Cat of the Century
By Rita Mae Brown, Bantam Books, 216 pages, hardcover/Kindle edition, fiction
Rita Mae Brown, well known for Rubyfruit Jungle, Six of One, Loose Lips, and many other books, locates her latest novel at William Woods University at Fulton. She lives in Virginia and writes frequently about the horse country there, but this time, she brings her animal sleuths in the latest of her Sneaky Pie Brown series to Missouri to celebrate Tally Urquhat’s one hundredth birthday. Tally is a fictional character, but several real William Woods people become part of the mystery, including Dr. Jahnae Barnett, president of the university; Gayle Lampe, equestrian instructor; and Kenda Shindler, Dr. Barnett’s assistant.
Right away, the animal sleuths sniff out trouble. A corgi, a tiger cat, and a rotund gray cat discover murder, money mismanagement, canes with swords hidden inside, pottery filled with an unknown substance, a 40-year-old unsolved murder, and plenty of intrigue to keep you wondering what can happen next.
Rita became friends with instructor Gayle Lampe in the 1980s through horses, and later, Rita was invited to speak at a William Woods commencement. Rita accepted, and now the school is featured in her book. But Sneaky Pie, Rita’s coauthor cat, will tell you it was her idea to write a novel based at William Woods.
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