The Purrfect Murder (A Mrs. Murphy Mystery) | Rita Mae Brown

The Purrfect Murder (A Mrs. Murphy Mystery) | Rita Mae Brown | Just plain impurrfect...

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The Purrfect Murde...

	The Purrfect Murder (A Mrs. Murphy Mystery) Rita Mae Brown Bantam, 2008 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 32 reviews view larger image
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New York Times bestselling authors Rita Mae Brown and her feline partner, Sneaky Pie Brown, return with a new mystery starring Mary Minor ?Harry? Haristeen, the sleuthing cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, and corgi Tee Tucker. But are they any match for a killer who?s made an entire town suspect by committing?

Autumn has arrived in cozy Crozet, Virginia, and that means the town?s inhabitants are hard at work in home and garden preparing for winter. Harry is planning to harvest her first crop of Petit Manseng grapes along with her beloved sunflowers. Meanwhile, her recent marriage to Fair and her friendship with Deputy Cynthia Cooper, who?s rented nearby Blair Farm, are flourishing. But even when peace descends on the idyllic countryside, murder is lurking.

Mrs. Carla Paulson is one of the diamond-encrusted ?come-here? set who has descended on Crozet with plenty of wealth and no feeling for country ways. She?s determined to make her new house the envy of all her well-heeled friends?and enemies?and she?s hired architect Tazio Chappers to build it.

From the start, the project?and Mrs. Paulson?turns into a major headache relieved only by a side trip to study Thomas Jefferson?s extraordinary summer home at Poplar Forest. Harry couldn?t foresee that a day later Mrs. Paulson would be found stabbed to death at a gala fund-raiser with Harry?s friend, Tazio Chappers, standing over her, holding the knife.

Now Harry must solve what seems to everyone else an open-and-shut case. Every other human, that is. For her four-legged friends see it Harry?s way. But will they have to choose between catching the purrfect killer or saving Harry?

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It Takes A Village

(More like 3.75 stars compared to other books in the series.) Some of the reviews actually discouraged me from going to this latest Mrs. Murphy mystery as soon as it arrived. I thought, hmmm, so series fatigue must have got it. In fact, it is not bad; not the best, but it should not disappoint most regular readers. I like the world Rita Mae Brown has realized through this series, a rural western Virginia town (the very real Crozet) that over the years has grown urbanized rural. RMB uses the excuse of murder and detection fiction to explore how its Southern heart remains stolid as it absorbs newcomers and the challenges of living in the 21st century. In this outing, a popular OB/GYN who has performed some terminations is killed, but after a militant antiabortionist confesses and is jailed, past patients are blackmailed, seemingly by the same culprit. This gives RMB a chance to look at the impact of one of the most divisive issues of modern times in a place where opinions clash but people need to stick together. Her regular crew of characters falls on both sides. RMB treats both sides gently.

As usual, the human characters' pets have their own conversations which the adults never get and if they did, the mysteries would be solved long before they are. In light of how the ubiquitous CSI television shows have educated the populace, the human characters, including the actual law enforcement officers, seem to ignore key evidence or lack thereof until it is almost too late. It doesn't really matter that much to me; I value this series for its social observations and wit, and it has both.

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Just plain impurrfect...

First, I have read every book in this series. But the more recent ones are just not as good as the first ones (though this one was 100% better than the last one--at least we're back in Crozet!). But this is a cute murder mystery series where all the animals (rats, snakes, owls, etc.) talk to one another. Not a platform for political views. If I wanted that, I turn on CNN. Sure, people can have an opinion, but some of the things said by the characters are straight out of a book. People I know just don't talk like these characters--and I live in a very big city!

Second, the ending was incomplete. OK, now is Tazio off the hook? The ending never mentioned that. Will this continue in the next book? I assume we will have something about her marriage to Paul. Did we absolutely prove the Kylie was the killer? No. She took off. So you have a supposed double-murderer on the run. And really, were you supposed to believe, considering how Kylie's character was described, that she was a murderer of this kind. No, to me, she was written as a guy-crazy young woman who liked to shop. Maybe that was her disguise. And did Harry simply forget about seeing her buy the $19,000 watch? That tidbit was never mentioned again. As in the previous book, the ending was over in the last two pages. Boom, story over.

Third, Harry. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Harry should have been arrested for illegal trespassing or breaking and entering. You simply can't break into someone's house because you think they are guilty of something unless you are the law and even they need probable cause. She should be dead, and that would be the end of the series.

Now, I realize these books are fiction and cute, light-hearted mystery. Or at least the first ones were. Ms. Brown is turning out these books in an assembly-line fashion. It seems that not much thought is going into the characters (and way too many new ones--bring the old ones back like Miranda and Boom-Boom) and way too much thought goes into what is Ms. Brown's view of the world. I still love the banter between Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, plus all the other animals (even the rats). Their conversations are more enjoyable than the human conversations (and more understandable).

Hopefully, the next one will improve. Yes, I will continue to read the books (I also get them from my public library and do not waste money buying them), but it's getting more and more disappointing to read. I hope Ms. Brown spends some time reading her loyal readers' reviews and takes the hint.

Signed, A real Mrs. Murphy

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The devil's in the details.

Aside from the preaching, I found the errors in the book to be so glaringly obvious that they were distracting (not to mention repeated over and over). I very strongly suggest that Ms. Brown research more carefully in the future, starting with the difference between veins and arteries and carotid artery v. jugular vein.

Sadly, I'm finding this more and more commonly among mystery authors or their editors.

Cats and dog save the day--in very upscale rural Virginia

Even rural Virginia can't escape from the larger issues confronting the U.S. And when a planned parenthood doctor is murdered, the issue of abortion comes up. Little Min and Big Min spiral into conflict with Republican Little Min refusing to condemn the murder--or to defend a woman's right to choose. Meanwhile, the police arrest an anti-abortion activist who quickly confesses to the crime, but Harry Haristeen and her pets wonders whether things really are that simple.

At a fund-raising dinner, the other shoe falls when a prominent socialite is murdered and Harry's friend, Tazio, is an immediate suspect. Harry is sure her friend is innocent, but the evidence--they found the bloody knife in her hand--will be hard to argue against. Especially when Harry's pets learn that rats destroyed clues that might have exhonorated Tazio. Still, Harry does have one clue--the corrupt construction code enforcer, Mike, is withholding secrets. Could murder be one of those?

Authors Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown continue their Mrs. Murphy cat detective series with an engagingly written story. With their strong opinions and certainty that their way is the correct way, Harry and her friends may offend some readers (in fact, maybe they'll offend all readers since they mix progressive views on abortion with strange thoughts on slavery (maybe it would have died out on its own if it hadn't been for the Civil War)), but at least the Brown team puts their characters in a world where issues like abortion and the disaster in Iraq exist.

Over the past several books in this series, the Browns have been looking at social issues. Change comes slowly to the rural south, but even there, reason has begun to stand up against religious bigotry. The Browns are careful, though, to show religion in a positive light, with Bible quotations and the local minister both playing major roles. From a mystery perspective, I would have preferred to have a more ordered sleuthing process--with Harry actually finding clues that led her into danger rather than leaping with just a feeling. The talking animals (they only talk among themselves and with the wild animals) are mostly charming.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

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