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The Litter Of The Law (2013)

by Rita Mae Brown(Favorite Author)

3.49 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0345530489 (ISBN13: 9780345530486)

languge

English

genre

Mystery & Thriller

publisher

Bantam

series

Mrs. Murphy

review 1: When I picked up this book it seemed like it would be from the POV of the animals. It wasn't. It was only partially from their view and their view didn't add anything to the story. The mystery was okay. I actually enjoyed the easy writing style. The characters were well written. The animals just seemed an afterthought. Whatever they knew they couldn't tell the humans around them or even lead the humans to clues. So.....what was the point of them? Their thoughts were entertaining color commentary but that's about it. The humans were a little thin at times. The lead Harry is great. I would pick up another one if I wanted an easy read.The Halloween theme adds a little scenery to it.
review 2: After a long absence from the world of Mary Minor “Harry” Harristeen... more and her friends and family (human and animal) in Crozet, Virginia, I picked up The Litter of the Law, the 21st of the Mrs. Murphy cozy mysteries by Sneaky Pie Brown and her human co-writer, Rita Mae Brown. Harry is one of those individuals who seems to stumble upon trouble at every turn, and she is always ready to stick her nose in to get to the bottom of things. Her pets, cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter and corgi Tee Tucker, are always beside her keeping her safe and doing a bit of investigating on their own.In The Litter of the Law, Harry and her husband Fair discover a body posed as a scarecrow. Later, she and friend Susan find the body of Hester Martin, a rather eccentric middle-aged woman who ran a vegetable stand. Her corpse was dressed as a witch as part of a Halloween display. Harry, of course, worms her way into the investigation by asking questions of Deputy Cynthia Cooper, and her pets are with her at the grand finale to help nail the killers.Having read most, if not all, of the Mrs. Murphy books, I found this to be less engaging than some of her previous works. The dialogue among the animals was mostly name-calling and bickering, whereas in earlier books, there was much more cooperation among them. In previous stories, also, the animals had a bigger role in solving the crimes. I have lived with cats for thirty years and at present have seven wonderful, unique felines, and I can see bits of their personalities in Mrs. Murphy and Pewter. My “fat” cat is the Queen, and I don’t think any of the others would dare taunt her about her size! (She’s also the smartest.) I can imagine that hearing this story read as an audio book would be quite amusing; however, in this case, I would much prefer the print version because Michael Gellatly's illustrations are magnificent!I did find the themes of green living and Native American rights that were interjected into the plot to be relevant and interesting. At times, however, they seemed to detract from the mystery itself, and I felt that weakened it somewhat. Despite these few shortcomings, it was still a fun read, and I look forward to the next Sneaky Pie-Rita Mae collaboration. less

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