Rating: 
Summary: How about some NEW ideas?
Review: I really enjoyed the earlier books in this series, but despite my best efforts and several tries, couldn't get through this one. Maybe it's because Harry and her buddies are starting to say the same thing over and over again. Or maybe it's because these should be fun to know characters are becoming as boring and predictable as their dialogue has become. Cute only goes so far, even in a light hearted mystery and then it gets tedious. Maybe the animals should do less and the humans just a bit more if this previously entertaining series is to keep moving forward. After all, the gimmick of the talking animals has been well established.
Rating: 
Summary: No more wonderful illustrations by Wendy Wray
Review: I started reading Sneaky Pie's books years ago. I've never been disappointed in any of them. I love how the authors blend everyday life with the extraordinary. Rita Mae Brown shows a wonderful understanding of nature, both human and non-human. I'm should that if our cat could talk he would be as sassy as these three amigos. They have a sister relationship, I can pick on her but no one else better. Ms. Brown wrote a great scene with the bobcat to show how much love these three have for one another. The author's character development does not stop with the animals, the humans are very well developed too. Once again, Ms. Brown shows great insight into the human condition. Friends and family that love and ready care for each other. The author gives the reader a wonderfully pleasant town peopled by a vast and different well-developed cast of characters. Ms. Brown should be commented on her dialog too. It is fresh and witty, true to life. And so funny sometimes that the reader will laugh out loud. Oh, yes there is a murder mystery in there too. I liked the way Ms. Brown ended this particular story. Sometimes the humans don't get it. But, she doesn't leave the reader hanging, we know what has happened and that is fine with me. Reading this book is fun, who cares about the mystery? I highly recommend this book and series. I would suggest that a new reader start at the beginning. It is fun and quite rewarding to watch the characters and author develop with each book. Plus, you won't understand all the "little" points of the characters. So starting reading and get ready for a wild "ride" in the town of Crozet, Virginia.
Rating: 
Summary: Rita Mae Brown is a genius!
Review: I started reading Sneaky Pie's books years ago. I've never been disappointed in any of them. I love how the authors blend everyday life with the extraordinary. Rita Mae Brown shows a wonderful understanding of nature, both human and non-human. I'm should that if our cat could talk he would be as sassy as these three amigos. They have a sister relationship, I can pick on her but no one else better. Ms. Brown wrote a great scene with the bobcat to show how much love these three have for one another. The author's character development does not stop with the animals, the humans are very well developed too. Once again, Ms. Brown shows great insight into the human condition. Friends and family that love and ready care for each other. The author gives the reader a wonderfully pleasant town peopled by a vast and different well-developed cast of characters. Ms. Brown should be commented on her dialog too. It is fresh and witty, true to life. And so funny sometimes that the reader will laugh out loud. Oh, yes there is a murder mystery in there too. I liked the way Ms. Brown ended this particular story. Sometimes the humans don't get it. But, she doesn't leave the reader hanging, we know what has happened and that is fine with me. Reading this book is fun, who cares about the mystery? I highly recommend this book and series. I would suggest that a new reader start at the beginning. It is fun and quite rewarding to watch the characters and author develop with each book. Plus, you won't understand all the "little" points of the characters. So starting reading and get ready for a wild "ride" in the town of Crozet, Virginia.
Rating:
Summary: Mrs. Murphy and company do it again, in spades
Review: I think that Rita Mae Brown (and Sneaky Pie Brown) should be locked in a castle turret and not released until they write at least 25 Mrs. Murphy mysteries. I just love the books and must confess I don't care who the murderer is, I'm enthralled with the wonderful conversations between all the animals and Ms. Brown's obvious knowledge of their behavior. I watched "Murder She Purred" and can't believe that Disney has not filmed the rest of the stories. In this day of blatant sex, and horrible violence, it would be a breath of clean, fresh air.
Rating:
Summary: Talking animals or people in fur pajamas?
