'Sour Puss" makes for a sweet read

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'Sour Puss' is a sweet read from Rita Mae Brown

Date published: 3/12/2006

By CATHY JETT

By CATHY JETT

Some mysteries grab you by the collar, suck you in and set your heart pounding with vicarious terror.

Others create a signature sleuth whom you come to regard as an old friend, greeting each new book as a chance to escape your humdrum life--and catch up on their much more interesting one.

Rita Mae Brown and her feline muse Sneaky Pie have created the latter in their best-selling Mrs. Murphy series set in Crozet, a tight-knit town just outside of Charlottesville.

In their latest collaboration, "Sour Puss," fans will be delighted to discover that Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen has finally forgiven her ex-husband, veterinarian Pharamond "Fair" Haristeen, for a brief fling with her childhood friend, the voluptuous Olivia "Boom-Boom" Craycroft, and accepted his proposal.

The book, the 14th in the series, opens with Harry and Fair standing at the altar of St. Luke's Lutheran Church with their friends--human and furry--looking on. This gives Brown and Sneaky Pie a chance to introduce the characters to new readers, who don't need to read previous Mrs. Murphy mysteries to enjoy this one, and to bring fans up to date on Harry, Fair, Boom-Boom and other Crozet regulars.

Brown, who has a devilish sense of humor, also manages to give the scene a hysterically funny turn as Harry's tiger cat, Mrs. Murphy, and her roly-poly gray kitty, Pewter, get into a hissing fit and chase each other down the aisle while Tee Tucker, Harry's faithful corgi, has the good sense to stay above the fray.

The critters, as all Mrs. Murphy readers know, can talk to one another and other animals, skills that prove handy as they unearth clues and help Harry solve the latest murder to strike their neighborhood.

This time, trouble is fermenting in the wine industry, which has taken root big time in the area around little Crozet. Even Harry has gotten involved in a small way, planting a quarter-acre of Petite Manseng on her farm.

Patricia Kluge--yes, the real Patricia Kluge--and her husband, Bill Moses, inadvertently set the latest round of deaths in motion when they invite professor Vincent Forland to a small luncheon before his talk on how terrorists could turn the molds on common crops into deadly mycotoxins.

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Date published: 3/12/2006