Рита Браун - The Big Cat Nap

I sometimes worry that readers mistake my characters for me. For what it’s worth, I’m pretty middle-of-the-road and am appalled at the entrenched dishonesty, self-centeredness, and lack of concern for our citizens that I perceive in Washington. That loss of confidence and belief knows no party, really. I think most of us are stunned.

In the interests of clarity, I am not Harry, although we share a love of farming and nature. In most other respects, we are markedly different. Still, Harry and I both live in central Virginia, where people are not liberal. They aren’t to the right of Genghis Khan, either. Sure, a few are, but most are not. By and large, the residents of Virginia adhere to Jefferson’s ideal: “That government is best which governs least.”

Thank you for keeping up with Sneaky Pie and the Crozet family. My hope is that Sneaky Pie will run for president. I trust her; she’s sensible and reliable.

As for me, I’m doing my best to keep body and soul together, as are you. No matter what folly humans are committing, the great blue heron flying in front of a sun setting behind the Blue Ridge Mountains restores me. I hope you have something equal to such beauty in your life.

Always and ever,

Rita Mae Brown

Dear Reader

Cats do like riding in cars and trucks, but we need to learn to do it as kittens. If I’m not looking out the dash, I like to get up in the rear window.

This story interests me because of zooming around with my human. I’ve even ridden in her lap when she drives the tractor. Not often, as it’s a rough ride, but I do like the view from high up.

Pewter, on the other hand, only goes along for the ride because she’s afraid she’ll miss something. If she gets scared, she makes a mess. She should just stay home.

Hope all is well where you are.

Yours,

Sneaky Pie

Dear Reader

She’s full of poop, not me! I can ride with the best of them.

Sincerely, honestly, truthfully,

Pewter

Dedicated to

Mrs. Harriet Phillips, Ph.D .

A Smith graduate, a wonderful mother ,

and a steadfast friend .

I don’t know what I’d do without her .

Acknowledgments

Erica Eversman tops the list, but she tops my list always. The Automotive Education & Policy Institute is hers (www.autoepi.org). This good woman drove all the way from Akron, Ohio, to stay in my barn, calling it headquarters despite no air-conditioning or Internet service. She soldiered on in punishing heat, brought me all manner of hard copy, and had the incredible patience to explain just what’s at stake with this issue.

We are so accustomed to seeing any of the Big Three auto manufacturers as the bad guys. In this case, they are not. For one thing, they don’t want you to die in their vehicles. Let’s leave it at that.

Thanks seem inadequate for all that this tall, blonde smarty has done for me and by extension for all Americans, although you may not know about it. Erica and others are fighting the good fight for auto safety.

Mrs. Donna Packard, Academic & Professional Services, always prepares my manuscripts. For this mystery, she actually researched some agriculture questions. Nothing like a last-minute call. She came through, but then Donna always does, whether it’s for her profession, her children, her husband, or her friends.

Thanking a jewelry store—well, is there a woman who doesn’t love a good jewelry store? Keller & George has served Charlottesville for well over one hundred years. Bill Liebenrood of Keller & George, whom I think of as the Big Cheese, asked me to kill him off in this book so he wouldn’t have to go to work anymore. Only Bill. I like him so much I just couldn’t do it, but perhaps in subsequent books I can make him suffer.

I am especially grateful to Bill and Gayle Lowe for their kindness to me during a spectacular reversal in my life. It didn’t help them, or Keller & George, either, but they handled it with their good humor and grace, and I am forever in their debt.

Wherever you live, I hope you are surrounded by good people, as I am here in central Virginia. You see people in business circumstances, social, and it’s pleasant. But when the you-know-what hits the fan, I am overcome with just how helpful and genuinely caring people are. Even better, how they are all busting with ideas, many of which find their way into Sneaky’s books.

Lucky cat. Lucky me.

Ever and always,

Rita Mae

Books by Rita Mae Brown & Sneaky Pie Brown

WISH YOU WERE HERE•REST IN PIECES•MURDER AT MONTICELLO•

PAY DIRT•MURDER, SHE MEOWED•MURDER ON THE PROWL•

CAT ON THE SCENT•

SNEAKY PIE’S COOKBOOK FOR MYSTERY LOVERS•

PAWING THROUGH THE PAST•CLAWS AND EFFECT•CATCH AS CAT CAN•

THE TAIL OF THE TIP-OFF•WHISKER OF EVIL•

CAT’S EYEWITNESS•SOUR PUSS•PUSS ’N CAHOOTS•THE PURRFECT MURDER•

SANTA CLAWED•CAT OF THE CENTURY•HISS OF DEATH

Books by Rita Mae Brown featuring “Sister” Jane Arnold

OUTFOXED•HOTSPUR•FULL CRY•THE HUNT BALL•

THE HOUNDS AND THE FURY•

THE TELL-TALE HORSE•HOUNDED TO DEATH

Books by Rita Mae Brown

ANIMAL MAGNETISM: MY LIFE WITH CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL•

THE HAND THAT CRADLES THE ROCK•SONGS TO A HANDSOME WOMAN•

THE PLAIN BROWN RAPPER•RUBYFRUIT JUNGLE•IN HER DAY•SIX OF ONE•

SOUTHERN DISCOMFORT•SUDDEN DEATH•HIGH HEARTS•

STARTED FROM SCRATCH•

A DIFFERENT KIND OF WRITER’S MANUAL•BINGO•VENUS ENVY•

DOLLEY: A NOVEL OF DOLLEY MADISON IN LOVE AND WAR•

RIDING SHOTGUN RITA•

WILL: MEMOIR OF A LITERARY RABBLE-ROUSER•

LOOSE LIPS•ALMA MATER•SAND CASTLE

Don’t miss the tail-wagging new mystery series—

A Nose for Justice and Murder Unleashed!

About the Authors

RITA MAE BROWN writes as she breathes, which is to say constantly. Many of her novels have been bestsellers and she has received two Emmy nominations. The greatest joy in her life is hunting her pack of hounds, which has made her an ardent environmentalist. Or as her mother used to say, “When the cane is cut, it doesn’t rise up again.”

SNEAKY PIE BROWN, a tiger cat rescue, has written many mysteries—witness the list at the back of this novel. Having to share credit with the above-named human is a small irritant, but she manages it. Anything is better than typing, which is what “Big Brown” does for the series. Sneaky calls her human that name behind her back after the wonderful Thoroughbred racehorse. As her human is rather small, it brings giggles among the other animals. Sneaky’s main character—Mrs. Murphy, a tiger cat—is a bit sweeter than Miss Pie, who can be caustic.