Рита Браун - Tail Gait

Tail Gait is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2015 by American Artists, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Bantam Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

BANTAM BOOKS and the HOUSE colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Michael Gellatly

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Brown, Rita Mae, author.

Tail Gait : a Mrs. Murphy Mystery / Rita Mae Brown & Sneaky Pie Brown ; illustrated by Michael Gellatly.

pages cm

ISBN 978-0-553-39236-4

eBook ISBN 978-0-553-39237-1

1. Murphy, Mrs. (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Haristeen, Harry (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 3. Women detectives—Virginia—Fiction. 4. Women cat owners—Fiction. 5. Cats—Fiction. 6. Mystery fiction. I. Brown, Sneaky Pie-author. II. Gellatly, Michael, illustrator. III. Title.

PS3552.R698T33 2015

813’.54—dc23

2014049098

eBook ISBN 9780553392371

www.bantamdell.com

Cover design: Beverly Leung

Cover illustrations: Beverly Leung,

© Shutterstock/Nebojsa S (cat)

v4.0

ep

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Cast of Characters

The Really Important Characters

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Author's Note

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Books by Rita Mae Brown & Sneaky Pie Brown

About the Authors

Cast of Characters

Mary Minor Haristeen—“Harry,” just forty-one, is a Smith graduate who wound up being Crozet, Virginia’s postmistress for sixteen years. Now she’s trying to make money farming. Having survived breast cancer, Harry prefers not to think about it. She more or less lives on the surface of life until curiosity pulls her deeper…as it inevitably does.

Pharamond Haristeen, D.V.M.—“Fair” specializes in equine reproduction. After graduating from Auburn he married his childhood sweetheart, Harry. A year older than his wife, he reads people’s emotions much better than she does.

Susan Tucker—Outgoing, adept at any and all social exchange, she’s Harry’s best friend since cradle days. She loves Harry but worries about how Harry just blunders into things.

The Very Reverend Herbert Jones—A Vietnam veteran, Army, he is pastor at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, which is well over two hundred years old. A man of deep conviction and feeling, he’s known Harry since her childhood.

Deputy Cynthia Cooper—Tall, lean, and Harry’s next-door neighbor, renting the adjoining farm. Cooper loves law enforcement. From time to time, Harry meddles in Cooper’s business, but in her defense the Smith graduate has an uncanny knack of uncovering crucial information.

Sheriff Rick Shaw—The sheriff of Albemarle County, he is overburdened, underfunded, and overworked. Despite that, he likes his job and has learned to trust Cooper. (Originally, he wasn’t thrilled with having a woman in the department.)

Dr. Nelson Yarbrough—Quarterback of the 1959 University of Virginia football team, his pro ball career was ended by an injury. He and his wife, Sandra, practice dentistry and good works in Charlottesville.

Marshall Reese—This defensive lineman on the 1959 UVA team has become a successful developer by building carefully detailed houses, conscientiously following history as much as possible.

Paul Huber—On the 1959 team, Huber was UVA’s right halfback. Now he runs a landscaping company founded by his father and works closely with Marshall. He specializes in eighteenth-century plantings and gardens.

Willis Fugate, fullback, 1959; Rudolph Putnam, fullback, 1960; Lionel Gardner, offensive lineman, 1961; Tim Jardine, linebacker, 1970—These charming old boys are all former UVA football players.

Frank Cresey—He was a UVA halfback, and in 1975 was All-American, which keeps his old friends loyal to him. Supremely gifted athletically, Frank was at one time popular with the ladies and a good student. That was before he destroyed himself with drink.

Professor Greg “Ginger” McConnell, History Emeritus, University of Virginia—His writings on the lives of the common man and women in Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary America made him a world authority on same. Overflowing with enthusiasm for his subject, Ginger remains delightfully young and is universally loved—or perhaps not.

Trudy McConnell—Wife to Ginger and mother to Olivia and Renata “Rennie,” the two daughters are now middle-aged. Like the wives of many prominent men, Trudy is Ginger’s anchor.

Olivia Gaston—After a disastrous romance with Frank Cresey when she was in her late teens, she’s made a good life for herself with a wonderful husband in New Orleans.

Snoop—Possibly middle-aged, it’s hard to tell, he’s an alcoholic who “lives” on the Downtown Mall. The well-mannered African American doesn’t talk about his past. Most of the Mall Rats, as they are known, don’t.

Cast of Characters 1777–1782

Captain John Schuyler—Captain Schuyler is twenty years old, powerfully built, and a good man. After fighting in the Battle of Saratoga, the American soldier takes a British lieutenant prisoner; from that moment on, their fates are forever linked.

Lieutenant Charles West—At nineteen, in the British Army, he’s the second son of an impoverished aristocrat. Artistic and quick-thinking, he’s captured by Captain Schuyler, along with several of his men.

Ewing Garth—Highly intelligent, a successful businessman with holdings in Virginia and North Carolina, he is an American patriot.

Catherine Garth—Bold, strong of body and mind, she admires her father. She is also beyond beautiful, and at eighteen coming into full bloom.

Rachel Garth—Two years younger than Catherine, she, too, is a beautiful girl. She’s not as bold as Catherine but she’s observant and no fool.

Jeddie Rice—A young slave with a gift for training and riding horses. He and Catherine have a natural affinity.

Roger—The butler, and therefore a powerful slave.