This is book 3 of this series however you DO NOT have to read these in order; but I feel you could understand everyone's relationships better if you at least read the first book in this series as it explains who every one is and who everyone is within the community. I had to skip book 2 and read this one and I was a little 'lost' as to 'why' the main character had help now in the post office and when did she get a horse farm? But those aren't 'major' issues and was probably addressed in book 2. So little things like that, that really has nothing to do with the story so you can read these out of order (thus far anyhow)This was a really good mystery. If you enjoy animals-are an animal lover then you will really enjoy how the author(s) incorporated the main characters dog and cat as main characters. The humans talk and work together and so does the animals within the story. When the humans aren't 'doing the job' then the animals kick in and work together to try and solve the crime before their beloved human gets hurt. It's not corney but written in a way that is really nice and not 'child like' at all. This book keeps you wondering 'who did it' or even 'why' right up until the very end of which I like, nothing like figuring out who did it way long before the book was done and then having 'fill in' material for the rest of the story. I can't wait to read more in this series. You get to know and love the people of this small town both two and four legged and anticipate what they will be up to next. This book also had LOTS of Historical value which at the end the author says that she did try and get as accurately true to Thomas Jefferson's history as she could get. So if you are a bit of a History buff you'll enjoy that about this book. And quite a bit of genealogy as well...although it is in storybook format and things added but the Historic stuff does make it nice.I personal listened to this on CD. The reader did a pretty good job at the way she read this to us. Changing her voice when she needed to. But there were sometimes that some of the characters had the same voice so you really had to listen to figure out who was doing the talking at that moment in time. I would have probably given this a 4 1/2 to 5 star had it not been for the language that was used throughout the story. It wasn't 'flooded' with bad language but enough that I took away a star for it. I don't hand out 5 stars very often but when I do it's for a story that I feel I can recommend to just about any age to read...adults, teens or preteens. And this one just had to much language for me to recommend for a preteen. Some people language doesn't bother and I excuse it every now and then but this had a little bit more than I liked. This book doesn't have the 'f word' like book 1 and about half the language that book 1 had which I appreciate but still couldn't recommend it to a preteen. The story would have been just the same without the language in my opinion. Still a good story though and I probably will purchase it for my home library. Just a good mystery
On the upside, this book is very easy to read, and I did make it all the way to the end.However, it was so difficult to get into. First of all, the character names are utterly ridiculous. Who can take characters seriously when they have names like Nick Nichols and Market Shiftlet? Who names a cat Mr. or Mrs. anything? Additionally, the characters' personalities were about as appealing as their names. Mary "Harry" Minor Haristeen is the typical feminist cookie cutter woman, who doesn't need a man and doesn't care about gender roles, lays her own flooring, and never wears any make-up or jewelry, but still always looks gorgeous. Her male suitor, Pharamond, is the typical cookie cutter supporting male character, who is devastatingly handsome and successful and head-over-heels for her, even though she doesn't appear to have any interest in him. The rest of the characters are the same -- gossipy old women, simple-minded men, and the like. Even the animal characters were boring. In between figuring out clues to the crime, they can be found bickering and begging for food.Secondly, the use of profanity was very strange. I have no problem with profanity in general, but I felt like I was reading something written by a teenager. Mrs. Murphy actually says, "No s***, Sherlock," and one of the female characters is described as a b****. It felt like the words were used to make the book feel more grown-up instead of as just a common person's conversation.Additionally, the author's views on marriage and commitment are nothing short of disturbing. She makes it seem like it's perfectly okay for a man to run around behind his wife's back, and she should just take him back because "everybody does it." Great advertisement to young women.Finally -- this is what got on my nerves the most -- parts of it read like a Wikipedia entry. For example, on page 179, chapter 40 begins: "He was floating the teeth of Mom's six Thoroughbreds, filing down the sharp edges. Because a horse's upper jaw is slightly wider than the lower one, its teeth wear unevenly, requiring regular maintenance, or at least inspection. If the teeth are allowed to become sharp and jagged, they can cause discomfort to the animal when it has a bit in its mouth, sometimes making it more difficult to ride, and often this situation can cause digestive or nutritional problems because of the animal's restricted ability to chew and break down its food." That might be fine if that was the only time this occurred, but it's throughout the entire novel! It really detracts from whatever is going on and usually has nothing to do with the story at all.
