This book is hilarious--several times I found myself laughing out loud at something she said. I minused out one star because of her blatant southern-centricism--she thinks most of us Yankees are rude, and that only southerners possess real manners. My little tabby cat Sammy says PFFFFFTTT to that.
Her account of the Martina/Judy galimony brouhaha is especially hilarious, with poor Rita Mae stuck in the middle, trying to encourage the two to settle things amicably. She gives a highly unflattering (but probably true) portrait of Judy Nelson. Her first impression of Judy was: "How often do you meet a woman whose hair can be ruined by a ceiling fan?" That one cracks me up every time. She talks about some of her relationships with women, most notable those with Martina Navratilova, Fannie Flagg, and Judy Nelson.
She relates the struggles she went through getting a college education and establishing her writing career, but she manages to keep things light by peppering amusing anecdotes of family life (and reactions) in between the more serious passages. She talks about her days as an lesbian feminist activist with Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem, which I found to be of great interest, as she worked closely with these famous women. She is not kind to Billie Jean King, declaring, "Some people get the face they deserve as they grow old; Billie Jean also got the thighs she deserved." MEOOWWW. Sneaky Pie must have contributed that one.
This is a thoroughly enjoyable read, full of Southern wit and charm. If you're a fan of Rita Mae's work, you'll love reading her real-life story.

Anyone who has read Rita Mae Brown's earlier works or heard her as a public speaker would agree that she's one of the smartest, quick witted and entertaining female writers on the scene today. Her Autobiography is another example of her strong intellect, courage and humor while sometimes sounding a bit self-indulgent and egotistical. In spite of its narcissistic tone I really enjoyed this book.

Rita Mae's vast knowledge of historical, social and political issues was incredibly impressive and her own transcendance from a farm girl to a social icon for Lesbianism places her among some of the most significant writers in American Women's History.

She's a smart lady with an honest heart who knows what she believes and is unafraid to stand up and be counted irregardless of the cost. As a younger woman, I feel eternally grateful to have her as a dependable advocate for womens' and minorities' issues. RITA WILL not only gives the reader a surprising view of the authors life story but also a slice of Women's History from the perspective of an active participant.

One of the greatest gifts a popular author can give their fans next to a "How To" on writing and style is an Autobiography. In her Memoir Ms. Brown pulls out all stops and allows the reader a unique window into her life allowing one to see what motivates her writing.

It is no big surprise that some of her best books are snippets of the author's own life. Having read these works long before this creation my attention was pleasantly held in reserve as the pages leaped by me in high-volume page turning style. Others may have found this as a "re-read" of her past novels but I disagree and rather call it as a wonderful enhancement to the stories of her life as well as an humorous inspiration to me. No Rita Mae fan should be without this book on their shelf.

The publisher promised "witty & warm" I found nothing close to either. In my opion,the book was pooly written, no charm, humor or even believable. The setting was Montgomery Alabama, 1900,it could have been LA, Chicago or New York and almost any year with the lack of real reference to the time and place. The author tried way too hard to come up with unusual names for her characters to the point that it was ridiculous . I just didn't believe the characters and didn't care.

This book was a little different than the other Rita Mae Brown books i've read, but just as enjoyable.
It takes place during the 20's in a southern town... and tells the story of people from all walks of life - blacks, the wealthy whites, and some white prostitutes. She tells the story of each group of people in a very authentic way and gives each group a sense of pride. And of course... the stories mingle as the characters begin mingling outside theor social circles.
The way i'd say this book was different than some of her others (and i've read about 10), is that it's more... well... more like a soap opera. (along the lines of V.C. Andrews). There is incestual sex, illigitamate pregnancies, etc.
This book was definately fun to read though... and has a beautiful message...

One of my favorite books of all time. I laughed and laughed...when my father read it, even he was rolling on the floor in stitches!

To really enjoy Rita's Mrs. Murphy mystery series one must first get past the utter nonsense which constitutes both the "Introduction" at the beginning of each novel and the page at each novel's conclusion where "Sneaky Pie" tries to pawn her tie-in merchandise. Then once into the body of the novel itself one has to get past Rita's rather sloppy use of law enforcement terminology and her even sloppier descriptions of law enforcement procedures.

Blair Bainbridge is the only three dimensional character in this entire novel and he isn't even mentioned in the "Cast of Characters" (which is odd considering he is one of the regulars). At least with this novel the crime being committed is a white collar crime. These are the only two things in its favor.

