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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An enjoyable read with likeable characters, October 25, 2004
This is the first in the Sneakie Pie series by this author, and I think I liked this better than a later book in the series I read, but perhaps they are best read in order. This is definitely a book for animal lovers (cats and dogs who communicate with each other are a significant part of the book). I suspect also that women will probably like this book more than men -- it's basically a cozy mystery set in a small Virginia town with a woman as the lead character.
Harry (a woman) is the overeducated (she went to Smith but is not particularly ambitious) postmaster of a small Virginia town. She walks to work from her country house, accompanied by her cat and dog, who spend the day with her at the tiny post office where residents come in to get their mail each day. No wonder she has such energy to garden, clean, and what not when she gets home -- her work takes up little energy so she spends much of the day socializing and reading post cards. She notices a strange postcard with a grave marker that says "wish you were here" -- and no signature. The recipient turns up dead shortly thereafter. She figures out the post card was sent by the killer and from there gets involved in solving the mystery (with the unbelievable cooperation of the sheriff). The plotting is pretty good, although I pegged the killer early on based on my knowledge of who the killer tends to be in mysteries. It didn't interfere with my enjoyment of the book as I suspected but didn't know for sure or why. This is a great "escape" book that doesn't require a lot of concentration -- no tricky time lines or long list of characters to try to keep track of -- each character stands out memorably.
I intend to go on reading this series -- I would describe this mystery as engaging and reasonably well written.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cute and Easy to Read..., March 14, 2005
...but not a five star book. If I were to judge this solely on its literary merit, it would be a two or three star review, but I understand that the goal of this story -- written by and starring a excessively smart cat -- is to provide a frivolous escape. Some might call it "Brain Candy". Anyway, I understand the need for some good ol' brain candy, so I gave it 4 stars despite what I consider to be poor writing.
The mystery is creative, and the characters are colorful and fun. There was a definite sense of danger that built towards the end of the story. In fact, the story became more gripping as it neared the end. Once the mystery is solved, the book wastes no time in wrapping up the tale, and ends an abrupt handful of pages later.
Like I said: fun, easy to read, but not something to write to your old English professors about.
One thing I should mention: I am a pet lover, and as such I think that the concept of a cat and dog who follow their owner around off leash in public is cute, if not more than a bit far-fetched. Those who are not animal lovers should probably stick to regular human-oriented mysteries, as this will probably sicken you with furry sweetness.
One other thing that I feel I should mention is that there was a surprising of profanity and some rather gruesome deaths... I don't know why but I thought this was going to be more "G-Rated". However, it is definitely targeted at an adult sense of humor. There wasn't anything terribly over-the-top, but it took me off guard. In fact, its one of the reasons I upped my review to 4 stars, because I like some occasional profanity, but it might not be for everyone.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Up and down first effort, September 9, 2010
This was a good first effort for a series, and it was good enough for me to try some more books about Harry, Mrs. Murphy, and Tucker. However, there were also a few problems with the book. With apologies to devoted fans of the series, the author made a few mistakes that diminished my chances of truly enjoying this book.
First, I didn't find a single character in the book that I actually liked. Some that I might have had a chance to, the author didn't explore deeply enough for me to have a chance to like. In fact, the only character that I kind of liked early on was one of the murder victims, so that didn't last too long. Harry, who we follow as the main character, wasn't engaging at all. Rita Mae Brown had her going through a divorce that Harry was very troubled about. While I might have felt great sympathy for a real person in her situation, for a fictional hero her story in this regard was more annoying than sympathetic.
Second, the mystery is not set up to give readers who like to figure out the clues and the mystery a real chance to do that. Once the plot gets to the critical point, the only real clue the author gives is too obvious. There are not enough false trails. While the author makes some slight attempts to throw suspicion around, her other suspects aren't really viable.
Third, as some other reviewers have mentioned, some bad language explodes out of the woodwork quite by surprise. I'm not a prude who disagrees with any profanity in a book, but the profanity here was ill conceived. This book could very well be read by much younger readers with only a few words changed. I would have recommended at one point that my granddaughter could read this book, and then all of a sudden here comes an f-bomb right out of the blue. Its almost like Rita at some point decided that the book wasn't mature enough and dropped in some half-hearted bad language. There was no purpose to it, and it really didn't fit the tone of the rest of the book.
Finally, the point behind the mystery is not well thought out. Physical objects involved are not in a place that the criminal would have had them. You'll understand why I say this if you have read the book, or do so after reading this review.
The animal aspect to the book is different from the norm and is likely the most entertaining part of the story, since the human characters don't give you much to latch onto. Strangely, the animals are the voice for several short political essays. Whether or not you agree with these viewpoints, they come across just fine from the animals' viewpoints. You do get the idea though, that they are the author's messages.
If you are determined to read this series, you won't feel that your time was wasted when you finish this book. However, Agatha Christie it is not.
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