Murder on the Prowl

Rita Mae Brown
and Sneaky Pie Brown

Something is wrong at the local expensive prep high school in the hills of Virginia. The headmaster's obituary is called in to the local newspaper. Unfortunately, he has not died…yet, anyway. The practical joker is caught. Shortly thereafter, the headmaster is murdered. How had the joke been turned into truth?

Harry Haristeen works at the local post office and works her farm. Mrs. Murphy, her cat, and Tucker, her Corgi, help her in their own way. While she doesn't understand them, they communicate between themselves and with her. Harry finds herself helping the local sheriff's department as they try to discover who killed the headmaster. Mrs. Murphy and Tucker discover another body as well, but have no way to get a human to follow them to the isolated spot.

Things get worse at the school and soon parents are pulling their children out and enrolling them in the public school. The headmaster's secretary pilfers a lot of the school records and will not return them. Some of the students are having their own problems. Through it all, the girl's field hockey team continues to play. It is having a winning season and is trying to go to finals.

This is a mystery with a number of twists and turns. I was certain I knew "who done it", then would change my mind again. The book is told both from the humans' point of view and the animals' point of view. Along with the strange doings at the prep school, Harry has other issues as well. Her ex-husband wants to get back together with her. She is not only helping solve a mystery, but is trying to resolve her own feelings as well.

At times I find the animals' point of view frustrating because they know more, but cannot pull the humans in. In other words, they have to act like animals, yet are shown with more knowledge that we cannot see. Also there are a lot of fuzzy edges to this story. I can't explain what I mean, but it is like we have half drawn scenes in many places. All the pieces of the mystery are there. I guess it is the background that is not well drawn. Murder on the Prowl is worth reading despite the fuzziness.

Wish You Were Here
Rest in Pieces
Murder at Monticello
Pay Dirt
Murder, She Meowed
Murder on the Prowl
Cat on the Scent
Pawing Through the Past
Claws and Effect
Catch as Cat Can
The Tail of the Tip-Off
Whisker of Evil
Cat's Eyewitness
Sour Puss
Puss 'n Cahoots
The Purrfect Murder
Santa Clawed
Cat of the Century
Hiss of Death