What do You think about Murder At Monticello (1995)?
Enjoyable mystery with Mary "Harry" Haristeen and her pet companions, Mrs. Murphy and Mrs. Tucker. This one begins with the discovery of hidden skeletal remains in a slave cabin at Monticello that seem to indicate a murder from the early 1800s, but the story moves steadily to a current murder with a twisted array of motives that work themselves out one by one. I liked the main characters, the central Virginia small town setting, the talking pets, and the mystery itself with its ties to the colonial past. The animals, although they speak to one another in this series, and not to the people, are kind of funny and endearing, but really rather inessential to the plot. Also, this series is incredibly and irritatingly adulterous. The characters talk as though everybody has affairs, like that is normal, and marriage partners should just forgive one another for their foolish peccadillos. Other than these minor irritations, though, this was a fun cozy mystery with an unique setting and plot.
—Liora
From 1994 comes an installment in this series that's part historical fact & part historical fiction. The primary mystery involves the discovery of a skeleton beneath the hearth during an excavation at Monticello. From this point onward our cast of characters embark on a quest to uncover exactly what is behind this mystery from 1803. There's also a secondary murder that involves a jilted lover that almost feels like a bit of filler if only to add an element to what isn't entirely a bad plot by Brown's standards. The animals themselves have a decent role in this book as they guide the humans toward the clues to solve both mysteries & the resolutions to both aren't as obvious as one might think. This is by far not the worst offering in this series but is one for fans of history one that might just be worth visiting.
—Paul Lunger
This is book 3 of this series however you DO NOT have to read these in order; but I feel you could understand everyone's relationships better if you at least read the first book in this series as it explains who every one is and who everyone is within the community. I had to skip book 2 and read this one and I was a little 'lost' as to 'why' the main character had help now in the post office and when did she get a horse farm? But those aren't 'major' issues and was probably addressed in book 2. So little things like that, that really has nothing to do with the story so you can read these out of order (thus far anyhow)This was a really good mystery. If you enjoy animals-are an animal lover then you will really enjoy how the author(s) incorporated the main characters dog and cat as main characters. The humans talk and work together and so does the animals within the story. When the humans aren't 'doing the job' then the animals kick in and work together to try and solve the crime before their beloved human gets hurt. It's not corney but written in a way that is really nice and not 'child like' at all. This book keeps you wondering 'who did it' or even 'why' right up until the very end of which I like, nothing like figuring out who did it way long before the book was done and then having 'fill in' material for the rest of the story. I can't wait to read more in this series. You get to know and love the people of this small town both two and four legged and anticipate what they will be up to next. This book also had LOTS of Historical value which at the end the author says that she did try and get as accurately true to Thomas Jefferson's history as she could get. So if you are a bit of a History buff you'll enjoy that about this book. And quite a bit of genealogy as well...although it is in storybook format and things added but the Historic stuff does make it nice.I personal listened to this on CD. The reader did a pretty good job at the way she read this to us. Changing her voice when she needed to. But there were sometimes that some of the characters had the same voice so you really had to listen to figure out who was doing the talking at that moment in time. I would have probably given this a 4 1/2 to 5 star had it not been for the language that was used throughout the story. It wasn't 'flooded' with bad language but enough that I took away a star for it. I don't hand out 5 stars very often but when I do it's for a story that I feel I can recommend to just about any age to read...adults, teens or preteens. And this one just had to much language for me to recommend for a preteen. Some people language doesn't bother and I excuse it every now and then but this had a little bit more than I liked. This book doesn't have the 'f word' like book 1 and about half the language that book 1 had which I appreciate but still couldn't recommend it to a preteen. The story would have been just the same without the language in my opinion. Still a good story though and I probably will purchase it for my home library. Just a good mystery
—Rosa Cline
