Product Description

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, Marry Minor "Harry Haristeen." Even Harry's tiger cat, Ms. 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 tuming 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 Ms. Murphy, her friend Tucker, and her human companion Harry begin to sort throughout the clues . . . only to find themselves a whisker away from becoming the killer's next victims.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49730 in Books
• Published on: 1993-06-01
• Released on: 1993-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 384 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780553562392
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Mystery fans who dote on their pets will welcome this second tale of murder co-authored by Brown and her cat, Sneaky Pie. A follow-up to the duo's Wish You Were Here, it reintroduces characters and settings in the tiny town of Crozet, Va. Central to the tale are postmistress and knowledgeable farmhand Mary Minor Haristeen (Harry), her cat Mrs. Murphy and her Welsh corgi Tee Tucker. Mrs. Murphy, as it happens, "bears an uncanny resemblance to authoress Sneaky Pie," and virtually every reference to her is amusingly flattering. Other key Crozet denizens include the nosy, well-meaning widow Mrs. Hoggendobber; the haughty, monied Sanburne family; Harry's ex-husband and his new love interest, a woman nicknamed "Boom Boom." Gossip is at a low ebb in Crozet until male model Blair Bainbridge moves to the farm bordering Harry's. Matchmakers start to buzz, but they are rudely interrupted when assorted parts of a dismembered body are found on Blair's land. The animals, whose speech is italicized in the text and generally misunderstood by humans, form their own hypotheses about the murder, and naturally have a hand/paw in solving the crime. The Browns expertly depict small-town life, detailing holiday parties, a fox hunt and Harry's chores during a bucolic winter. Although talking, sleuthing animals may seem cloying to serious folk, this is in actuality a spooky, baffling tale complete with (Rita Mae) Brown's trademark surprise ending.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Second in Brown's ``Mrs. Murphy'' mystery series. The liveliness evident in Brown's earlier novels (Rubyfruit Jungle, Southern Discomfort, etc.) ripples on in the twit and josh among old acquaintances in the small hunt-club-Waspy town of Crozet, Virginia, but readers will need a twin tolerance: animals that talk amongst themselves, and grue piled higher and deeper as a corpse is discovered--first a hand, then more until the full corpse doth appear in--aargh!--a Halloween pumpkin. As in Wish You Were Here (1990), Harry--a 30-ish postmistress and horsewoman--leads the way in puzzling over the murders of an unknown vagrant and then a bank manager, amid mailed threats, a lost earring, and gossip about a handsome new neighbor. The animals--Mrs. Murphy the cat, Tucker the dog, Simon the possum, etc.--talk things over and save ``Mom's'' life, too. Animal-lovers know better, but will probably be hooked in anyway. An adequate mystery, with plenty of jolly chat. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review
"A spooky, baffling tale complete with Brown's trademark surprise ending."
--Publisher's Weekly -- Review

Customer Reviews

Fun for a Saturday afternoon...
The second in the Mrs. Murphy series... "Rest in Pieces" is equally as cute as the first one, "Wish You Were Here." The plot is very simple, the ending predictable... but fun nonetheless.
The relationships between the animals (and this book includes more than just the cat and the dog... but a possum, 2 horses, a snake, and an owl as well) is fun and cute to read. And the relationships between the characters are developing well... the reader is introduced to everyone in the first book... and reading the second one is like being re-united with old friends. And i am looking forward to the third one to see if the budding romance from this novel continues.

Whereas i'd hardly call this book quality literature... it was a lot of fun for a rainy saturday afternoon... and for [money] is a lot better than most of the movies in theaters now! It's a great read for animal/mystery lovers.

As True a Picture You'll Get of Folks from a Small Town.
I enjoyed this second book in the Mrs. Murphy series much more than the first, and the main reason for that is that the author has painted a true-to-life picture of what it's like to live in the country and in a small town. I certainly could see parallels to my own life in the descriptions of country living and folks helping others. Also, I didn't find the animals as distracting this time (maybe because I knew what to expect this time round). Anyway, the mystery in this book is a good one and it will keep you guessing until the end. In it we get to know Harry a little better, as well as her numerous wonderful friends. Ms. Brown does a good job of characterization for her somewhat eccentric cast of characters. The story starts with various human body parts showing up in very strange places. It certainly puts the citizens of Crozon on the alert and sets the stage for more murder and mayhem. All in all a pretty good read.

A Good Read
Crozet, Virginia, is indeed a small town full of secrets and spite, and never more so than in this book. A dismemebered corpse turns up all over town in the most unlikely places. A new man, Blair Bainbridge, has moved to town. Everyone thinks he and Harry should get together, and emotions are running high. In fact, high enough for someone to kill? As Harry and the townspeople try and figure out who and why, the animals, as uaual, are a step ahead of everyone else. The climax is more suspenseful and dramatic than usual. Equally entertaining are the conversations in the post office when half the town is gathered together. Brown takes you on a humorous adventure, similar to a roller coaster, with half a town involved.