The Purrfect Murder - (Mrs. Murphy) by Rita Mae Brown (Paperback)

About the Book

Brown and her feline partner return with the 16th installment of their "New York Times"-bestselling mystery series. Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen and her sleuthing pets discover the deadly side of the high-end architecture world when one particularly difficult client is murdered.

Book Synopsis

Bestselling authors Rita Mae Brown and her feline partner, Sneaky Pie Brown, return with a 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...

THE PURRFECT MURDER

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?

Review Quotes

"While the humans philosphize over the big issues, the pets steal the limelight."--Kirkus Reviews

"Well-paced ... unpredictable."--Publishers Weekly

"Rita Mae Brown has never shied away from addressing the topical--or letting the serious overwhelm the funny.... Brown provides a perfect diversion for a cold night, complete with a cat or a dog on your lap."--Richmond Times-Dispatch

About the Author

Rita Mae Brown is the bestselling author of the Sneaky Pie Brown series; the Sister Jane series; the Runnymede books, including Six of One and Cakewalk; A Nose for Justice and Murder Unleashed; Rubyfruit Jungle; and In Her Day, as well as several other novels. An Emmy-nominated screenwriter and a poet, Brown lives in Afton, Virginia.