I'm impressed! I didn't see the whodunnit coming at all on this one. Looking back, I can see hints, but I didn't catch them at the time. I really enjoy the animals in this series a lot. I'll be back for them (and, truth be told, the human interactions, too). Ms. Brown writes fun stories. ( )

I watched the movie based on this book and was so aggravated. The changes the screenwriter made were unnecessary. The only good thing about the movie was Blythe Danner as the voice of Mrs. Murphy. Why they had to make Harry plump, why they had to make Miranda silly, why they had to make Boom Boom stupid, why they had to make Tucker a male. All these changes were stupid and contributed nothing to the story and ruined the movie.

I watched the movie based on this book and was so aggravated. The changes the screenwriter made were unnecessary. The only good thing about the movie was Blythe Danner as the voice of Mrs. Murphy. Why they had to make Harry plump, why they had to make Miranda silly, why they had to make Boom Boom stupid, why they had to make Tucker a male. All these changes were stupid and contributed nothing to the story and ruined the movie. ( )

3.25 stars

“Harry”, the town’s (female) postmistress and a farmer, has a dog, Tucker, and a cat, Mrs. Murphy. The pets talk to each other and other animals in this series (and help solve mysteries). In this one, shortly after an attractive man buys the neighbouring farm to Harry’s, a (non-local) man is found, murdered and in pieces.

It took a long time for this one to get going for me, I wasn’t really interested until about 1/3 of the way in (or maybe a bit further). There was a lot of description going on at the start: of the town, of the people, and their relationships. After the murder was discovered is when it started to pick up for me (though not completely). The end did leave me with enough interest to read the next in the series, though. The animals are cute, but to be honest (and as a bit of a surprise), they aren’t the main draw for me, though they do make the series a unique. ( )

This book was a surprise to me. I truly was judging it by its cover and thought I was going to hate it. However, it was a surprisingly good story. Without give out spoilers, it was a story of murder in a small town. A town in Virginia called Crozet, where everyone knew everyone else.

The main character is a down to earth woman called Mary Minor Haristeen (a.k.a. Harry). Her pets Mrs. Murphy and her Corgi "Tucker" were also a significant part of the story. She is a postmistress in this sleepy little town with a cast of characters. It is when this stranger called Blair Bainbridge moves in that things seems to start happening. Unexplained murders and trying to find out "whodunnit" is the center of the story.

I did not like the beginning of the story because it started out as a stereotypical "chick" story. You had your cats, your had your town gossip and men in their "watermelon colored sweater". Give me a break! I also did not appreciate the fact that the author chose the animals to use profanity. It kind of gave a contradiction to the different animals in this story as they seemed to be more aware than the humans. I felt that the humans using profanity was completely in character as most of them in the story were superficial and vain. I don't know, I got the impression that Mrs. Murphy, Tucker and this other fat cat called Pewter were more noble.

The story became interesting however as the pieces started coming together. Finding the murderer was not as interesting as finding out why and how it was done. What was nice in the story was how the murderer pointed out what was missed by the townspeople, forget about what you missed reading it. It was another one of those, that if it were a movie done right, you would need to go back and see it again to pick up the clues. Because, like the murderer, they were right in front of you. The ending did have a unique twist but I hated the fact that there was no way that I, the reader, could have guessed the ending. I feel that not enough information was given throughout the story.

I highly recommend this book. It started out slow for me but it picked up and the ending was original to say the least. For all of you cat lovers out there, if you think that the animals had a major role in this story, you will be disappointed. The animals had a significant role however, even though they were minor. ( )