Probable Claws

"Harry" Harristeen lives in Crozet, Virginia with her veternarian husband Fair and her assortment of animals, including her felines Pewter and Mrs. Murphy and her Corgi Tucker. She has decided to build a new work shed and she's hired architect Gary Gardner, a good friend, to build it. But when she's standing outside his shop along with Gary and Deputy Cynthia Cooper, a motorcyclist stops and shoots Gary once then drives away. The bullet is perfectly aimed and he quickly dies from the wound.

But who would want Gary dead? And why? When Harry - cautioned by Coop not to interfere - starts a little investigation on her own anyway, she's having trouble putting the pieces together. It isn't until another murder that she's finally able to figure show more it out, and even with the help of her faithful companions Pewter, Mrs. Murphy, Tucker, it may very well cost her her own life if she's not careful...

This is the latest book in the Mrs. Murphy series, and as such, does not disappoint. Ms. Brown has a real talent for weaving the past and the present together without losing her readers in the process. The stories - one taking place in the present and the other in the 1700's - are seamlessly merged; and both tales are interesting enough that while reading of one century, you long to go back to the other.

The tale in the 1700's tells of the original landowners in the area and how their families fared during that time; and often it connects with the present-day tale; but this time out we are going farther back - back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and how it still affects us in the present day.

It is always interesting to see how far greed will take people, and the lengths they are willing to go to in order to acquire wealth. That can be said for both eras in the stories told; yet while the tales do not mirror each other, each is fascinating in its own way.

The mystery was extremely well done, and the murderer was unexpected as well. There were several suspects, but if you watch the clues, it leads in but one direction. The characters are well-drawn, the scenery is highly descriptive, and I absolutely adore Harry, who is not your run-of-the-mill protagonist, but a woman who is not only smart, but strong, brave, and self-sufficient. It is easy to see why her husband Fair is enamored of her; this is a woman who can think on her feet (much like Catherine Garth) and stays calm in the face of danger.

While we know Harry could not have solved anything without the help of the delightful (and egotistical) Pewter (as I feel I must give credit where credit is due), I have to say that I truly enjoyed reading this book as much as I have the others, and I look forward to the next in the series. Highly recommended. show less

Let's start by saying that Mrs. Murphy (tiger cat), Tucker (corgi), and even new recruit Pirate (Irish wolfhound puppy) are amazingly patient with Pewter (fat gray cat). Just saying!

Harry Haristeen is working with architect Gary Gardner on improvements to her barn and workspace, and all seems as peaceful as it ever is around Harry. Then the illusion of peace is shattered as Harry, Gary, and Deputy Cynthia Cooper are standing outside Gary's office. A motorcyclist, completely obscured in bike leathers and an opaque helmet drives up, shoots Gary fatally, and drives away.

Cooper's sincere plea to Harry that she stay out of the investigation really just means Harry has to be more careful. And, really, the deputies would probably never have show more paid really close attention to Gary's stolen and recovered paper copies of the building codes for every jurisdiction he's worked in going back to his days at Rankin Construction...right?

But Gary's death is not the last--or, it turns out, the first. On Rankin's current construction site, a new building replacing one Rankin built--and Gary worked on--in the 80s, a body is found, dead from a very precise bullet, just as Gary was killed. Handwritten notes and dates in Gary's code books coincide with that death, and an earlier one that appeared to be just an early and unexpected heart attack.

Harry may be a little too eager to investigate herself rather than let the Crozet police do their jobs, and it's not always safe, but she is smart, observant, and attentive to detail. She also has her animals, whose noses and lower-to-the-ground view of the world pick up details she misses. And if usually they can't really tell her, they do sometimes manage to alert her to something crucial.

I really enjoyed this, even the bits set in 1786 and 1787, that don't directly bear on this story, they may have present-day repercussions in later Mrs. Murphy mysteries. All in all, this is an enjoyable mystery, and an enjoyable new entry in an ongoing series.

Recommended.

I borrowed this book from the local library. show less

No wonder this series is so enduring (27 entries so far!), it’s as cozy as a cozy mystery can be and clever to boot. At first, I thought the talking animals would be over-the-top cute but they added a welcomed touch of insight and humor to the process of figuring out whodunnit. And even though this was my first Mrs. Murphy mystery (Mrs. Murphy is a cat, btw), I didn’t have any trouble keeping up with the characters and plot of the present day storyline. I can’t say the same about the 18th-century backstory, though. It seemed like it was part of an ongoing post-revolutionary drama that I’m guessing will be picked up in the next book. Probably a good incentive to keep up with the series. I may just go back and read a few of the show more previous books so I'll be up to speed when the next Mrs. Murphy mystery comes out.

My thanks to Bantam Books and LibraryThing for the copy this review was based on. show less

A local architect, Gary Gardner, is shot to death in the presence of Deputy Cynthia Cooper and “Harry” Haristeen by a masked motorcyclist. “Harry,” a central character in the Mrs. Murphy Mystery series, against the orders of the police, endangers herself by becoming involved in solving the murder with the help of her pets -- cats, Mrs. Murphy and Pewter and dog, Tee Tucker. Once again the story is located in the small town of Crozet, Virginia, although some scenes take place in Richmond. Although this is a work of fiction, a real person, Anne de Vault and her small Crozet business, Over the Moon bookstore are featured fictitiously. I checked with Ms. de Vault, and she knew ahead of time that she and her bookstore would be show more portrayed in the novel.

