by Jean Little
First published 2006
Harry Haristeen has just remarried her veterinarian ex-husband Fair when murder strikes their small Virginia town of Crozet. Professor Vincent Forland, a renowned grape and fungal expert visiting local vineyards, delivers a lecture on how fungus and cattle diseases form the basis of modern chemical warfare. Days later, his headless corpse is discovered. Residents assume the killing is political until a local turns up dead in identical fashion. Harry has left her post office job and planted a quarter acre of grapes, making her naturally curious about what connected the two victims. Her animal companions, cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter plus corgi Tee Tucker, prove more observant than the human investigators. When spring warms the countryside and Harry's grapevines bloom, the pets uncover the first crucial clue. The challenge becomes communicating their discovery to the humans before the killer strikes again.
Genres: animals, mystery, thriller, cozy-mystery
Vibes: cozy, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, found-family
Setting: Crozet, Virginia
Period: spring
272 pages · Hardcover · Bantam Books