bhpurpletealdragon's review against another edition
1.0
DNFed this but had to list as read.
Tried reading this years ago but was turned off by the cussing. Reread it and got past the cussing only to learn that the main character is a fancy pants fox hunter.
I am a vegan and do not wear or eat animals and my art supplies are even vegan and I even wear vegan ballet slippers.
I am not amused.
In the book previous to the long hunt scene which is interrupted when another body is found yet again in some train tunnel that the author seems to think is very interesting as it was also a murder scene in her first book a body had been discovered part in an old graveyard part in a boat house.
After the hunt is called off they discuss the bodies:
"You're right." Herbie placed his plate on the coffee table. "And I am not unconvinced that there may be some satanic element to this. I've not spoken of it before because it's so disturbing. But certain cults do practice ritual killings and how they dispatch their victims is part of the ritual..."
And I say to that isn't fox hunting a ritual killing? You dress up in your fancy clothes and have special colors that you 'earn' by killing and can't wear until you earn them much like ritual robes and you rub blood of the dead animal on new hunters to indoctrinate them. FUCK YOU Rita Mae Brown.
Hunters are no better than serial killers. They prey upon the helpless. They love to kill but don't have the balls to go after a human. Sick, perverted, humans. Or maybe that is changing with all the mass shootings every damn day.
Then later that evening the main character is looking out over her family cemetery in her yard at her farm:
"The loneliness filled her. If she could have, she would have embraced every life and cherished it. As it was, she was struggling on with her own."
And yet just a few hours earlier she was creaming in her pants galloping on her hunky steed just eager to kill a defenseless animal for fun.
To hell with hunters real and fictional.
And the main character had been married to a VETERINARIAN and says she loves the two main animals who are also characters in the story.
The next day she discovers Simon a possum that is in her barn. In this book the animals talk to each other but the humans don't understand them. Simon has been known to the other animals. The main character says "...it looks like you're part of the family..."
And I am like but wait up human scumbag you were just out trying your damdest with all your fucked up friends to terrorize and murder an animal and now we are getting all chummy with a wild possum? Most people can't stand possums. I love possums and have fed a few in my time and will do so again, racoons too if they come around but I wish the deer would stop eating my roses.
Then on the next page the possum brings up the fact she hunts when he says to the other animals he is afraid the main character will kill him:
"Simon, they only kill the old foxes or the sick ones. Healthy ones are too smart to get caught."
To that I wrote in the book: Serial killers. They still enjoy killing. It doesn't matter the old and the sick do not deserve that.
I hope the author who is now in her '70's ...can't say what I wrote because with the wokies there is no free speech anymore.
I will not read the rest of this series and I will throw the books away. I nearly collected the whole series second hand.
I HATE people like this. These backward, gun loving rednecks who say they are conserving or being natural or whatever excuse. If you really want to protect nature and stop its destruction instead of killing deer why not other humans since ya'll have over populated the planet to the point that it is dying and everything is full of plastic or sick or polluted or extinct. That famous photograph of the dead baby seagull in its nest with its bare ribcage enclosing who knows how many plastic cigarrette lighters that it had been fed by its mum who didn't know the shiny objects weren't fish comes to mind frequently its baby feathers around it.
The ice caps are melting, and on and on and so on
Sick of you humans. I really am. Please become extinct.
I wish I could send you all to Mars with no plants or animals or any other living thing then you can get to the business of hunting each other and nobody else has to suffer because of you.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6258676/midway-island-pacific-ocean-albatross-documentary-plastic-pollution/
Tried reading this years ago but was turned off by the cussing. Reread it and got past the cussing only to learn that the main character is a fancy pants fox hunter.
I am a vegan and do not wear or eat animals and my art supplies are even vegan and I even wear vegan ballet slippers.
I am not amused.
In the book previous to the long hunt scene which is interrupted when another body is found yet again in some train tunnel that the author seems to think is very interesting as it was also a murder scene in her first book a body had been discovered part in an old graveyard part in a boat house.
After the hunt is called off they discuss the bodies:
"You're right." Herbie placed his plate on the coffee table. "And I am not unconvinced that there may be some satanic element to this. I've not spoken of it before because it's so disturbing. But certain cults do practice ritual killings and how they dispatch their victims is part of the ritual..."
