Review: Middling Rita Mae Brown 'Cat' tale

"Catch as Cat Can"
By Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown
Bantam Doubleday Dell
Mystery
320 pages

(CNN) -- A small-town mystery is solved by the amateur sleuthing of a cat. It sounds like the premise of a children's book. Indeed, the style and tone of "Catch as Cat Can" seem geared toward a younger audience.

The content, however, is decidedly not. There's violence, strong language and a few hints of sex. It's definitely a PG-13 story.

Rita Mae Brown, a novelist, screenwriter and poet, has co-authored ten mysteries featuring Mrs. Murphy, a gray tiger cat, with Sneaky Pie, who also happens to be a tiger cat.

This time, there's murder afoot in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. Three of them, in fact. While such an outbreak of violent death would disrupt most small towns, the denizens of Crozet seem to take it all in stride. The annual Dogwood Festival goes on as scheduled, as does the ensuing round of dances and social gatherings.

Led by feisty postmistress "Harry" Haristeen, the citizens of Crozet put the best face they can on the unpleasant events. But Harry, like her cat Mrs. Murphy, can't keep her nose out of police business, and before long she's knee-deep in the murder investigation.

Meandering passages

"Catch as Cat Can" is not exactly a taut suspense thriller. On the contrary, the story seems to meander like a mountain stream. The reader meets a large cast of characters -- human and otherwise -- in the process of picking up clues that might solve the mystery.

The author(s) spend a great deal of time describing scenery. An example:

"Saturday dawned bright and clear, the temperature at five-thirty A.M. being forty-seven degrees Fahrenheit. The redbuds opened in full bloom, although those in the hollows where it was cooler stayed the dark raspberry color before full flowering. The apple trees still had some blooms but the pear trees were finished, as were the peaches. Tulips and pansies filled gardens in town. But the glory, the highlight, the beauty of spring resided in the dogwoods, which fortuitously chose that exact day to open."

It goes on. And on.

Better for cats

The notion of a writer sharing credit with her cat might be described as "precious." It's an apt adjective for the book, too.

The murder investigation seems almost an afterthought and the climax, punctuated by gunplay and violent death, is a bit jarring. And when it's over, life in Crozet goes on pretty much as before.

There's apparently an audience for these Mrs. Murphy mysteries. Her last outing landed on the bestseller lists. That may prove only that more people love cats than love good mysteries. Not that "Catch as Cat Can" is a bad mystery. It's just a better book about cats.