Customer Reviews

Sour Puss: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery (Mrs. Murphy Mysteries)

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

 

 

The only reason to give this book one star is that Amazon does not allow Zero stars. The author needs to spend less time doing "research" and more time listening to the kitty since he obviously must have written all the others.
I've been a devoted fan of this series but absolutely detested this latest entry by Ms. Brown (I refuse to blame Sneaky Pie for this mess).
A book that is long on classroom lectures about bioterrorism, viticulture, insects, botony, biology, automotive mechanical problems, and short on viable story is not going to hold my interest for long, not to mention all the "product placements" throughout--is the author getting royalties from these companies? And the constant fawning over the Kluges became nauseating, not to mention boring. All those rich farmers drinking and debating the merits of $60,000.00 gas-guzzling SUV's and pickup trucks was just too much to be believed, especially in light of the numerous lectures about global warming throughout the story. Also, I've decided that Crozet must be the most dangerous small town in America the way the population keeps getting murdered, and in this book 3 died within 50 pages! With the usual nutcase going around threatening everyone who ever "done him wrong", you pretty much know that bodies are going to be showing up in record numbers. I really hope that the authoress does a better job with the next one because I look forward to these books so much every year. Maybe she'd could let the cat do the typing and editing next time.

I'd read all of the books in this series and have enjoyed most of them immensely. Having lived near Crozet for a number of years, the setting took me back. The animals have been so clever. The small town post office and overall atmosphere were a joy. The relationships among the citizens of Crozet were exceptional. The readers of the series came to care about the people, even if some of them were getting killed off. The myseries might have been weak at times, but they were always interesting.

A big reason I looked forward to this novel was the re-marriage of Fair and Harry. Through a dozen books, we've hoped for their reconciliation and here it is at last. The story started out well enough, and the change from post office to vineyard could have been interesting enough to carry through. It didn't take long, however, to realize that all of the charm of the preceding books is lost. This story is flat, the mystery uninteresting, and some of the characters almost invisible (I missed Miranda and her baked goods). I am so sorry that the series seems to have petered out. I feared that might happen once Harry left her job. The rest of the characters were just flat. What a disappointment.

... all over the place:

Love between humans; love between humans and animals; love between animals and humans; love of humans for wine; and love of humans for money.

If you need to sum up this book it's all about the love.

The book starts with the long anticipated marriage between Harry and Fair. Since this is the second time for each of them - although to each other, again - the church wedding is lightly attended and immediately the scene is stolen by Mrs. Murphy and Pewter who stage a royal cat fight right in from of everyone.

From there, we go on to spend most of the book on wine, vines, and vineyards. As this is a huge turnaround from the horse country chitter chatter of the previous books, it takes one quite aback. I suppose that Albemarle County has to evolve or maybe Rita Mae Brown got tired of writing horse tails - in any case, please be aware that the horses are in very minor roles here.

Next come the mystery and the murder. Just on schedule, one of the new characters is missing. A search yields nothing but that is because the searchers neglected to ask the animals for their advice. Once Pewter, Tucker, and Murphy are engaged they find the body and lead Harry to it. Which, of course, leads to more questions and more bodies until Harry herself gets involved.

The storyling in this book was flat in several respects. First of all, one of the main charming points of the series up until now was how Harry knew everyone from her post in the little post office. Well, she quit it last book and rather than being even more penny pinching, she suddenly has no job and lots of money - early on in the book it's mentioned that she bought the 230 acres from Blair - enough money not to really be working at anything beyond her beloved farm chores. She certainly has time to drive around with Susan, Coop, Boom Boom and her other assorted friends rather than earn a living. Is all of this money coming in from her husband?

Other changes that took place were also somewhat stilted. Boom Boom apparently discovers that her true love has always been other women. This is from the same Boom Boom that has been features in many of the books as either a marriage-buster or husband-stealer. So, now she is a lesbian?

Because the small old post office was demolished, Miranda is also relegated to tiny roles and only appears once in person - although her baking is still mentioned frequently!

Finally, the mystery itself is not much of a mystery. By the middle of the book it was obvious to me who the murdere was and I found the rest of the killings to be done in poor taste. The whole plot was really stretched out and made too convoluted as supposed explanations for what was going on. Another trend that I do not like is that Harry has lately always had to be the one who resolves the crimes at severe risk to herself. In this case, she is completely uninvolved in the story line until almost the final chapter or two, but then is viciously attacked and only the help of her various animal friends saves her life. The finaly negative comment is that the final battle is way too graphically depicted! We do NOT need to read about what each bloody attack accomplished in terms of pain and damage to various body parts.

