Customer Reviews

Cat on the Scent

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The sixth "Mrs. Murphy Mystery," featuring Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen and her pets (Mrs. Murphy, the tiger cat; Tee Tucker, the corgi bitch; and Pewter, the fat gray cat who used to live in Market Shifflett's grocery), takes some interesting new tangents. There's a Civil War re-enactment, a haughty Britisher who gets shot (not fatally) in the very midst of the fray, a small plane hidden in an old stone barn, and a missing pilot; a dismaying discovery by the three animals in a pit full of discarded farm machinery, and the revelation it leads to; an appearance by the Reverend Herb Jones's cats, Elocution and Lucy Fur, who've been mentioned but never introduced before in the series; a cabal that may or may not be illegal but is certainly leading to some strange doings; and a murder that goes unsolved, even by the notoriously nosy Mrs. Murphy.

The high point of the novel, though, has to be the astonishing scene in which Tucker and the cats, having discovered Harry's neighbor Blair Bainbridge lying in his Porsche freshly shot, contrive to literally drive the car home to their mistress so she can call for help. It sounds incredible, but as Brown has set it up (foreshadowing with a newspaper story about a dog ticketed for driving without a license), it just seems a believable outgrowth of a series in which animals talk to one another, read the mail and the newspaper, and help solve crimes while still acting plausibly like animals. A not-to-be- missed entry.

Although I'll still give it three stars for the simple reason that Rita Mae Brown writes with enjoyable style, I can't recommend CAT ON THE SCENT as highly some others in the "Mrs. Murphy" series. Brown's mystery novels have always been more about funny characters than plot, but this particular novel pretty much throws plot completely out the window.

CAT ON THE SCENT finds Mary "Harry" Harristeen (the young postmistress of tiny Crozet, Virginia) and her friends (both human and animal) drawn into a series of mysterious deaths that may or may not have something to do with a proposed reservoir. As usual, the writing is bright and the characters (including the felines Mrs. Murphy and Pewter and canine Tee Tucker) are entertaining... but on this occasion Brown seems to be straining her concept of animal characters, the overall novel seems unfocused, and many readers will find the conclusion frustrating. Mildly enjoyable, but not greatly memorable.

I have read all of the previous Rita Mae/Sneaky Pie Brown books, and really enjoyed them. I sort of enjoyed this one as well, but if I had it to do over, I wouldn't read it. Here's why:

- It's preachy. I can put up with, and even enjoy, some amount of commentary on the human condition from a "cat", but this book went overboard.

- In the previous books, it was a clever literary device to use pets to push the silly humans in the right direction, but this book went too far. Cats aren't smarter than people. Cats have brains the size of walnuts. I love my cat, but I've had her ever since I was a child, and she's never shown any desire to use her intelligence for anything other than catching birds, squirrels, moles, etc.

(Warning! Small spoiler to follow):

- The people never found the answer. Even the pets were just guessing. If I want to read about unsolved murders, I can read the newspaper. When I read a mystery story, the only thing I absolutely require from it is that at the end of the book, at least one non-guilty person has figured out (or been told) who did it, how, and why. The reader finds out who, how, and why, but none of the characters do. I don't think I've run across that in a mystery before--at first I thought maybe some pages had fallen out of the book or something. It's like the last chapter was left off.

(end spoilage)

I'm giving this three stars, because it's the last point that really ruined the book for me. Since it came at the end, most of the book was reasonably good.

After reading one book in this series I was hooked. I read to escape the daily stress and pressure our modern world throws at us. If I want reality I'll watch the evening news. It is easy to visualize the three friends working together as a team. It was one of the best parts of this book. My advice, relax and enjoy these tails again and again!

I don't have much new to add to the previous reviews, except to say that I, too, have read all of the previous Mrs. Murphy books as well as Riding Shotgun and Rita Will. For some reason this story was strangely lacking. Maybe because she went a little over the top at the end and I couldn't suspend my disbelief as willingly as usual.

If this book had been the first one I read, I'm not sure I would come back for more. I also think the new illustrations are jarring after the previously wonderful ones. Growing up, Marguerite Henry was my favorite author (because she wrote about horses), but the books would have not been complete without Wesley Dennis' illustrations. I feel the same way about Mrs. Murphy, Pewter, Tucker without Wendy Wray.

I enjoy all of Rita Mae Brown's "Sneaky Pie" books. My daughter who is of college age and I have read the entire series. As we have cats of our own, it adds to the entertainment! The only complaint I had was what happened to the killer in the end. It was a different approach then usual. I'm not sure I liked it. But it was intriqing! I'm anxious for the next book to see if she did anything else with the circumstances.

I had only ever read one R.M. Brown novel, and that was "Riding shotgun." As a horsey person, I read it for the foxhunting element. Then a friend of mine was involved in the filming of the foxhunting sequence in the Disney movie, "Murder, she purred." After enjoying the movie, I decided to read the books. These are great, fun mysteries full of characters who are just that, characters. I'm only a sometime mystery reader, but I quickly gobbled up all six R.M. Brown mysteries that I could get my hands on. Please, Rita, write another one soon! We dog,cat,horse lovers need another book from you and Sneaky Pie!

Personally, I like to see the killers in a cozy little mystery "get theirs" in the end. This one doesn't tie up the loose ends to my liking. Also, some of the animal action is just a little hard to take...even for me, a mother of 3 cats. Sorry.. not my fave. I'd like to see a series spin off from Riding Shotgun...

Readers of the previous entries in the Mrs. Murphy series are in for a shock when they see the illustrations in this book. Wendy Wray's lovely, evocative drawings of the animals, that added so much to the earlier books, are no more. The new renditions by Itoko Maeno are crude and annoying.

Civil War reenactments, small planes, shady land investments, and boys with expensive toys, plus the usual requisite dead bodies, are the focus of Cat On The Scent, the 7th Mrs. Murphy Mystery by Rita Mae Brown [and her cat, Sneaky Pie Brown]. Harry Haristeen, postmistress of Crozet, Virginia, and her amazing companion animals Mrs. Murphy, Pewter [the cats], and Tucker [the dog] are on the case as always. The novel starts off well enough, but loses its way towards the end. Reading the Mrs. Murphy Mysteries has always meant an extra measure of suspended disbelief [the animals talk to each other and always solve the mysteries before the humans do], but in this story the animals push the need to suspend disbelief over the edge with behavior that is way beyond what had been established for the animal characters in the previous six novels. The end is muddied in a way that makes me believe that the author never firmly decided whodunit and finally just ended the book. One of the novel's B-stories, involving a relative of Harry's and a dead baby buried in the "bone yard" of a farm, is very interesting and I would have liked to see that story expanded. I did enjoy the novel, but not as much as the earlier ones. This one rates about a 3.6 stars compared to the others. If you're into the Mrs. Murphy Mysteries, you should read this one for the continuity, but if you're looking to try one of the novels in the series, I'd recommend that you pick another one to start with.