Cat's Eyewitness by Brown, Rita Mae
Publisher: Bantam, 2005
ISBN: 9780553801644
ID: P000500081
Flat Signed! Hardcover first edition / first printing. Fine book in fine jacket, not price clipped, Signed on the title page and is author's signature only. Minimum scuffing and edge wear. No writing or marks Comes with Certificate of Authenticity for author's signature.
Price in US $ 31.50
Summary: With the holidays approaching, Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen and her best friend, Susan Tucker, take a much-needed time-out at the mountain monastery of Mount Carmel. There, under the benevolent gaze of the statue of the Virgin Mary, their worldly worries are soon overshadowed. For in front of their very eyes the statue begins to cry tears of blood. Legend has it that Mary’s crimson tears are harbingers of crises. And though skeptical, the ever-practical Harry can already see one on the horizon. If leaked, news of the so-called miracle could turn the monastery and the town of Crozet into a circus. What Harry doesn’t foresee is murder.…When Susan’s great-uncle Thomas, a resident monk, is found frozen to death at the base of the statue, foul play is ruled out–at first. But at Harry’s urging, the body is exhumed for an autopsy. There’s just one problem: the coffin is empty. That’s when Mrs. Murphy, Pewter, and Tucker get involved. Then there’s the shocking revelation of a mystery that has perplexed the citizens of Crozet for ages. With Christmas around the corner and the monastery overrun by the faithful, all Harry’s meddling menagerie can do is stay on her trail as she jumps knee-deep into an unofficial investigation–one that becomes more dangerous when another Crozet citizen meets an untimely demise. In this case it will be a miracle if Harry stays alive....
The Hunt Ball: A Novel by Brown, Rita Mae
Publisher: Ballantine Books, 2005
ISBN: 9780345465498
ID: P000500082
Flat Signed! Hardcover first edition / first printing. Fine book in fine jacket, not price clipped, Signed on the title page and is author's signature only. Minimum scuffing and edge wear. No writing or marks Comes with Certificate of Authenticity for author's signature.
Price in US $ 82.5
Summary: “A rich, atmospheric murder mystery . . . rife with love, scandal . . . redemption, greed and nobility,” raved the San Jose Mercury News about Outfoxed, Rita Mae Brown’s first foxhunting masterpiece. In The Hunt Ball, the latest novel in this popular series, all the ingredients Brown’s readers love are abundantly present: richness of character and landscape, the thrill of the hunt, and the chill of violence.
The trouble begins at Custis Hall, an exclusive girls’ school in Virginia that has gloried in its good name for nearly two hundred years. At first, the outcry is a mere tempest in a silver teapot–a small group of students protesting the school’s exhibit of antique household objects crafted by slaves–and headmistress Charlotte Norton quells the ruckus easily. But when one of the two hanging corpses ornamenting the students’ Halloween dance turns out to be real–the body of the school’s talented fund-raiser, in fact–Charlotte and the entire community are stunned. Everyone liked Al Perez, or so it seemed, yet his murder was particularly unpleasant.
Even “Sister” Jane Arnold, master of the Jefferson Hunt Club, beloved by man and beast, is at a loss, although she knows better than anyone where the bodies are buried in this community of land-grant families and new-money settlers. Aided and abetted by foxes and owls, cats and hounds, Sister picks up a scent that leads her in a most unwelcome direction: straight to the heart of the foxhunting crowd. The chase is on, not only for foxes but also for a deadly human predator.
No one has created a fictional paradise more delightful than the rolling hills of Rita Mae Brown’s Virginia countryside, or has more charmingly captured the rituals of the hunt. No one understands human and animal nature more deeply. The Hunt Ball combines a rounded, welcoming world with an edge of unforgettable white-knuckled menace.
Loose Lips by Brown, Rita Mae
Publisher: "Westminster, Maryland, U.S.A.: Bantam Dell Pub Group", 1999
ISBN: 0553099728
ID: S00010041
Flat Signed! Hardcover first edition / first printing. Fine book in fine jacket, not price clipped, Signed on the title page and is author's signature only. Minimum scuffing and edge wear. No writing or marks Comes with Certificate of Authenticity for author's signature.
Price in US $ 31.50
Summary: In "Bingo" and "Six of One", Rita Mae Brown made a name for herself--and the unforgettable Hunsenmeir sisters--with her talented depictions of early 1940s life in a small southern town. Now, in "Loose Lips", we follow the continuously strained relationship of the outrageous siblings, Julia (Juts) and Louise (Wheezie).
Juts and Wheezie can't pass up a chance to push each other's buttons, and their joint ownership of a beauty salon in this latest installment creates many opportunities to do so. As Wheezie faces her 40th birthday with grim denial, Juts considers motherhood, and the rest of the town braces for their inevitable clashes.