For all those reasons, I downgraded the rating to a three. I still love the concept of the animals solving the crimes and telling the stupid humans where to look; I still enjoy reading about the Virginia aristocracy and their foibles; and I still enjoy Harry and the various people she associates with. So, let's hope for a better effort in the next volume and raise a glass of wine to it!

To me this book was not up to her usual standards, it read more like a 'how to' book, just too much information and not enough story. and for th first time I noticed what my church going friends would call offensive language, it didn't bother me but I hestitated to pass the book on. it was almost like it was writtin by someone other than the author we have grown to love and look forward too.

I've always been a fan of Sneaky Pie, but I think she allowed Rita Mae a bit too much input on this one. Borrrrrring, endless details about the Virginia wine-making industry (I'd call it an info-mercial) and many product placements (boots and coats) make this read more like a combination of an agricultural textbook and a slick-cover catalog than the murder mysteries I've loved.

Let's hope the next installment, due out in 2008, goes back to the previous format where the story is actually about the characters and not "things".

Many hisssssssssssssssses and swats for this one.

I think it is cute that Rita Mae Brown gives co-author credit to her cat, Sneaky Pie Brown! How cool is that?

The discussions between the animals gave this book real flavor. We get to learn the thoughts of Mrs. Murphy and Pewter (cats), Tucker (dog), plus that of an owl, possum, snake, and a mule.

The main human character is a lady named Harry, a retired postal worker who spends her time tending to her farm and solving mysteries.

This was a fun read with pretty good mystery elements. The only thing I didn't care for was the overabundant speil of agri-information concerning grape cultivation, vine diseases, horse raising, and biochemical warfare. I felt it was a bit heavy on those parts. I still enjoyed the book, though.

Now, this Harry Harristeen is not the same charming person that used to work in the post-office! What has happened? The dialogues sound like excerpts from an agricultural manual. Real people don't talk like that! Of course I understand the problem of writing a murder mystery series situated in a small town with mostly the same people: You have to introduce new characters in every book which (surprise!) mostly end up either as victims or murderers. (That's why Miss Marple always traveled so much!) Well, maybe there is hope, since Harry and Fair are going on their honeymoon to Kentucky in the next book... Sometimes I wonder, if Ms. Brown is even still writing these books, or if they're ghostwritten by a farming politician who loves horsepower, but not so much cats and dogs...PS: And I do miss Miranda's orange-glazed sticky buns!

I did not understand why the killer was motivated to stalk and kill the folks in this book-- it just did not make sense. The plot was loose and all over the map. The references to terrorism were somewhat interesting but it just didn't make the book stick together. Where are Miranda, little Mim, Big Mim, and all of the other lovable and crazy Crozet characters in this series? They have been missing for several books now. I purchased this one in paperback, but the next one I am borrowing from the library.

and a cat is a cat. Too bad Ms. Brown didn't remember this. She seems to have confused her fox hunting novels with the cat mysteries. Rita Mae is a long time favorite, but this book is a disappointment. There is more instruction on Saddlebreds, horse showing and equipment than the delightful interchanges between Mrs. Murphy, Pewter, and Tucker; the animal protagonists of her Mrs. Murphy mystery series. The human residents of Crozet were sadly missing too. The book felt like it was written because the publishers wanted another Mrs. Murphy mystery and the author sent in a hodgepodge of ideas rather than writing one. Ms. Brown's fox hunting series is excellent, and the Mrs. Murphy mysteries are among the most entertaining written. Let's hope this is just a fluke, and upcoming books will return to the humor and humanity of Ms. Brown's usual efforts.

Harry Harristeen has remarried Fair, her ex. She's branching out in to various agricultural endeavors on her farm. The story centers around wines & grape vinyards. Suddenly, vintners begin to disappear or get killed. Harry (Mary Minor) is beginning to get the "bug" to figure out what's going on, and of course, ends up in trouble, as usual. Besides all the people we know so well, in Crozet, we also have the talking animals, Mrs Murphey & Pewter, the cats, Tucker, the Corgi, Flatface, the owl, Simon, the possum, and Matilda, the black snake.

As usual, the animals are always one (or more) steps ahead of Harry, in crime solving, but of course, it's hard to talk to humans. The end of this one is a shocker.

You can never go wrong with Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Pete. They are all fun, easy reads.