Cat's Eyewitness: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery

I held off reading this one due to the negative reviewer who claimed it was a series gone seriously downhill. Some of this serie's books are certainly better than others, and this is one of the best. I appreciate the character development and the storyline's mystery was very intriguing. It was not a dead-give-away (pun intended) as to who committed the murder and any reviewer who gives that away ought to be ashamed of themselves and their big mouths. I also am glad that it did not focus on sex. I don't like to know what others do (real or imagined people). It is none of my business and Rita Mae did not harp on any of it, so thank you Rita Mae. I love this series and want MORE.

So nice to get to know Susan better. As love always, love Harry and the kids, Mrs. Hoggendobber, and the warmth of the stories. While plot was less intricate than sometimes, was still a wonderful read.

CAT'S EYEWITNESS is, I believe, the 14th entry in this cozy murder mystery series. I had read up through the ranks out of habit and was rewarded when it picked up new life in the last volume, WHISKER OF EVIL. The good news is, this sustains the energy of that one. Brown hasn't taken a left turn; she simply is taking advantage of the possibilities she set up with the original book: a rural village setting in western Virginia and quirky but not unreal characters who are bound together by neighborhood, culture, the past and the ever interrupting present. The murder mystery part of any Brown and Brown collaboration is not the strength in itself of the books. It is an opportunity to exercise characters and their issues. The real mystery is more about the human condition. In this volume, the heroine, Harry, the now former post mistress of Crozet, Virginia, is dealing with unemployment and a deadline from Fair, her ex-husband who has extended a marriage proposal. Her friend Susan is extremely moody and suspicious of her husband, the stalwart Ned. Boom Boom, formerly an adversary from childhood and now a friend of Harry's, a siren to men, is undergoing some self revelation. All of them are feeling the pinch of approaching middle age. In the meantime, there's been a grisly death at a nearby monastery, which allows some honest conversation about non-political faith and the post 9-11 malais that is felt even in a Brigadoonish place like Crozet. Brown's writing is graceful and smart about humans and animals. Her setting is tactile, real. The characters continue to breathe for this reader. I read this as a comedy of manners and am not too bothered that the murder mystery is not the strongest in the genre.

Checking in with Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen and her friends in Crozet, Virginia, is like coming home again. It's winter, and the book opens during a Thanksgiving snowstorm. This time the Piedmont community has to deal with several murders related to what appears to be a sacred miracle: tears of blood streaming from the eyes of a Virgin Mary statue at a nearby Blue Ridge mountain monastery. In addition to unraveling the story behind the story, Harry and the gang do some individual soul-searching about their religious beliefs and also over personal issues like mid-life crises and sexual orientation. Harry herself is at both a personal and a professional crossroad: she's out of a job at the post office, and her ex-husband has proposed to her again. What to do, what to do? Don't worry: by the last page, her future becomes clearer. In the meantime, the Crozet pets talk to each other, as has become their habit. They continue to muse about the failings of humans: from their propensity to sit for hours looking at a computer screen, to the wars they wage upon each other. Some of the most insightful conversations in the book take place among the cats and dogs. After all, they are the REAL investigators in each mystery. One has to wonder why they don't mind traipsing through the snow after their masters, especially the cats. Most felines I've known would rather watch the snowflakes from a warm windowsill than set one furry paw in a snowbank. Mrs. Murphy and Pewter must be the exceptions. Nevertheless, this is an interesting episode in the Mrs. Murphy series. Best read during a snowstorm of your own, with a cup of hot tea and a steaming buttered scone at the ready, and (of course!) a cat curled up on your lap.

In a small hamlet in Virginia, animals talk to each other across species lines and the only ones unable to understand is the dumbest species: humans. Mary Minor "Harry " Haristeen loves her two cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter and her corgi Tee Tucker; they reciprocate her feelings, going so far as to help her when she becomes too deeply involved in a murder investigation and puts her life in danger. The Greyfiars Monastery's has a Virgin Mary statue on their property that starts weeping bloody tears. Many people including some of the monks think it is a miracle. Monk Thomas is found frozen to death in a kneeling position besides the statue. Harry's intuition screams murder and her four legged protectors know a cardinal witnessed the homicide. The journalist covering this phenomenon is killed when someone sticks a pen in his eye. Harry thinks the killings and the tears are linked; she investigates but it is only because of her animal friends that she doesn't become the third murder victim. It is always a pleasure to read a book starring Harry and Mrs. Murphy but the CAT'S EYEWITNESS is particularly good as several changes in Harry's life has occurred. The heroine's ex-husband gives Harry a marriage proposal ultimatum or he will look elsewhere for love. Harry no longer works in the post office because she cannot bring her animals into the new facility. Susan, Harry's best friend, reveals a secret she kept for over two decades, and the sexpot Boom Boom finds a surprising new lover. Readers will find it impossible to figure out who the perpetrator is among the even tempered monks. Rita Mae Brown delights her fans with this fantastic feline mystery. Harriet Klausner