Brown's snappy dialogue and artful situations skillfully communicate the surprising complexity of small town life and sibling relationships. Between the moments of straight comedy (a panicked confusion between bombers and geese makes a great running joke), the meatier issues of adoption, fidelity, piety, and, most importantly, loyalty, are considered, making "Loose Lips" both a hilarious and heartfelt read. "--Nancy R.E. O'Brien"
"Murder, She Meowed" by Brown, Rita Mae
Publisher: "Westminster, Maryland, U.S.A.: Bantam Dell Pub Group", 1996
ISBN: 0553096044
ID: S00010043
"Hardcover with jacket in Mylar cover, price clipped, signed by author on title page, 1st ed./1st print. complete numberline with #1, trade (retail) edition, not bookclub or ex-library. CONDITION - BOOK: Fine - tight square, white pages, no markings of any kind. JACKET Very Good - price clipped but fine otherwise, minimum scuffing and edge wear. Comes with Certificate of Authenticity for Author's Signature."
Price in US $ 31.50
Summary: The slicing Southern wit of Rita Mae Brown takes a slightly different tenor in this tale, claimed to be co-authored by Brown's cat, Sneaky Pie. There's also the voices of cats, dogs, horses, and mice in this tale, and things get fishy when several horse racing jockeys are murdered with daggers to the heart. Good thing the cat Mrs. Murphy is involved--"The day we think like humans we're in trouble," she says--who rallies her friends to go digging around and figure out what the humans can't.
Pawing Through the Past by Brown, Rita Mae
Publisher: "Westminster, Maryland, U.S.A.: Bantam Dell Pub Group", 2000
ISBN: 0553107380
ID: S00010044
"Hardcover with jacket in Mylar cover, not price clipped, signed by author on title page, 1st ed./1st print. complete numberline with #1, trade (retail) edition, not bookclub or ex-library. CONDITION - BOOK: Fine - tight square, white pages, no markings of any kind. JACKET Fine - tiny closed tear at top of spine, minimum scuffing and edge wear. Comes with Certificate of Authenticity for Author's Signature."
Price in US $ 31.50
Summary: "Pawing Through the Past" capitalizes on the myriad subtle relationships that form the backbone of small-town culture, and which Brown and Sneaky Pie have carefully woven throughout the Mrs. Murphy series. In a nicely appropriate nod to that culture's rivalries and alliances, Brown has chosen a high school reunion--traditional hotbed of simmering unease--as her mise-en-scène. When each member of the Crozet High Class of 1980 receives an anonymous note stating, "You'll never get old," most take it as a joke or a compliment. But when the class womanizer turns up with a bullet between his eyes, and more notes--and more bodies--start appearing, Harry and her menagerie find themselves at the center of a revenge plot 20 years in the making.
Brown's latest is replete with the sly asides that have endeared her to animal lovers--"Cats are by instinct and inclination dedicated anarchists"--and with the naively humorous "conversations" between the animals themselves. When Pewter, watching a team of police officers wrestling a stiff corpse out of a dumpster, wonders, "Why don't they just break his arms and legs?" Murphy replies knowingly, "They'd pass out. Humans are touchy about their dead." Unfortunately, these favorable attributes can't quite mask an incoherent plot, nor Brown's awkwardly pompous social commentary: "By and large, the women looked better than the men, testimony to the cultural pressure for women to fuss over themselves." But Brown's legions of fans will doubtlessly forgive these shortcomings, concentrating instead on the antics of a memorable four-legged and furry trio. "--Kelly Flynn"
Whisker of Evil by Brown, Rita Mae
Publisher: Bantam, 2004
ISBN: 9780553801613
ID: P000500083
Flat Signed! Hardcover first edition / first printing. Fine book in fine jacket, not price clipped, Signed on the title page and is author's signature only. Minimum scuffing and edge wear. No writing or marks Comes with Certificate of Authenticity for author's signature.
Price in US $ 31.50
Summary: A mysterious death in a Virginia farm town has the locals scratching their heads while frisky feline Mrs. Murphy and her friends, fat-cat Pewter and corgi Tee Tucker, uncover clues as they curl their way around a cold-blooded killer. This balmy summer in Crozet, Virginia, postmistress Mary Minor Harry Haristeen has a lot to think about. Things have been pretty cozy between her and her ex-husband, Fair and her beloved old post office is in danger of being replaced with a modern building and modern rules. Harry s thoughtful contemplation is shattered the day she stumbles over a dead body near Potlicker Creek. Barry Monteith, the handsome local horse breeder, has been savagely murdered. A true ladies man, Barry was known to have left a string of broken hearts behind him. But could a spurned lover be responsible for his untimely demise? The plot only thickens when an autopsy reveals that Barry was infected with rabies weeks before he was killed. As usual, Harry can t resist doing a little digging with Mrs. Murphy close by to warn of approaching danger. Harry makes a remarkable discovery in the creek the class ring of Mary Pat Reines, a local woman who disappeared thirty years earlier along with her prized Thoroughbred stallion. Like Barry, Mary Pat was a successful horse breeder and now all of Crozet is wondering if the two cases are linked. As the police struggle with the evidence, the pressure gets hotter than a June afternoon especially when another person is found dead of less-than-natural causes. As usual, Mrs. Murphy and her crew are the first to sniff out the truth. But if they don t find a way to help Harry piece together the puzzle, she could become the killer s next target and even Mrs. Murphy s slinkiest moves won t be able to save her.
