Whiskers in the Dark

Joined by her crime-cracking cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, plus corgi Tee Tucker, postmistress Mary Minor "Harry" Harristeen tries to figure out who killed an old friend whose body is found by the hunt club's baying beagles.

June 1, 2019
A present-day killer strikes during the preparations for a veterans' benefit while an 18th-century family attempts to modernize their household routines. After working to ready the Institute at Aldie, Virginia, a site for agricultural programming and the current home of the National Beagle Club of America, for the Hounds F4R Heroes fundraiser for veterans, Harry Haristeen and Susan Tucker join their fellow volunteers for some fireside political musings. Arlene Billeaud and Jason and Clare Holzknect, whose strong political opinions stem from their war experiences, agree on the importance of supporting veterans through the beagle-focused fundraiser. Harry's longtime cat companion, Mrs. Murphy, along with Pewter, veteran dog companion Tee Tucker, and new addition Pirate join the festive preparations. But they're startled when they spy Ruffy, an unfamiliar beagle who has the distinction of being a ghost dog on Aldie's premises. Conversations about politics and beagles are interspersed with the ongoing story of Cloverfields (Probable Claws, 2018, etc.), an 18th-century farm whose upstairs/downstairs dynamics inform the problem of a murdered body that Harry's been pondering almost as an aside. Modern times see a killer at Aldie that Ruffy's trying to keep quiet; the story of past times alternates between a trio of runaway slaves and a romance that may unite two farms. It's never entirely clear why the focus is split between past and present, but that doesn't seem to be Brown's leading concern anyway, though it's hard to say just what that concern is this time or where the series is going. Franchise fans who aren't enamored of the more recent focus on sport hunting or political philosophy will feel even further alienated.

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 1, 2019
Early in bestseller Brown’s smoothly written 27th mystery featuring Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen and her talking animals (after 2018’s Probably Claws), Harry and her fellow volunteers are clearing away debris at the National Beagle Club in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains in order to make the grounds safe for a proposed hunt when they find retired Foreign Service officer Jason Holzknect with his throat slit. Another murder at the club ups the ante. Meanwhile, a woman’s skeleton dating to the 18th century and wearing a pearl necklace is discovered in the local cemetery. Flashbacks to the years after the Revolutionary War tell the story of the woman who wore the pearls, which parallels the circumstances that led to the present-day murders. In lieu of detecting, Harry feels and intuits. For series fans, atmosphere is what counts: walking the dogs, stroking the cats, listening to the birds in the meadows, mucking out the stables, all accompanied by the animals’ wise observations. Brown’s love of nature shines through.