A review by cheryl6of8
Claws and Effect by Rita Mae Brown
3.0
3.5 stars here. I would give it 4, but the things I liked best were not really related to the plot (an essential part of a mystery novel, IMHO).
I always enjoy spending time in Crozet with Harry and Miranda and Susan and Coop and all the animals (would have liked to see Simon the Opossum make more than a cameo appearance). I actually even enjoyed Big Mim in this book, which is a first. The mystery was pretty good, over all, but a lot of time was spent focusing on a red herring that really was not as plausible as the characters seemed to think it was. And there were a couple of things that were never explained -- the first victim early on talks about manners of death and mentions what happens to him, but that is never tied in to the actual solution; the second victim seems to have known something, but we never really find out what (we can guess one thing, but even so, there is a question as to its accuracy). In short, there are loose ends which in real life would probably not be tied up, but which I like to see resolved in books. Points go to the author for bringing in the real feel of Central Virginia and for the identity of victim #2; you could see it coming but not believe it would really happen.
I always enjoy spending time in Crozet with Harry and Miranda and Susan and Coop and all the animals (would have liked to see Simon the Opossum make more than a cameo appearance). I actually even enjoyed Big Mim in this book, which is a first. The mystery was pretty good, over all, but a lot of time was spent focusing on a red herring that really was not as plausible as the characters seemed to think it was. And there were a couple of things that were never explained -- the first victim early on talks about manners of death and mentions what happens to him, but that is never tied in to the actual solution; the second victim seems to have known something, but we never really find out what (we can guess one thing, but even so, there is a question as to its accuracy). In short, there are loose ends which in real life would probably not be tied up, but which I like to see resolved in books. Points go to the author for bringing in the real feel of Central Virginia and for the identity of victim #2; you could see it coming but not believe it would really happen.