Mary “Harry” Harristeen and her oldest friend, Susan, are helping with groundskeeping in preparation for the National Beagle Club’s annual veterans’ benefit. When the body of another club member is found Harry can’t help but ask questions. When a second murder takes place she is sure the killer is someone familiar with the club.
At the same time Harry is intrigued by an unidentified skeleton located buried atop a grave from the late 1700s after marks are left on the grave as if someone was trying to remove the body. The coroner identifies the skeleton as that of a woman whose neck was snapped. The mystery woman was found to be wearing a valuable pearl necklace.
This is book 28 in the Mrs. Murphy mystery series and the first I have ever read. I found this book to be average. I was intrigued by the skeleton storyline. I feel like it could be a book on it’s own. The addition of Harry’s pets confused me at the beginning of the book. I had to go back a couple times to remind myself they were animals, not people.
The characters in the main story were believable and somewhat developed. Perhaps if I had been more familiar with the main characters of the series I would have had a better opinion of them. I found the characters in the sub-plot to be very interesting and well-developed. I wasn’t sure that some of their language would have been used in the 1780s. There was a scene in which a woman slave was whipped and it was very descriptive.
I honestly don’t know if I would recommend this book. I probably will not go back and read the first book.

First, I have to apologize for the lateness of this review. I'm just now emerging from the Covid hibernation. I’ve been a Rita May Brown reader for many years. I have always loved the characters both human and animal. I’m not exactly sure when the author started running two mysteries…one in the 1700’s and the other in present day Virginia. While I find both mysteries interesting, I don’t care for the jumping back and forth in the two mysteries. I’d be happy to read either story as a standalone. I’m also not too crazy about the increase of political conversations in the recent books. There’s enough political ranting and raving in the "real world". I want to enjoy the characters (both human and animal) in both mystery stories.

Another great addition to the Rita Mae Brown Collection.

In this story a body is found with its throat slit from ear to ear. Soon another body is found. The killer is closer then they realize. Again Harry and Mrs Murphy and Pewter and Tee Tucker come together to solve another mystery.

This was quite a fun read and the author did not disappoint. Great novel!

I was provided an e-arc from netgalley to read and review

I unfortunately missed the opportunity to read

I loved this book. I love how the book has two mysteries happening, one in the 1700s and one is present day Virginia. This is my first Rita Mae Brown book and I will be reading more!

I'm pretty sure I have read some of this series a long while back. Meanwhile, this book was pretty interesting. It's in two-time frames and has two mysteries to solve. I found this book to have a great deal of history worked into it. I liked the characters and found the very small twists to be nice ones. 

I voluntarily read a copy of this book from Net Galley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own and this review is left of my own free will.

I have read all of the Mrs Murphy books. I love Harry and all her friends. They feel like family and I live the area of Virginia where it is set I highly recommend this one.

I did not realize this was book 28 or 29 in a series when I requested it. The characters don't seem too confusing but the story jumps around a lot and it seems to describe a new perspective every other time. It's a little difficult to keep track of who is having what conversation and the conversation are heavily political. I've hardly ever had conversations like these in my life, and these characters have heavy, detail rich, history and date naming, politically inspired conversations every where they go.
I decided not to finish the book because I did not feel invested in the outcome or care about the characters. Some of the revolutionary information was interesting but it was put in in a way that felt unnatural. I'm sure fans of the series, though, would enjoy this book.

This is my first Rita Mae Brown novel. The story goes back and forth between the past and present and I will say that I enjoyed the "past" story line much more. The present, however, was marred by sentences that sometimes hung in the air as if they were lifted from another part of the story. Sometimes a sentence would appear that seemed totally unrelated to its surrounding content. This happened often enough to really detract from my enjoyment of the book. Unfortunately, there was also an obvious "hint" (more of a reveal) as to the murderer in the present day story early on which was disappointing. . Being a big animal lover, I did find their "conversations" true to life and quite charming, but I'm afraid that's not enough to keep me coming back to the series. I received a free e-copy from NetGalley for my honest review.

Rita Mae Brown intrigues with another Mrs Murphy mystery, Whiskers in the Dark. Mary "Harry" Haristeen has two suspicious deaths, one happening at the Hounds for Heroes Biggle extravaganza hunt. She believes they are related. At the same time a two hundred year old corpse has been found with a pearl necklace. Are the two related? Harry's cats and dogs help in the deductions while there is a parallel story on the 1780's plantations unrolling. The cats and dogs provide a good commentary to carry on the story. Light cozy.

I really struggled to finish this story. I did find as always the animals voices enjoyable but would have loved to hear more of the ghost dog’s story. The ending in both the past and present left a lot of questions. Not sure I would recommend this to new readers and not sure I will continue reading future stories in this series.

I was excited to read this book but it was a bit of a struggle for me. The book alternates between present day and the late 1780s. I had no issue with that but each storyline somewhat meandered along with a lot of names and details that made me feel like I was trudging along in mud- laden rain boots. The ending to the historical storyline felt like there wasn’t a great conclusion. Maybe this author and her writing style is better suited for a different reader, but sadly this book didn’t completely work for me.

