In this fast-paced mystery by Rita Mae Brown and her feline co-author Sneaky Pie Brown, Mary Minor Harry Haristeen and her animal friends seek to solve a whodunit rooted in eighteenth-century Virginia uncovering a shocking secret that refuses to stay buried.
TALL TAIL
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.
Praise for the Mrs. Murphy Mysteries by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown
As feline collaborators go, you couldn t ask for better than Sneaky Pie Brown. The New York Times Book Review
Mrs. Murphy mysteries are fun, sweet, and beautifully adventurous. Bustle
Brown [is] the queen of the talking animal cozy. Publishers Weekly
TALL TAIL
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.
Praise for the Mrs. Murphy Mysteries by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown
As feline collaborators go, you couldn t ask for better than Sneaky Pie Brown. The New York Times Book Review
Mrs. Murphy mysteries are fun, sweet, and beautifully adventurous. Bustle
Brown [is] the queen of the talking animal cozy. Publishers Weekly