The 4th book in this series... again, proves to be a cute read.
Mrs. Murphy and Tee Tucker return with Harry to solve a murder. This book brings the return of Blair, Harry's possible romance, and develops a lot of the character relationships more.
I will be reading more in the series... (i think it's on #10 now!)
Very cute, easy read.

I absolutely love Rita Mae Brown's characters! I have approximately three more to read and I will have read all she has out at present. Through reading her Mrs. Murphy Mysteries, I have a very vivid appearance of each and every character in Crozet. They're family! Mrs. Murphy, Tucker and Pewter are like my two cats and one dog. Pay Dirt is a wonderful mystery as are all of her stories. I just can't get enough!

Unlike some others, I will never put Brown in the same league as Agatha Christie. Brown is so sophomoric in comparison. If you want to read a really good mystery, read Christie. If you want to be merely entertained by a mystery, read Lilian Jackson Braun's "The Cat Who..." series. Braun is a better writer than Brown. She even has a better imagination. If you want purely escapist fare in your mysteries then Brown is precisely the ticket you want. In this particular novel, Brown took a perfectly good idea or two and proceeded to be perfectly mediocre in her treatment of it.

The second in the Mrs. Murphy series... "Rest in Pieces" is equally as cute as the first one, "Wish You Were Here." The plot is very simple, the ending predictable... but fun nonetheless.
The relationships between the animals (and this book includes more than just the cat and the dog... but a possum, 2 horses, a snake, and an owl as well) is fun and cute to read. And the relationships between the characters are developing well... the reader is introduced to everyone in the first book... and reading the second one is like being re-united with old friends. And i am looking forward to the third one to see if the budding romance from this novel continues.

Whereas i'd hardly call this book quality literature... it was a lot of fun for a rainy saturday afternoon... and for [money] is a lot better than most of the movies in theaters now! It's a great read for animal/mystery lovers.

The characters have grown on me - and surprised me! No kidding, eh? Okay, it is not the most complex writing, but still, enjoyable.

Liking Harry, Mrs. Hogendobber, and Blair very much. Hoping the exploration of each character continues in the next book. But what nasty surprises lurk there? Eh?

This was more grizzly than the last tale - that dismembering thing, and the shotgun to the kneecap was more than a bit queasy-making. The throwback with postcard mailings was a strange bit. The extreme detail of the horse/fox hunt scene and even a bit of golf was interesting, yet...

Hot maple syrup in the snow? Sounds like a "might try sometime" idea.

Going back to her religion soapboxing - she is clearly trying to divide the Holy Light and Lutheran and Catholic types. She gives Harry a lot of philosophizing about our place in time and the universe. Very thought provoking.

Other odd inclusions: p.60, referring to the Middle East as the "lavatory of the human race," while affecting an Iraqi accent. Odd. p.139 referring to an animal that behaves bitchy and has been named Streisand. p.201 writing that evokes how "indians swooped down to kill whites." Yes, that surely happened, but it wasn't because they were whites, it was because they were encroaching on the indians land and weren't hesitating to kill the indians.

NEW VOCAB FOR ME
hectoring - intimidating, bullying
hoi polloi - ordinary people (Greek for "the many")
glad-hander - to offer somebody a friendly greeting or handshake, often insincerely or for motives of self-advancement
dilettante - superficial: typical of somebody who has only a superficial understanding of something
impecunious - poor: having little or no money, and so unable to lead a comfortable life (formal)

The animals cussing each other out was one thing that set me off on the early parts of this book. The people rarely cuss (which is refreshing), but Mrs. Murphy & Tucker sniping ... at one another and other similar language seemed out of place and really not necessary.

Looking forward to the next book in the series...

I read Brown to get a belly laugh. That is about all her mysteries are good for. The rest of her books I never bother with simply because they aren't worth the effort. It is nice to see that Brown has finally gotten around to having some Blacks as characters. It will be interesting to see how long it is before she has Blacks or other minorities as pernament characters in her series.

Sneaky pie has certainly gotten fat along with being vain and egotistical.

It looks as if I'm in the minority here but I was not overly impressed with "The Tail of the Tip-Off." This latest Mrs. Murphy mystery novel is not a terrible read, but it is not vintage Rita Mae Brown either. For me, this book lacked focus. The mystery was an interesting one with plenty of promise, with lots of really interesting character realizations, and the usual humourous antics of Mrs. Murphy, Tucker and Pewter (plus their assorted friends) -- but I still finished the book feeling fairly unsatisfied.

