In this fast-paced mystery by Rita Mae Brown and her feline co-author Sneaky Pie Brown, Mary Minor Harry Haristeen and her animal friends seek to solve a whodunit rooted in eighteenth-century Virginia uncovering a shocking secret that refuses to stay buried. TALL TAIL At any moment a perfect summer day in Crozet, Virginia nestled within the Blue Ridge Mountains might turn stormy and tempestuous, as Harry knows too well when a squall suddenly sweeps in. In a blink, Harry s pickup nearly collides with a careening red car that then swerves into a ditch. Harry recognizes the dead driver slumped over the vehicle s steering wheel: Barbara Leader was nurse and confidante to former Virginia governor Sam Holloway. Though Barbara s death is ruled a heart attack, dissenting opinions abound. After all, she was the picture of health, which gives Harry and her four-legged companions pause. A baffling break-in at a local business leads Harry to further suspect that a person with malevolent intent lurks just out of sight: Something evil is afoot. As it happens, Barbara died in the shadow of the local cemetery s statue of the Avenging Angel. Just below that imposing funereal monument lie the remains of one Francisco Selisse, brutally murdered in 1784. Harry s present-day sleuthing draws her back to Virginia s slave-holding past and the hunt for Selisse s killer. Now it s up to Harry and her furry detectives Mrs. Murphy, Pewter, and Tee Tucker to expose the bitter truth, even if it means staring into the unforgiving eyes of history and cornering a callous killer poised to pounce. Praise for the Mrs. Murphy mysteries As feline collaborators go, you couldn t ask for better than Sneaky Pie Brown. " The New York Times Book Review""

Author Biography

Rita Mae Brown is the bestselling author of the Sneaky Pie Brown series; the Sister Jane series; the Runnymede books, including "Six of One" and"Cakewalk;" "A Nose for Justice "and" Murder Unleashed; Rubyfruit Jungle; "and" In Her Day, "as well as several other novels. An Emmy-nominated screenwriter and a poet, Brown lives in Afton, Virginia. Sneaky Pie Brown, a tiger cat born somewhere in Albemarle County, Virginia, was discovered by Rita Mae Brown at her local SPCA. They have collaborated on numerous Mrs. Murphy mysteries in addition to "Sneaky Pie s Cookbook for Mystery Lovers" and "Sneaky Pie for President.""