Claws for Alarm: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery Hardcover – October 12, 2021 by Rita Mae Brown

Description

Author: Brown Rita Mae

Brand: Bantam

Color: Cream

Package Dimensions: 27x242x520

Number Of Pages: 288

Release Date: 12-10-2021

Details: Product Description

Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen gets a little help from her veterinarian husband to solve the murder of a young equine vet whose death may be linked to his new clinic in Claws for Alarm, a tantalizing mystery from Rita Mae Brown and her feline co-author Sneaky Pie Brown.

Pharamond “Fair” Haristeen is known throughout Crozet, Virginia, as a good horse vet and a better man. So when Benjamin Wagner, a new vet in town, is found dead in his unopened clinic, local police turn to Fair for help getting to the bottom of things. Fair quickly realizes Ben’s clinic has been robbed of ketamine, used by doctors as a horse tranquilizer but also a popular recreational drug. Then Fair’s own ketamine goes missing from the back of his truck. Was Ben killed for his supply? Or was he mixed up in something bigger?

Meanwhile, Candida Perez, one of Crozet’s oldest and most beloved citizens, is found dead at her desk. Not so alarming, given her ninety years of life. But the bickering of her children, Ballard and Constance, over her will and the family’s valuable collection of historical letters threatens to drive the rest of the town to madness. Harry tries to play peacemaker, but the bad blood between the two siblings runs deep. Just how far will they take their family squabble?

With a little aid from hungry helpers Tee Tucker the corgi and sweet puppy Pirate, as well as feline sleuths Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, Harry and Fair team up to restore justice—and maybe a little peace and quiet—in
Claws for Alarm.

About the Author

Rita Mae Brown is the bestselling author of the Sneaky Pie Brown mysteries; the Sister Jane series; the Runnymede novels, including
Six of One and
Cakewalk;
A Nose for Justice and
Murder Unleashed;
Rubyfruit Jungle; and
In Her Day; as well as many other books. An Emmy-nominated screenwriter and a poet, Brown lives in Afton, Virginia, and is a Master of Foxhounds and the huntsman.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

1September 20, 2019Friday

Fairy skirts twirled through the air. Glossy white, tiny seeds dispersed into seven-mile-per-hour winds. Milkweed balls, equally as glossy, floated along with the fairy skirts, which some people call Devil’s dandruff. All living creatures—whether two-legged, four-legged, or plant—were responding to the loss of light, the cooler night temperatures.

Pharamond Haristeen, DVM, all six feet four inches of him, stood in the aisle of Big Mim Sanburne’s perfect brick stable. He looked out the opened doors to watch the parade of skirts, the tiny ballerinas filling the air. The walkway to the stable gleamed white from all the fairies that had fallen.

Returning to Loulou, a large gray mare, now in her late teens, he knelt down, ran his hands over her swollen hind leg.

Big Mim, standing behind him as Paul, her stable manager, held her halter, mentioned, “Those fang marks are so noticeable.”

“Gray horses are harder to keep clean but it is easier to see in a situation like this.” He gingerly, gently touched her. “Good girl.”

“Is she drugged?” asked Tucker, Fair’s corgi, sitting properly to the side of the aisle.

Fair took his two dogs with him today, figuring it was like take-your-daughter-to-work day. Tucker was the female; the Irish wolfhound, Pirate, just turning one year old, was male. Pirate sat watching everything. He was trying to learn the business.

“Paul, you found her?”

The young man, married to Tazio Chappers, one of Fair’s wife’s best friends, nodded. “She wasn’t moving well so I walked out and saw the swollen leg plus the marks. Had that snake struck a dog, the animal would be dead.”

“What an awful thing to say,” the corgi grumbled, then peered more closely at Loulou. “She’s not drugged.”

“How can you tell?” The young wolfhound was curious.

“A horse hangs her head. Nods off. I should have noticed right away.” Tucker puffed out her chest. “I’ve been working with Daddy for years. You wouldn’t believe what I’ve seen.”

Fair had put his bag