The town of Crozet, Virginia is currently in the grip of both winter and basketball mania. And while tempers are running a little high, no one expected murder to work its way into the latest University of Virginia's women's basketball game. But that's exactly what happens when building contractor H. H. Donaldson suddenly collapses and dies after a game, and an autopsy soon reveals that he was mysteriously poisoned during the game. Bored and restless, Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen (post mistress of Crozet, amateur sleuth and owner of Mrs. Murphy, Tucker and Pewter) is eager to figure out the who, why and how of the murder. (Anything is better than trying to decide once and for all if she should allow her ex-husband, Fair, to work his way back into her life on a more intimate footing.) Was H. H. murdered because of some past project and because he crossed someone in business? Or was he murdered because of his extracurricular marital affairs? How did the murderer manage to poison him in the full view of everyone at the stadium? Was his murderer his long suffering wife, Anne? Or a spurned lover? Harry and her furry friends, Mrs. Murphy, Tucker and Pewter are determined to get to the bottom of this latest murder...

There were loads of things I liked about this novel -- like the descriptions of the Virginian countryside in all its glory; the conversations that the animals had with each other; the (hopefully) new characters that Ms Brown has added to the series; and the murder plot premise. But, there were also (for me at least) things that detracted -- like the fact the plot was not quite tight enough, and the pacing a little off, and the fact even to the very end, the motives and actions of some characters (like the H. H. & the murderer) were never really clearly explained/realised. And there was the fact that the authour doesn't really deal with the fact that the second murder victim might have been saved. Oh, Tucker feels the guilt and the remorse, but the humans never really talk about this. I found this very baffling, and a little disconcerting.

All in all, while "The Tale of the Tip-Off" was not a bad read, it was not one of the better Mrs. Murphy mystery novels either (at least no where near "Rest in Pieces" & "Wish You Were Here"), and as a fan, I was a tad disappointed with this book.

Life in rural Virginia seems simple, committee meetings to determine whether the church can afford new carpeting, snowfall, University of Virginia woman's basketball, and casual meetings of women to discuss the weather, children, and relationships. But these superficial goings on don't completely hide the reality of adultery, crime, and murder. When post office manager Harry Harristeen sees a construction contractor die of an apparent heart attack, and then learns that it was a cleverly disguised murder, she resolves to find out the truth. Harry is aided in her relentless curiosity by her two cats and one dog, all superhumanly intelligent but saddened by humans' inability to understand what they say oh too clearly.

Harry has her own problems--problems relating to her ex-husband, Fair, and the woman that Fair once had an affair with (Boomboom). She can't get Fair's unfaithfulness out of her system, but she doesn't want to let him go either. As for Boomboom, Harry likes to believe the worst of her, despite Boomboom's assurances that the affair happened only after Harry and Fair had separated.

Author Rita Mae Brown, along with her cat, Sneaky Pie Brown, create a compelling tone of rural life and death. Brown details a social structure that seems to have survived intact from pre-civil war days with women dominating the important events of the society and men providing entertainment and heartache. Pets, of course, are hugely important and the animal insights into humanity, religion, and nature, add to the enjoyment.

Brown resrains her pets in this story--there are no pet-driven vehicles, for example, but the animals manage to save the day once again as Harry's impetuous curiosity comes close to getting her killed.

I adore Brown's work in general. She has an amazing mind and a charismatic way with words. Those of you who love her fiction first and foremost may not appreciate her poetry though, it is absolutely in a different voice then that in which her prose is written. But, as a poet, and from a poetry standpoint - it is concise, moving, and still very much the Rita we know and love. Definitely worth a read - mine is beat-up, dog-eared and very well travelled.

This book is a tiny paperback composite of Rita Mae Brown's early poetry (from the 1970's or maybe before!)
I am a huge fan of hers... and i loved many of her novels (In Her Day, Rubyfruit Jungle, Alma Mater, etc.) maybe i'm not a huge fan of poetry in general... but i didn't LOVE this book of poetry. It just doesn't have the same kind of vivaciousness that her novels contain. Each book seems to have a life of its own... but this poetry book... was just words on the page.
Rita Mae Brown is an awesome novelist, mostly because she creates such realistic characters... and these poems lack that.