And I say to that isn't fox hunting a ritual killing? You dress up in your fancy clothes and have special colors that you 'earn' by killing and can't wear until you earn them much like ritual robes and you rub blood of the dead animal on new hunters to indoctrinate them. FUCK YOU Rita Mae Brown.
Hunters are no better than serial killers. They prey upon the helpless. They love to kill but don't have the balls to go after a human. Sick, perverted, humans. Or maybe that is changing with all the mass shootings every damn day.
Then later that evening the main character is looking out over her family cemetery in her yard at her farm:
"The loneliness filled her. If she could have, she would have embraced every life and cherished it. As it was, she was struggling on with her own."
And yet just a few hours earlier she was creaming in her pants galloping on her hunky steed just eager to kill a defenseless animal for fun.
To hell with hunters real and fictional.
And the main character had been married to a VETERINARIAN and says she loves the two main animals who are also characters in the story.
The next day she discovers Simon a possum that is in her barn. In this book the animals talk to each other but the humans don't understand them. Simon has been known to the other animals. The main character says "...it looks like you're part of the family..."
And I am like but wait up human scumbag you were just out trying your damdest with all your fucked up friends to terrorize and murder an animal and now we are getting all chummy with a wild possum? Most people can't stand possums. I love possums and have fed a few in my time and will do so again, racoons too if they come around but I wish the deer would stop eating my roses.
Then on the next page the possum brings up the fact she hunts when he says to the other animals he is afraid the main character will kill him:
"Simon, they only kill the old foxes or the sick ones. Healthy ones are too smart to get caught."
To that I wrote in the book: Serial killers. They still enjoy killing. It doesn't matter the old and the sick do not deserve that.
I hope the author who is now in her '70's ...can't say what I wrote because with the wokies there is no free speech anymore.
I will not read the rest of this series and I will throw the books away. I nearly collected the whole series second hand.
I HATE people like this. These backward, gun loving rednecks who say they are conserving or being natural or whatever excuse. If you really want to protect nature and stop its destruction instead of killing deer why not other humans since ya'll have over populated the planet to the point that it is dying and everything is full of plastic or sick or polluted or extinct. That famous photograph of the dead baby seagull in its nest with its bare ribcage enclosing who knows how many plastic cigarrette lighters that it had been fed by its mum who didn't know the shiny objects weren't fish comes to mind frequently its baby feathers around it.
The ice caps are melting, and on and on and so on
Sick of you humans. I really am. Please become extinct.
I wish I could send you all to Mars with no plants or animals or any other living thing then you can get to the business of hunting each other and nobody else has to suffer because of you.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6258676/midway-island-pacific-ocean-albatross-documentary-plastic-pollution/
numberonehowdareyou's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
tarablythe's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this one, but I had the killer pegged a little early. There was a twist in there that I didn't see coming though. Overall good, but the first one was better.
stefhyena's review against another edition
3.0
I thoroughly enjoyed this cozy mystery. It was in some ways just another provincial American town with murders and romance and fluffiness sort of a book that usually irritate me, and it had some of the flaws of that genre (being very middle-class and aspiring-rich oriented in terms of character and somewhat romantic-consumerist) but the animal factor actually added interest and piquancy.
Even though I did not find all of Mrs Murphy's antics entirely believable (she loves being raced around in a mail trolley and is friends with a possum) I love it when she swore at the oblivious Harry and the way she added smart-arse advice to both Harry and Blair constantly which they occasionally sort of understood by osmosis. I loved that the animals were completely necessary to most of the plot twists and you could argue that Mrs Murphy and Tucker are more protagonists than Harry, Susan or Blair (or any human). If we transfer the idea of the Bechdel test to the animal kingdom, there were named animal characters having conversations about things other than humans all the time (though Mrs Murphy does like to look after Harry, as the book's main author Sneaky-pie Brown - a cat- maintains pets ought to). The foreword by Sneaky-pie himself is GENIUS. So so enjoyable to think that he knew cats would read his work but is surprised that humans do, or that his human co-author might be jealous of his success when she is the one writing serious works.
Things I liked less were the shifting POV, the classist and occasionally racist opinions of some of the characters, just how much a bunch of shallow rich people were portrayed as basically "good" ignoring the effects on others of their way of like (I do realise this is pretty standard for the early 90s) and I found the romantic interest in Blair faintly irritating, especially when the unnecessary Fair and Boom-Boom factor was added in (Boom-Boom was most unsatisfactory as a character from a feminist perspective). Considering I usually find heterosexual romances in books nauseating (because the men are portrayed as domineering mainly) this one managed to be relatively acceptable and Harry kept her dignity and independence which I liked.
