The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 3 June 1998
by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown
At Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's famous architectural masterpiece of a home, there are strange goings on after the skeleton of an apparent murder victim is uncovered in an archaelogical dig in one of the slave quarters. These strange goings on, though, mostly surround the descendents of Jefferson, mostly wealthy, living in nearby Crozet. The plot of this mystery is fascinating and highly entertaining. Harry, the local postmistress, with her cat Mrs. Murphy and dog Tucker, is, like many mystery protagonists, in all the right places at most of the right times. Her animals, as well, take part in the solution. However, Rita Mae Brown avails herself of countless opportunities to demonstrate an encyclopaedic knowledge of everything from horse breeding to Roman literature. Her endless explanations of various plot details are distracting from what is otherwise a wonderfully conceived story. She maintains suspense, but it is a little hard to believe that any housecat would obediently follow her owner all over a town and to an archaelogical dig without wandering off and getting lost somewhere.
Also by Rita Mae Brown: [Catch as Cat Can] [Southern Discomfort]
[Other Books set in the American South]