“Pay Dirt” by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown

Rita Mae Brown is a modern American detective story writer working in “co-authorship” with her pet tiger cat Sneaky Pie. In her novels two amateurs – Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen and Miranda Hogendobber – often help sheriff Rick Shaw and Deputy Cynthia Cooper with their investigations, but the real heroes are two charming cats – Mrs. Murphy and Pewter – and Tee Tucker the corgi. They always run their own investigations and often arrive at the truth before the humans do. The chief problem is, while the animals can understand the humans’ English perfectly, the reverse is not true. The humans – even their “Mom” Harry – assume the cats are meowing and the dog is barking to ask for food, so the animals have to resort to alternative ways of pointing out important clues: touching the important spot with their paws, pretending to get stuck in the places where the stuff is hidden and so on. Sometimes it works.

I’ve read three books from the series. In “Pay Dirt” Harry is about 34 years old. In “Claws and Effect” she is 37, which was my age too at the time of reading the respective books. It gives me a queer feeling like Harry is growing up with me, though in fact her personality never changes at all: she is independent, proud, hard-working and curious. She just can’t keep out from the scene of yet another murder – and murders seem to happen way too often in their tiny town in Virginia. Crozet, where everyone knows everyone, would be in a desperate situation without Harry and her furry helpers.

At the start of the book, Harry, the postmistress of Crozet, and her best friend Miranda Hogendobber, the widow of the previous postmaster and Harry’s volunteer unpaid assistant, are discussing the threat of a new computer virus, which is due to destroy all data in their computer in a few days. Miranda, who is aged between 60 and 70, doesn’t see such a possibility as bad stuff – she hates computers.

Later, at the entrance of the Ash Lawn federal museum, a home of James and Elisabeth Monroe, Harry is seen in the company of several other ladies, most of whom are her own age, and a gentleman named Blair Bairnbridge, a male model of extraordinary masculine beauty. They all are talking and jesting, and then a sinister-looking biker arrives on a gorgeous black Harley and demands to take him to his girlfriend named Malibu. Naturally, nobody knows any Malibu, and Blair manages to persuade the unwanted guest to leave.

A few days later the enigmatic biker is found dead in the woods.

Sheriff Rick Shaw, Deputy Cynthia Cooper (a school friend of Harry), Harry herself, Miranda, Mrs. Murphy, Tucker and Pewter get to work finding out who the murderer is.

Naturally, when such a team is working on the case, and everyone else is willing to help (apparently, they all have nothing else to do, especially the rich ones), they are bound to succeed, though not before two more murders take place. Together they not only find the murderer, but save an innocent girl from unfair accusations. Of course, Harry’s curiosity endangers her life in the process of catching the criminal (it happens in every book), and her beloved animals save her.

Rita Mae Brown’s books have everything that makes a good detective novel: they keep the reader interested, and the final solution never disappoints – it’s always very unexpected. The animals make it even more charming, at least to those who love animals (I do). Her books also usually touch important social issues. The characters are neatly drawn: since at least half of them travel from one book to another, you soon start feeling like you’ve known them all your life.

The language of those books is very American: a bit rough at edges, full of modern slang and totally lacking traditional British sweetness, which is only natural. Having said that, it still flows smoothly enough to make reading these books an enjoyable experience.