The mystery itself was fair, interesting and with enough twists and red-herrings but not anything that I saw as cheating (I sort of guessed it...but there was enough there for it not to be transparent to me and to be fair I have been reading adult mystery books since I was about 7). There was some action but it fit the plot well and male, female and even non-human characters all behaved intelligently and strongly within it. In short it was the best animal-featuring mystery I have read so far (about my third I think).
If you like cozy mysteries, romance with a heroine who has some backbone, feel-good interactions and Christmas, animals or gossip this is a book you will probably enjoy. If I see more from this series I am likely to pick them up and read them.
Even though I did not find all of Mrs Murphy's antics entirely believable (she loves being raced around in a mail trolley and is friends with a possum) I love it when she swore at the oblivious Harry and the way she added smart-arse advice to both Harry and Blair constantly which they occasionally sort of understood by osmosis. I loved that the animals were completely necessary to most of the plot twists and you could argue that Mrs Murphy and Tucker are more protagonists than Harry, Susan or Blair (or any human). If we transfer the idea of the Bechdel test to the animal kingdom, there were named animal characters having conversations about things other than humans all the time (though Mrs Murphy does like to look after Harry, as the book's main author Sneaky-pie Brown - a cat- maintains pets ought to). The foreword by Sneaky-pie himself is GENIUS. So so enjoyable to think that he knew cats would read his work but is surprised that humans do, or that his human co-author might be jealous of his success when she is the one writing serious works.
Things I liked less were the shifting POV, the classist and occasionally racist opinions of some of the characters, just how much a bunch of shallow rich people were portrayed as basically "good" ignoring the effects on others of their way of like (I do realise this is pretty standard for the early 90s) and I found the romantic interest in Blair faintly irritating, especially when the unnecessary Fair and Boom-Boom factor was added in (Boom-Boom was most unsatisfactory as a character from a feminist perspective). Considering I usually find heterosexual romances in books nauseating (because the men are portrayed as domineering mainly) this one managed to be relatively acceptable and Harry kept her dignity and independence which I liked.
The mystery itself was fair, interesting and with enough twists and red-herrings but not anything that I saw as cheating (I sort of guessed it...but there was enough there for it not to be transparent to me and to be fair I have been reading adult mystery books since I was about 7). There was some action but it fit the plot well and male, female and even non-human characters all behaved intelligently and strongly within it. In short it was the best animal-featuring mystery I have read so far (about my third I think).
If you like cozy mysteries, romance with a heroine who has some backbone, feel-good interactions and Christmas, animals or gossip this is a book you will probably enjoy. If I see more from this series I am likely to pick them up and read them.
aprilleigh's review against another edition
5.0
Even better than the first book, in my opinion. The title refers to the first murder, which is discovered in pieces in a family graveyard. Mrs. Murphy, Tucker, and Pewter do their best to help the humans figure it out, although they themselves don't figure it out either until the murderer reveals themselves. They do, however, help move the investigation along with the help of an opossum and a few hounds, and, with additional help from a snake, an owl, and a pair of horses, manage to help the humans wrap things up in the end. The interplay between the various human characters made this book linger long after the last page. If you like cozy mysteries with an unforgettable cast of characters that will feel like your own neighbors by the end of the book, this series is for you.
ibeforem's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoy this series, even if the discussions between the animals about the moralities of humans are a little tiring. The whole "what makes humans so civilized when they go around killing each other" theme could stand to be a little less blatant. Regardless, what you end up with here is a humorous, entertaining, well woven story. Maybe a little more humorous than the author intended, because the climax of the novel comes off a little like the Keystone Cops. Though I wasn’t surprised by who the murderer was, I was completely surprised by the reason. And I like to be surprised. I’ll continue with this series.
juliusmoose's review against another edition
4.0
One thing I like about this series is the way the animals take part and try to help solve the mysteries, but still act like animals.
bookwyrmknits's review against another edition
4.0
I'm impressed! I didn't see the whodunnit coming at all on this one. Looking back, I can see hints, but I didn't catch them at the time. I really enjoy the animals in this series a lot. I'll be back for them (and, truth be told, the human interactions, too). Ms. Brown writes fun stories.
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