Probably Claws includes stories from two different time periods, late December 2016 through late February 2017 and November 1786 through June 1787. As typical with the Mrs. Murphy series, the main characters, both human and animal, are listed at the beginning of the book. This is especially useful for this novel since there are numerous characters, particularly with the 18th century story concerning two plantations with free whites and black slaves on each. I often had to refer back to the list.

The 18th century characters were apparently featured in the preceding novel in the series, A Hiss before Dying and will appear again in the book following this one. Thus, some readers may have already met those characters, and would not experience such an overload of characters as I did.

I was a bit frustrated reading the book since in an exciting place in the current story, Ms. Brown shifts to the earlier story. 31 of the 46 short chapters tell the current story. Each story was interesting in itself, but I would have preferred to have only the current story told; it was whole in itself and not strongly connected with the earlier one. I continue to enjoy reading these Mrs. Murphy mysteries, especially since they are set in Crozet near where I live. show less

Review also posted on my blog: https://bennilovesbooks.wordpress.com/2018/06/26/review-probable-claws-mrs-murph...

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This book has content warnings for death, murder, poison, gun violence, physical violence, racist/xenophobic language, and miscarriage/pregnancy loss.

I had expected better of this book than what I got; though it wasn't the worst, overall it was quite disappointing. One thing that is less the book's fault and more my own is that the dual timelines did not work for me at all; though cozy mysteries like this one are usually fine read as standalone books, the historical plot that takes place in the 18th century apparently spans across the book before this one in show more the series as well as the book following this one. Because of this, the storyline felt incredibly disconnected from the modern-day narrative because it didn't have anything at all to do with Gary's murder. What was more odd was that the modern-day storyline read as expected -- as if it could be a standalone read out of order even though it's part of a series. The historical plot was also pretty boring and dry, and I didn't care for anything that happened during those chapters. Even though reading the books in this series out of order and not getting the previous part of the 18th century narrative from the previous book, I still expect the characters and the narrative to be interesting, and they just weren't.

The modern-day narrative was self-contained and more interesting, although I wasn't impressed by it, either. The human characters mostly spent their time bumbling around almost as if they were waiting for the animals to give them clues, and while the animals were snarky and kind of funny when they talked to each other, their scenes were almost entirely consumed by Pewter the cat complaining about a giant spider. I know cozy mysteries often have a very leisurely pace to them, but this was just too slow and repetitive. I don't mind a book being a leisurely read, but if it's going to do that then the narrative needs to have enough content to keep my attention. This book felt as if it could have been half the length and still keep its leisurely pace and storylines without sacrificing anything.

Additionally, I was pulled out of the narrative on multiple occasions because of the racism and xenophobia contained in the book. I realize that this book takes place in the south and maybe phrases like "you can pinch a nickle until the Indian rides the buffalo" (9%) might be more commonplace than they are where I live, but it was still off-putting to see in the text. There was also a really weird scene where Harry's new Black friend, Marvella, basically starts explaining institutionalized oppression to Harry and sort of even tries to turn enduring institutionalized oppression into a "positive," and it feels really unnatural and weird. This isn't my lane so it'd be better to seek out opinions of Black readers (or other readers who are PoC for the racism issues as a whole), but these scenes left a funny taste in my mouth.

I was also a bit uncomfortable with physical violence in the book. There is a scene where a "good" character is breaking the bones of a "bad" character in order to keep them in line, and I was cringing through the whole scene because that felt incredibly wrong to me for a number of reasons. It's just odd to me that something like that would be depicted as acceptable and heroic when it's pretty terrible and the character clearly has other options or has started doing it just because they can. This just did't sit well with me.

I found myself really just wishing there was more to this book. It's pretty average for a cozy mystery and there definitely could have been more to this one. It wasn't the worst read, but it was underwhelming at best. If you're a regular Mrs. Murphy reader then you might like this one; otherwise it might be better to look at other cozy cat mysteries instead.

Final rating: 3 of 5 stars show less

As a cat lover, I adore this series, but I do have a beef. Brown has too many animals and people, and too much conversation among the animals. The animals seem to act as a Greek chorus in explaining what is happening. Brown does use italics when the animals are speaking, but this disrupts the flow of the story. As usual, Rita Mae Brown utilizes her expertise is filling the book with lengthy and tedious information concerning some aspect of the story. The discussion of building and architecture went on and on, and lead to very little pertinent data. I enjoyed the jump back into 1787 and learning about the financial woes of the new country.

"Harry" and Deputy Cynthia Cooper watch a motorcyclist gun down architect Gary Gardner. With little to go on besides the fact the motorcyclist wore a black jacket, the police are grateful for any clues--even those provided by Harry's pets. Gary kept building codes for each year, but the 1984 file seems to be missing, and when a skull halts construction at a building site, it dates back to that period. Eventually another murder occurs. The cats, of course, assist in capturing the guilty party.

A late eighteenth century story line is also present. It depicts slavery, including ill-treatment by some, escape for some, and freedom for others. Much of this story line shows the attitudes of the plantation owners and their families toward the show more Constitutional Convention and what it might do to class distinctions.

Two non-related story lines in different time periods does not work for me. I think I would have enjoyed either story on its own, but I simply saw no need for the eighteenth century story, which took up less space (about one-third of the book). The main story would "just get going good" when the older story interrupted its flow.

I received this through LibraryThing Early Reviewers program with the expectation of an honest review. I have not kept current with this series, and I suspect the alternating story lines are why I made them low priority. While I will probably go back and try to read earlier missed installments, mainly because I love the cats, I will not rush to do so. show less