In this addition to the 'Mrs. Murphy' mysteries, amateur sleuth Harry Haristeen is concerned about drug deaths in her county. I think it's necessary to be familiar with the series to fully enjoy the book.
The 'Mrs. Murphy' cozy mystery series began over three decades ago, with the charming premise that animals could speak amongst themselves and help their owner solve crimes.
In recent years author Rita Mae Brown has used the Mrs. Murphy novels to promote her politics and to discuss American history. This bothers me, since I don't think authors should use fiction as a platform to 'teach.' That's what non-fiction is for. Still, I've been following these characters for a long time, and the stories are interesting, so I keep reading them (so far).
Rita Mae Brown's recent Mrs. Murphy novels have followed two storylines, one set in Crozet, Virginia in current times and the other set in the same region in the late 1700s, a decade or so after the Revolutionary War.
*****
During the Christmas season of 2021, Harry Haristeen, a lifelong resident of Crozet - in Albemarle County, Virginia - has a lot going on.
Harry is married to a large animal veterinarian named Fair Haristeen; she takes care of her farm and horses; she hangs out with her lifelong best friend Susan Tucker; she and Susan deliver Christmas baskets to needy families; she's arranging a surprise Christmas present for her husband Fair; and she and Fair belong to a 'dining club' composed of close friends that sample high end restaurants.
Harry is also the 'mom' of two cats called Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, and two dogs named Tucker and Pirate.
The pets converse among themselves - discussing the news of the day and other things - and talk to other animals as well. In this book Harry is taking Pirate - a 150-pound Irish Wolfhound - to dog showing classes, just for fun.
Besides everything else Harry is a compulsive amateur sleuth, and she pokes into deaths being investigated by her friend and neighbor, Deputy Sheriff Cynthia Cooper.
In this book Harry becomes concerned about a number of Christmas season fatalities: three undocumented middle-aged men who have no IDs are murdered; a Crozet orchard owner named Sy Buford is found dead; and three young people overdose at a party.
All the deceased contain traces of Fentanyl, and Deputy Cooper and Harry are concerned about drugs in Crozet. Harry even starts carrying Narcan, which can revive people who overdose on opioids if used in a timely manner. In an interview, author Rita Mae Brown acknowledges that this storyline is inspired by concerns about the country's ubiquitous drug problem.
In any case, Harry tries to determine how the drugs are being distributed in Virginia, and she endangers her own life as a result.
In the alternate storyline, set in the Crozet area in 1789, the action centers around two plantations and a high class brothel. One plantation, called Big Rawly, is owned by Mrs. Maureen Selisse Holloway, a cruel woman obsessed with profits and keeping her slaves in line.
The other plantation, named Cloverfields, is owned by a kind man named Ewing Garth, whose married daughter Catherine - a superb horsewoman and businesswoman - helps her dad run Cloverfields. The Garths are kind to their slaves, but have no thoughts of freeing them. It's clear that author Rita Mae Brown is against slavery, but her characters justify the practice as an economic necessity.
In this story, Catherine arranges for a steeplechase race on Cloverfields property, and the author (a horsewoman herself) describes the race in great detail. 🙂
The 1789 brothel, called The Tavern, is run by a money-obsessed woman called Georgina. The Tavern serves its clientele gourmet food, provides musical entertainment by a talented singer, and has beautiful prostitutes for after-dinner entertainment.
All this might be fine and good except that Georgina has young girls kidnapped to work at The Tavern. Georgina seems to think she's providing a 'better life' for these gals, but its human trafficking no matter how you slice it.
I'm intrigued by the high-end eateries frequented by Harry's dining club, which serve things like grilled young squab with seared foie gras nesting on rhubarb compote. For dessert, Harry always orders orange-glazed sweetbreads with crème brûlée, which I might try given the chance.
Glazed sweetbreads and crème brûlée
The Mrs. Murphy' novels used to be REAL cozy mysteries with Harry searching for and finding clues....often with the help of her fur babies. More recently, and especially in this book, the 'investigation' is VERY superficial and the story is about all manner of other things. So you're forewarned.
Thanks to Netgalley, Rita Mae Brown, and Random House Publishing Group for a copy of the manuscript.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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