(also, this book is out of print, and therefore really expensive. I would just recommend "In Her Day" instead.)

As Rita Mae Brown is my favorite author, I liked this book and its subject was interesting even to a non-foxhunter. However, overall I have been disappointed in Rita Mae Brown's last few books. They lack the wittiness, intelligence and humor, and fascinating and mildly controversial characters of her earlier writing. I also noticed some inconsistencies in this book - such as the character Marty, who was called Marty for the first 3rd of the book and suddenly, inexplicably became Martha for the rest. The characters were not sufficiently developed for me to understand them or feel sympathy for their plights. I count on Rita Mae Brown's books to assume intelligence in the reader, and this book did not -- it spelled out too much for my taste. Let me figure things out! I also found some disturbingly sexist attitudes, which is quite different from Rita Mae Brown's usual style. I hope the next one is better.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As a longtime horse person, passionate foxhunter, and honorary whipper-in, I am always looking for a good horsey read. The good ones are few and far between, because so often the writer isn't writing what they know, and they get the facts so very wrong. Happily, that is not the case here. The author is accurate in portraying the politics and the every day responsiblities of a modern hunt club and kennel. The few inaccuracies I found were more differences of opinion than blatant misrepresentation of the facts (i.e. I disagree with some of her description of hunts that chase coyote. Many foxhunters whose usual quarry is fox think that coyote run in straight lines, and obviously the author is of that school. But the vast majority of foxhunters who chase coyote will tell you that they run circles just like foxes, but they are much bigger circles over much more country.) These sort of debates are common among foxhunters. I appreciated the research and descriptive writing that went into this novel. I learned a thing or two about the sport's history in this country. The foxhunting and equestrian and country life aspect of the novel get 5 stars from me.

The mystery aspect of the book, however, is weaker than the horsey thread, and really only rates 3 stars. So I gave the overall review 4 stars.

I'm recommending this to my horsey friends. Thanks, Rita Mae, for writing something so fun to read! Please bring us more in this vein.

What a delightful book and a joy to read. As always with Ms. Brown, I hated to finish the book and know I will read it again.

Born and raised in Virginia, I had no idea what was involved in fox hunting prior to starting OUTFOXED. One of the best things about reading is learning, and as always, Rita Mae teaches through her work. The character development of both the humans and animals was excellent and solving the mystery was great fun.

I hope there will be future "Sister" Jane Arnold books to further embellish the characters introduced in OUTFOXED. I felt a kindred spirit with her, her friends and acquaintances and, especially, the menagerie of critters. Three Cheers and Five Stars!

I've read and loved the Sneaky Pie mysteries for years, but had fallen 2 books behind when I picked up Pawing Through the Past and Claws and Effect. Now, I realize I'm in a specialized area and am nitpicking this book because of my personal experiences, but this book really bugged me. Through 7 books we've been exposed to "tiny" Crozet, Virginia (in one book, its population was given as 1700 people). But here we are supposed to believe it has a world-class teaching hospital which has a pediatric intensive care unit (Tussie Logan at one point refers to a child from Guatemala she's taking care of), specialists like orthopedic surgeons (Buxton, "one of the leading knee specialists in the country"!)and worst, A TRANSPLANT CENTER!!! I work in a hospital in a city of 500,000 people, and none of our 5 hospitals has a transplant center (there's only one in the state, in the capital city). I came from a city of 20,000 which has a 25-bed hospital, with a usual census of 5-10 patients! Harry speculates that 3 people with healthy organs die per week at Crozet Hospital (remember, a town of 1700 people). It just goes on and on!

I am disappointed that Ms. Brown has such a low opinion of her readers (or that she doesn't feel it's necessary to at least make these mysteries minimally realistic because they're making her millions).

If you need to read this one to complete the series, do it. If you're starting here, it's obvious to me Ms. Brown is just grinding these stories out because she has a successful franchise. Go back and read the first books, they're fun and, while not totally believable, at least not ludicrous. We'll see how Catch as Cat Can goes... I may have to give them up.

Like all of Rita Mae Brown's "Mrs. Murphy" series, CLAWS AND EFFECT reintroduces us to the residents of tiny Crozet, Virginia, a community of small-town archetypes in which the animal friends of various residents occasionally help their humans solve a murder in their midst. And this time the murder is a particularly bloody one: a member of the hospital staff is found with his throat cut ear to ear in the hospital boiler room. As usual, the mystrey entices Postmistress Mary "Harry" Harristeen--and when her own safety is threatened, her two cats (Mrs. Murphy and Pewter) and dog (Tee-Tucker) come to the rescue by investigating the crime for themselves.

