After having my first surgery for glaucoma at age 19, I wanted more information about the disease. Every other book I have read has been confusing and complex. Edith Marks provides useful information that non-medics can understand. All of my questions were finally answered.

My Grandma didn't like books with naughty language and excess sex. In the '80s, I started to read different mystery series that I thought she would like and the Mrs. Murphy books fit the bill. Even though Grandma's gone, I still read the Mrs. Murphy books because I'm hooked on this lightweight, but cute series by Rita Mae Brown [and Sneaky Pie Brown]. Murder On The Prowl, the sixth book featuring 'Harry' Haristeen, postmistress of Crozet, Virginia, and her very talented companion animals, is not the best book in the series, but is still an entertaining read. St. Elizabeth's, Crozet's private high school, is the focus of the multiple mysteries in this story. Film classes, false obituaries, field hockey, high tech car washes, and halloween dances are some of the things that occupy the time of our now familiar cast of characters. It has never been difficult to accept the fact that the animals can communicate with each other or that they solve the mystery before the humans do. My biggest complaint involves the poison used on the second murder victim. Malathion can't kill people in the way it supposedly did in the book. That out of the way, I recommend that you read Murder On The Prowl and the 5 previous Mrs. Murphy mysteries.

In Cozet, Virginia, the best kept secret is that all the animals fully comprehend English to the point of being able to talk to each other and read the language. Humans are unaware of this ability. When the headmaster of a local school, a film director, and a female assistant are all murdered, Mary Minor "Harry" Harristeen and her two cats (Mrs. Murphy and Pewter) and her dog (Tucker), independently investigate the killings.

Rita Mae Brown with the help from her own feline, Sneaky Pie Brown, demonstrates why she is such a popular author. She creates an exciting mystery series that deftly anthropomorphizes animals so that readers believe in the fantasy world she has devised. MURDER ON THE PROWL is a particularly well constructed mystery that is a brilliant blending of The Lady And The Tramp with Ms. Jessica Fletcher.

Harriet Klausner

When phony obituaries begin appearing in the Crozet, Virginia's local newspaper Harry knows that something strange is going on. But when dead bodies start turning up, she begins investigating. But even before she can find out what's going on her furry companions, Tee Tucker (Welsh Corgi), and Pewter and Mrs. Murphy (cats) are on the case trying to find out who will turn up murdered next, and trying to keep their owner out of danger.

Rita Mae Brown has done it again. This is one of the best Mrs. Murphy mysteries to date, and a must-read for fans of the cat-cozy genre.