Wish You Were Here: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery

The first Mrs. Murphy book, I really enjoyed it, even though it had a lot of unnecessary cussing. She leaves that out in the future books, though.

One must remember that this is light reading. Fairly sympathetic treatment of Christian spirituality.

Set in Virginia, this is a wonderful series to curl up with for recreational reading. Animal lovers will especially enjoy the interaction of not just the cats and dogs but wildlife and farm animals conversing, sometimes just socially and sometimes to solve the various murders that keep finding the

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heroine, Mary ("Harry") Haristeen.

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August 18, 1999
Wish You Were Here
Rita Mae Brown & Sneaky Pie Brown

Another great Mrs. Murphy-Pewter-Tee Tucker mystery. Harry is so oblivious to the animals’ sleuthing skills that you just want to shake her. They bark (Tee), meow, scratch and paw frantically to try and communicate with her, and

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she never even realizes that they’re trying to tell her something. Even if I didn’t know what it was, I would at least know something was up! Ah well – that’s part of the charm of these books, I guess.
This time, nasty little secrets in the tiny town begin to explode, and people are turning up dead. Harry just happens to notice, as Crozet’s postmistress, that right before each death, the person received a strange postcard in the mail with a tombstone on the front and “Wish You Were Here” message inside. The silky little antiques dealer in town is not quite who he seems to be, though that’s really giving away too much.
Only one pet peeve I have about Harry: she still uses her ex-husband’s last name. I really have a thing about that, and I even sent Rita Mae Brown an e-mail about it. Harry’s a strong, independent woman and she should drop the Haristeen name AND that stupid nickname “Harry”. I mean, she does have her own name: Mary Minor. Is her entire identity wrapped up in her ex?
I still love the animals, though.

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I’ve long meant to read Rita Mae Brown’s Mrs. Murphy series, for two reasons — 1. one of the main characters is a cat, and 2. they’re set outside of Charlottesville, VA (not so far from where I live). Despite a few faults, I enjoyed this. Though I like the conversations the animals have

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amongst themselves, I think I could have done without the philosophical discussions of how humans are not as good as animals because they kill each other for no good reason. I just don’t buy animals as philosophical creatures, no matter how intelligent they are. The depiction of small-town life is, I think, fairly accurate, and the mystery was sufficiently mysterious enough. I was unable to guess who the killer was, and I had no clue why until the big reveal. I think I’ll continue on with this series.

The one big problem with this book is that every time I read the title, I get Pink Floyd stuck in my head.

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This book was better than I expected. I love how much Harry’s pets love her and the friendship she has with Susan. The characters are funny and well described. Brown occasionally goes over the top with the animals concerning their feeling on human behavior. Some of the comments had no purpose in

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the book and were more of a soapbox speech. I would however recommend the book to someone who enjoyed this genre. I will be reading more of the Sneaky Pie series.

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I didn't get far in this one before giving up. This novel fits the subgenre of "cozy mystery" which I'm not very fond of. Basically, the kind of mystery that could fit a network movie of the week or series without anything graphic or too dark, and an amateur sleuth who finds so much murder landing

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at the doorstop of her small town you'd think the FBI would put her on a list of suspected serial killers.

And, of course, such a work needs a gimmick. Herbs, dogs, recipes, quilts... The gimmick in this one is just way too cutesy for me. Brown gives her own cat, Sneaky Pie, a byline, and we get dialogue and the point of view of the cat (and dog) of the town postmistress--Mrs Murphy, a tabby. The book even has illustrations. And of course the cat believes she owns the human, that God is a cat, etc. I was irritated and rolling my eyes even before the book got intrusive and preachy in a out of place rant against the "right-wing" and I decided to part ways. If I want fiction with talking animals, I'd rather go to the fantasy section.

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3.5 stars

Harry, the local postmistress (runs the post office) in the small town of Crozet, Virginia, is going through a divorce. Mrs. Murphy is her cat and Tucker, her dog. When two people turn up murdered (in separate instances), Harry discovers something that came through the mail that might link

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them. In the meantime, Mrs. Murphy and Tucker, along with their friend and fellow cat, Pewter, try to help solve the case.