The Mrs. Murphy series is light reading, of course, and taking it too seriously undermines the fun. As usual, the great attraction here is not the plot--for Brown has never really bothered to work out the tightly puzzle prized by hard-core mystery fans--but the way in which the thing is written: frothy, funny, and amusing. Unfortunately, CLAWS AND EFFECT has little of the froth we usually expect, and it may be that Brown has begun to tire of her creation, but it still makes for an entertaining way to pass an evening. Fans will enjoy it.

When workers at the Crozet Hospital begin turning up dead, Harry with the help of her pet companions Mrs. Murphy and Pewter (the cats) and Tee Tucker (the dog) begin searching for the killer. But before they can solve the mystery, more bodies turn up, and soon the police and Harry know that the murder is someone whom is an acquaintance to everyone in the samll town of Crozet, Virginia. Now they just need to find out who.

This was a very interesting cozy, perfect for animal lovers. My only pet peeve about this series (as another reviewer stated before), is the amount of characters. The story can become quite confusing when there are characters such as Big Mim and Little Mim. But the story is still good, and quite interesting, and will have readers thirsting for more.

I'm a huge fan of the Mrs. Murphy series; they're my favourites of all the cat/crime genre. Unfortunately, the latest volume doesn't come up to the standard set forth in the series so far. It reads like a rough draft turned in under a deadline. While the actual premise is interesting enough, it's both unoriginal and so far-fetched that it's hard for this ordinary person to care about it. The writing is wooden and stilted, more a recitation of events than a good story. The new characters are lifeless -- not even a budding romance has any real zing -- and the old characters are predictable. Nothing new is happening in the town of Crozet; let's eat some orange glazed cinnamon buns. Even the animals can't really save this one; they talk a lot but don't really contribute much. A fan of the series will want to read _Catch as Cat Can_, but get it out of the library.

Harry Haristeen, her two cats, and her dog find themselves caught in the middle of a social whirlwind in Crozet, Virginia--a whirlwind that grows increasingly serious and increasingly less social as murder marrs the festivities. Something is rotten in Crozet--but exactly what is hard to detect. Fortunately for Harry and for Virginia, the pets are on the case. And with these pets, Harry is certain to be dragged along.

A large part of reading a Mrs. Murphy mystery is the countryside and society that Harry hangs in. Although Harry is only a postal worker, she is a key part of the town--a town that consists of a fascinating bunch of husband-hunting single women, aristocratic pretention, and good-ole-boys out for a good time. CATCH AS CAT CAN delivers on this promise--and even gives Harry a new beau.

Author Rita Mae Brown delivers another light mystery. The clever pets don't try to be impossible (no driving in this one) and Harry actually does some detecting and some heroing on her own. The mystery itself was a little over the top, but this is a story about talking animals, after all. If you want serious and believable mystery, you've come to the wrong place. If you like a lighthearted with plenty of Virginia atmosphere and intelligent pets to save the day, CATCH AS CAT CAN is a winner.

In the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia lies the small bucolic town of Crozet located in the middle of Albermarle County. It is a special, magical town unlike any other because all the animals are sentient and can talk to each other including cross-species communication with one "muted" exception: that of the inferior humans who have not evolved enough to be on their level. Since man is the only species who kills for reasons other than food and defense, the animals of Crozet may have a point.

Currently Crozet is suffering from a crime wave with three murders, a stolen truck, an unexplained $530,000 in one of the homicide victim's safe, and other lesser felonies. Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen, her gray tiger cat Mrs. Murphy, Pewter a fat gray cat, and Tucker the Welsh Corgi are as usual in the middle of the investigation and hope to close the case soon.

Any new Mrs. Murphy mystery is a joyful reading experience and CATCH AS CAT CAN is no exception. Rita Mae Brown and her feline Sneaky Pie have co-authored an adult mystery that appeals to the child in all of us. Although Harry and her ex-husband are still dating, the fair maiden has a gorgeous new suitor who seems to good to be true. Still Harry and her "owners" will never allow her romance to get in the way of justice; but then again she is human.

Harriet Klausner