From School Library Journal
YA-Murders continue to be solved by English-speaking animals in the tiny town of Crozet, VA. When first one and then a second obituary are published prior to the murders, the curiosity of sleuths Harry Haristeen and her pets is set afire. The involvement of high school students and staff will appeal to teens. The quick wit and blunt speech giving the animals' perceptions of the humans involved are the special drawing cards to this series. The appealing line drawings help to pull readers into this fast-moving story.
Claudia Moore, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VACopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
edition.
From Booklist
In their sixth collaboration, Brown and her tiger cat Sneaky Pie move locale from historic Virginia sites, such as Monticello and Montpelier, to St. Elizabeth's, the exclusive private school in Crozet where philandering headmaster Roscoe Fletcher hopes to establish a new film department with financial assistance from director Maury McKinchie. When fake obituaries of the two are followed by their actual demise, it's up to Crozet's postmistress Mary Minor ("Harry") Haristeen and her fellow, four-footed amateur detectives--tiger cat Mrs. Murphy, fat cat Pewter, and corgi Tee Tucker--to sniff out what's rotten in St. Elizabeth's. The frailties of the human characters (mostly, who slept with whom) seem less interesting than the perspicacious, amusing, and often irreverent commentary of the talking animals, who also take an active part in affairs. Note: Readers will be pleased with indications that Harry and her ex-husband, veterinarian Fair Haristeen, may get back together again--perhaps in the next Mrs. Murphy mystery?
Barbara Duree
--This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
edition.