Review: I would enjoy this series a lot more if Rita Mae Brown made any effort to have her animals think and react like animals. Since the animals all read human history and lecture each other exactly as if they were human, the only difference I can see as a reader is that they are... shorter than their human friends. The joy of reading books with animal protagonists is trying to imagine how they view the world. In Rita Mae Brown's world the animals, like everyone else, pretty much views the world as Rita does. Using cats and corgis to as the vehicle to air her own tedious views on society doesn't make it any more charming. As someone who lives with multiple cats, all of whom are entirely fascinating in their own right, I find it insulting that she makes so little effort to create believable, if verbal, animal characters.
Rating:
Summary: You'd have to really like cats to forgive the plot
Review: I would put this book in the category of mysteries that "cheat" -- cheat by giving you a solution that really isn't very convincing and that seems to leave a lot unexplained. Even when I found out "who dun it", it didn't make as much sense as I would have liked. I think the author depends on the "gimmick" of the talking cats and dogs to get away with some weak plotting.
Rating: 
Summary: flat characters, but what do you expect from a cat?
Review: I've always enjoyed Brown's light mystery work, but this one was strangely unsatisfying. I realized in reading it how little character development we ever get in these sagas -- Hardy's "bags of bones" walk through this book but leave us strangely unaffected. Wish Brown would get off her drugs as the source of all evil kick, but I do like her gov't as the real source of all evil tirade, so I'll forgive her.I read this book in the page proofs, so I'm curious to know whether the horrible, egregious, glaring error was ever corrected -- when what's his name is showing off his uniform at the post office and what's her name tells him it was "spun on a hand loom." My eight year old daughter choked w/laughter at that one -- even she knows we spin on a spindle or wheel and weave on a loom. I hope the Browns will work on developing their characters more in the next volume -- we know Rita Mae can do it!
Rating: 
Summary: I still love Mrs. Murphy, Tucker and Harry, too!!!
Review: I've enjoyed all of Rita Mae Brown's Mrs. Murphy novels. I'm a Southerner; perhaps the setting reminds me of the small town I grew up in. I withheld one star because I had the feeling that there was something missing in this tale. Less grit, less enthusiasm? I can't put my finger on it. I would still recommend it to you Mrs. Murphy fans out there, however. And I look forward to any upcoming Mrs. Murphy novels.
Rating:
Summary: Another good entry in the series
Review: If you liked the other books in the series, you'll like this one. Fair warning: if you're expecting this to be a nice "cozy" where everything comes out right in the end, you're going to have to be satisfied with partial justice. There are two mysteries in this one, the minor one that's ridiculously easy to solve, and the major one that's quite a bit harder. The debates between characters with different viewpoints are interesting, as usual. Long-time readers can tell that the rehabilitation of Miranda, who was rather obnoxious in the first book, is complete -- the handy cast listing has dropped that line that she thumps her own Bible. (Of course, it was easy to tell that the authors decided they really liked her when they started to describe her as plump instead of fat. The Browns follow a modern trend in writing where nice fat characters are described using euphemisms for fat. The dreaded three-letter word is reserved for fat characters who aren't nice.) Those readers who consider Fair a jerk, as I do, will be pleased that he hardly shows up. I wish the authors would introduce a man worthy of Harry. Notes: The illustrations are usually accurate as well as attractive, so it's surprising that Pewter is in the dam-crossing one when the text states that she stayed home. Was there a change to the original draft? The publisher might wish to look at the fourth paragraph from the bottom on p.30. Unless "scared cow" is Virginian for "sacred cow", they might wish to correct that for the paperback. Ann E. Nichols
Rating:
Summary: Not the best, but an enjoyable read
Review: Mrs. Murphy, Tee Tucker, Pewter, Simon, the bobcat, the horses and then the humans too. What a menagerie. I enjoy these books, but they are not for everyone. There are many people who take exception to animals being involved in the writing of mystery stories for humans. I do wish "Mom" would get with the program and figure out that her animals are communicating with each other and trying to tell her something. She spends enough time with them that she ought to figure out their body language and that they are trying to tell her something. Again, read them, read them all.
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