth of
spring arrives, the grapevines
blossom and Harry’s furry entourage discovers the first
critical clue. But how can they
show the humans what theyâ
€™ve learned? And how can
they—or anyone—stop the
killing?
Spring has sprung in Crozet, Virginia—a time for old friends to gather and bid farewell to the doldrums of winter. Harry and her husband, Fair, are enjoying a cozy dinner with some of the town’s leading citizens, including beloved University of Virginia history professor Greg “Ginger” McConnell and several members of UVA’s celebrated 1959 football team. But beneath the cloak of conviviality lurks a sinister specter from the distant past that threatens to put all their lives in jeopardy.
When Professor McConnell is found murdered on the golf course the next day—gunned down in broad daylight by an unseen killer—no one can fathom a motive, let alone find a suspect. Just as Harry and her furry cohorts begin nosing into the case, however, a homeless UVA alum confesses to the crime. Trouble is, no one believes that the besotted former All-American could have done the foul deed—especially after Mrs. Murphy, Pewter, and Tucker make another gruesome discovery.
As the questions surrounding Ginger’s death pile up, Harry’s search for answers takes her down the fascinating byways of Virginia’s Revolutionary past. The professor was something of a sleuth himself, it seems, and the centuries-old mystery he was unraveling may well have put a target on his back. As Harry edges closer to identifying an elusive killer, her animal companions sense danger—and rally to find a way to keep Harry from disappearing into history.
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.
To celebrate the twentieth
anniversary of the beloved Mrs.
Murphy mystery series, Rita Mae
Brown and her intrepid feline
co-author Sneaky Pie Brown
return with a charming claw- biting tale starring Mary Minor
“Harry” Haristeen. Of course
prowling faithfully at Harry’s
side are the sleuthing cats Mrs.
Murphy, ever wise, and Pewter,
reliably cranky and always primed with a razor-sharp quip.
Fiercely loyal and on the alert,
corgi Tee Tucker is also never far
behind. This time, Harry and her
menagerie throw a wrench into
the gears of a killer of grease monkeys.
It’s mid-May, and Crozet,
Virginia, is heating up fast, or so
it seems to Harry. The town’s
beloved ex–post mistress is
never idle, dividing her time between raising this year’s
bounty of crops; taking care of
her veterinarian husband, Fair;
indulging her passion for classic
cars; and adding further to her
reputation as a nosy neighbor. It starts when Harry’s dear
friend Miranda Hogendobber
takes her on a leisurely drive
that ends in a narrow drainage
ditch. The chaos continues when
the Very Reverend Herbert Jones’s Chevy pick-up also
abruptly goes kaput. But these
vehicular mishaps are nothing
compared to the much more
distressing state of a mechanic
discovered by Harry in a local repair shop: His head’s been
bashed in.
Despite numerous warnings
from her much-loved coterie of
friends, human and otherwise,
Harry rather quickly surmises that the time has come to pop
the hood and conduct her own
investigation. Her animal
companions see disaster fast
approaching but can do little
except try their best to protect their foolishly intrepid human.
Harry’s race to the truth leads
straight to powerful forces
determined to avoid scrutiny at
any cost—even if it means
running Harry Haristeen off the road for good.