Whiskers in the Dark by Rita Mae Brown is about an event called Hounds for Heroes in the Blue Ridge Mountains. A Nor’easter has hit the area so many people volunteer to help clean up before the event, including Harry and her pets. While cleaning they found a dead body, Jason Holzknect with his throat slit from ear to ear. The another murder occurs and Harry is sure that the killer is familiar with the club and must be close by. Next a skeleton is found wearing a string of pearls except her neck has been snapped. Harry, her pets and friends search for the murderer. Rita Mae Brown always writes a good book. I enjoyed the historical aspect of the book. This mystery was well-written, with a good plot.

Oh my, this used to be one of my favorite series, but no longer. While I still like the small part of the plot that focuses on the recurring characters and the ever present murder mystery, the majority of the narrative is now focused on shoehorning in political opinions, history trivia and random facts with no regard to their placement in the story.

Just not that good anymore.

It's always a fun trip when you join Rita Mae Brown's cast of characters. This is the first time she's added a ghost beagle, but he seems to fit in with the regulars. Whiskers in the Dark joins my library right next to all of the other Sneaky Pie Brown adventures. A murder during the run up to the beagle show leaves our cats and dogs investigating along side our ghost. Their shenanigans are always entertaining and they always get their man. But you can count on a very entertaining read along the way.

Crossing my fingers did not help. Unfortunately she did not take out the fluff and go back to writing the rich, detailed stories that I have so enjoyed.

In my opinion this book has the same problems that the last one in the series had. Harry, Sneaky Pie and the rest of the gang are still part of the book but only a small part. The story is still too superficial with less time being spent on character development. The characters have not had much personal growth during the last few books. This is due to two things. The first is due to the fact that there is a lot more political commentary. In my opinion it is heavy handed and does not add anything to the story itself.

The second is due to how much time is being spent focusing on the story that is set in the past. It is a whole separate story line that needs it's own book. It takes up alot of pages that should be used to focus on Harry and company. The only thing these two stories have in common is the fact that they both take place in Virginia!

I hope this will be taken as constructive criticism as it is intended to be. I have read all her books to date but I am unsure if I will read the next one.

Harry and her crew are helping get Aldie ready for a big charity hunt. The hunt is for Bassets, Hounds, and Beagles and they hunt Rabbit. While clearing up the area, one of their members is killed. Harry can't leave it alone. This story runs parallel with a mystery of a corpse found in the grave of a couple who died in 1786. The story line jumps between 1787 and 2018. As the plot moves along the old murder is revealed to the reader (not to Harry). The current murder becomes more puzzling as another person is murdered.

I enjoy the characters. Harry is tenacious and smart. She loves her animals who are fiercely protective of her and help solve the mystery. The mystery was good and kept me reading. What is harder for me to enjoy is the hunting. I don't understand the different positions such as Master of the Hunt and Whippers-in. I also don't enjoy the jumping between different eras. Still an engaging read.

Past and Present

What looks to be a deceptively simple, animal-based murder mystery is, instead, an extremely complex look at American history, especially Virginia's history, ranging from just post-Revolutionary War to modern times, with overlapping stories many generations apart. There are a lot of characters--and a lovely cheat sheet right at the front--plus an overlying fount of information about hunting with beagles, but the casually included examination of slavery and race relations turns this cozy into a tale of depth and discernment.

Another excellent edition to a wonderful series! Full of twists and turns that leaves you wanting more and enjoying each moment until the end when the killer is caught!

Whiskers in the Dark is the 28th (!!!) book in the Mrs. Murphy mystery series by Rita Mae Brown (& Sneaky Pie). Released 4th June 2019 by Random House on the Bantam imprint, it's 278 pages and available in hardcover, ebook, and audio formats.

This is another one of those anthropomorphic animal cozy mystery series which is like a visit with an old friend for me. I'm always glad to see a new installment being released and happily the series quality has always been good in my opinion. This one sees the animal and human crew preparing for a hounds competition at a historical hunting lodge.

The narrative story arc is broken into two parallel timelines in the same location, one in 1787, one in present day Virginia. The bridge that ties the two together is the discovery of an unrecorded death (a murdered woman) from 1787 discovered in the churchyard wearing a fortune in jewels. The chapter timeline jumps are well demarcated with timestamps on the chapter headings, so they're not confusing. The plotting is variable. For me it moved along at a good clip and then got somewhat bogged down in relating a lot of historical information. I found the historical minutiae interesting, it might be less so for other readers.

The language is clean, the murders are (relatively) bloodless. There is a plot element and description of sexual assault in the 1787 plotline which might bother some readers, but there's nothing extremely graphic. There's a lot of social commentary, including views on gender roles in early American history along with slavery. The modern day plot denouement was a surprise for me, even though I had guessed 'whodunit'. There's also a paranormal (ghost) subplot which was quite melancholy to me.

The monochrome illustrations by Michael Gellatly give a sweetly nostalgic feel to the book. This is the same artist who also illustrated earlier books in the series.

Four stars, I love Ms. Brown's work, and I am always in awe of her ability to combine deep social commentary with humor and wit.