Santa Clawed

Rita Mae Brown
and Sneaky Pie Brown

Crozet, Virginia, is getting ready for Christmas. The Brothers of Love monastary has their annual Christmas tree farm sale. Harry Haristeen and her friends are getting the church ready for the Christmas special program.

She and her newly remarried husband go to buy a Christmas tree. Instead they find one of the monks, murdered with his throat cut. Later, at the autopsy, an ancient Greek coin, an obol, is found under his tongue. That is symbolic of ancient Greek mythology when a coin was put under a dead person's tongue to pay his way to Hades. The Brothers of Love also work at an AIDS center, helping the patients.

Harry is affected by the sight and wants to investigate. But Fair, her husband, and Cynthia Cooper, a sherriff and Harry's close friend talk her out of poking her nose in to places that could be dangerous. When another brother is found murdered in the same way it gets more complicated. There doesn't appear to be any connection between the men except they belong to the same order. Christmas in Crozet has a distinct pall over it this year.

This cozy mystery is quiet and well done. Part of Rita Mae Brown's writing style in this series is to have Harry's pets talk to each other - the cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter and the dog Tucker.They also interfere at times, leaving the humans to wonder if the animals can understand them. Santa Clawed is not compelling but flows smoothly. I'll admit the murderer caught me by surprise. I didn't actively try to solve the mystery, but wouldn't have looked the right way if I had tried.

Notice:  Non-graphic violence

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