I liked it. I loved that the animals could all talk amongst themselves, but the clueless humans had no idea what they were trying to tell them. There were also some cute illustrations scattered throughout the book, I believe all of them of Mrs. Murphy and/or Tucker. I seemed to enjoy it a bit more towards the end, as I got to know the characters a bit better, as well. Initially, I wasn't sure if I'd continue the series, but since I started to enjoy it more toward the end, I've decided to read at least one more.

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I read this book because it's set in the town we are moving to and the author lives there. I thought it would be fun to see something of an insider's impression. The story was OK, pretty formulaic. You can read these kinds of mysteries without having to get too intellectually involved. The gimmick

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is that the cats and dogs of the neighborhood can talk to each other and try to help solve the case. I found this a little cutsie for my taste, but, eh, if you like that kind of thing...

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2.5***

Two gruesome murders / mutilations have the residents of Crozet, Virginia in a tizzy. Postmistress Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen has the only clue – a day or two before they were killed, each of the victims received a postcard of a famous cemetery or tomb with a “Wish you were here”

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inscription. This book introduces the Mrs Murphy mystery series. Mrs Murphy is a tiger cat, whose “mommy” is Harry. Along with her Welsh corgi companion, Tee Tucker, the animals help Harry find the killer.

When it comes to the central murder mystery, there really are very few clues other than the postcards and the use of cyanide. More of the book is spent on dissecting Harry’s failing marriage and her soon-to-be-ex-husband’s affair with an old high school flame. And then we have the animals and their role in the case. As if anthropomorphizing the animals weren’t enough, Brown also goes off on tangents about the environment, politics, feminism, racism, etc. And some of these tangents are voiced by the animals. PUH LEEZE … The final solution is rushed – set-up and resolved in the last ten pages.

On the plus side, it’s a fairly fast read and Harry is an interesting character. While she’s suffering the hurts of a broken relationship, she is generally a strong, independent woman and I appreciate that. But it IS supposed to be a murder mystery, so I’d like more mystery and less social commentary.

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This first book in the Mrs. Murphy series was a re-read for me. I still loved it the second time around. I adore the furry main characters Mrs. Murphy, Tucker, and Pewter. I love how Rita Mae Brown has them interact with each other to solve the mystery, but still keeps their human interactions

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realistic. The animal antics are true to life and kept me in stitches throughout the story. This series continues to be one of my favorite cozy series

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New cozy mystery series for me. Like many of the previous reviews, I agree that the number of characters was sometimes overwhelming, and there were some odd, out of place, and therefore glaringly noticeable rants/ravings by either Harry, the main character, or her pets. They seemed overtly

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political and unnecessary to advancing the plot or developing a character. They almost felt like someone had bet the author that they couldn't work in some liberal anti-government dogma randomly throughout the book. If that truly was the case, the author totally earned their $50 :-), because boy were there occasions that left the reader truly bewildered. Beyond that, I did really like the town and characters, and think that like most series, the first book is often the most scattered, and things generally improve as the series progresses. I didn't LOVE this book, like I did the first of the Agatha Raisin or Hamish Macbeth series, but I am willing to see what the next book is like.

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I honestly can't decide if I want to continue with this series. I'm not a prude, I'm a high school librarian for crying out loud, but the crassness of the language in this book is very out of character for the setting that is portrayed. It just doesn't mesh for me nor does it make it a pleasant

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cozy read. It became better in the second part of the book but I wondered if the author had a "curse word" quota she was trying to fill in the first 25 pages of the book.

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It's not the Cat Who (one of my guilty pleasure reads) but it's pretty good so far. Finished it today and really enjoyed the novel it's a good start to the series and I'll definitely read more Harry, Mrs Murphy and Tucker adventures in the future.

This book started very slowly and I was honestly bored, although the character descriptions were interesting and appealing (or not, for some). Part of the problem was the communication between the animals and the people. However the ending was better than I expected so this was not a total loss. I

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am not particularly motivated to read more of the series although, as a cat lover, I enjoyed Mrs. Murphy so I might try one more. This was a very light read for animal lovers.

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