Рита Браун - The Big Cat Nap

The Big Cat Nap 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 © 2012 by American Artists, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Bantam Books, an imprint of The Random House

Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

BANTAM BOOKS and the rooster colophon are registered

trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Illustrations copyright © 2012 by Michael Gellatly

Brown, Rita Mae.

The big cat nap : the 20th anniversary Mrs. Murphy mystery / Rita Mae Brown;

illustrated by Michael Gellatly.

p. cm.

eISBN: 978-0-345-53239-8

1. Murphy, Mrs. (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Haristeen, Harry (Fictitious

character)—Fiction. 3. Women cat owners—Fiction. 4. Cats—Fiction. 5. Women

detectives—Virginia—Fiction. 6. Traffic accident investigation—Fiction.

7. Crozet (Va.)—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3552.R698B54 2012

813′.54—dc23 2011039014

www.bantamdell.com

Cover design: Beverly Leung

Cover illustration: © Daniel Pelvin (cat), © Shutterstock/MisterElements (yarn)

v3.1

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

Author’s Note

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Other Books by This Author

About the Authors

Cast of Characters

Mary Minor Haristeen —Harry, at forty, has just faced down breast cancer. She’s making a go at farming; some days are easy, some days less so. She’s a good-natured soul, but her flaming flaw is she’s much too curious.

Pharamond Haristeen, D.V.M .—“Fair” specializes in equine reproduction. Married to his high school sweetheart, Harry, he’s a powerfully built man. He reads people’s emotions much better than his wife does.

Susan Tucker —She’s a friend of Harry’s since they were in the cradle together. Much as she loves Harry, her nosy friend can drive her right up the wall.

Miranda Hogendobber —A woman in her late sixties who worked with Harry when Harry was postmistress of Crozet, she has good sense. She’s a good gardener, is very religious, and possesses a pure soprano voice.

Olivia Craycroft —“BoomBoom” has known Harry and Susan since kindergarten. She’s tall, blonde, beautiful, and has blue eyes. She runs her late husband’s concrete business; although we usually don’t encounter her there, we do just about everywhere else.

Alicia Palmer —A gorgeous woman in her fifties, she was a major-motion-picture star in the 1970s. Like most people in the biz, she whipped through a few husbands, affairs, etc., but then wisely walked away from all of that to return to a farm in Crozet she inherited from her first lover. She’s blissfully happy.

Deputy Cynthia Cooper—This lean woman lives next door to Harry, on the farm she rents. The two enjoy a strong relationship, even though Harry meddles in Cynthia’s business from time to time.

Sheriff Rick Shaw —He’s a decent man, wise, overburdened, and underfunded, as are most county sheriffs in America.

The Very Reverend Herbert Jones —A Vietnam veteran, he’s the pastor of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, which is over two hundred years old, and a graceful, peaceful sanctuary. He is a man of deep conviction and deep feeling.

Victor Gatzembizi —Although only in his early forties, he’s built ReNu, a lucrative collision-repair business, with shops in various Virginia cities. Attractive, good with people, he has the typical trophy wife but he takes good care of her, as he does his employees. He’s been generous to the breast cancer fund.

Latigo Bly —Also in his early forties, he’s even more successful than Victor is, as he’s built a highly profitable auto-insurance business, Safe & Sound, that’s currently powerful in the mid-Atlantic. Many people think he’ll take the company national.

Yancy Hampton —Basically he’s a greengrocer who owns and operates Fresh! Fresh! Fresh!, an upscale food emporium. He considers himself green in all things.

Marilyn Sanburne , Sr.—“Big Mim” runs Crozet. She’s not much in evidence in this volume, but you can be sure she will reassert herself in the future.

Marilyn Sanburne , Jr.—“Little Mim” is often in her mother’s shadow and resents it. She’s vice-mayor of Crozet to her father’s mayor. As they both represent different political parties, this can be interesting. She’s slowed down on the politics for a bit, as she is expecting her first child.

Blair Bainbridge —Little Mim’s husband is beside himself with joy at the prospect of being a father.

Aunt Tally Urquhart —She’s one hundred, and Big Mim is her niece.

Inez Carpenter, D.V.M .—Aunt Tally’s classmate at William Woods University, she’s ninety-eight and has shepherded Fair Haristeen’s career.

Mildred Haldane —Now widowed, she still runs the salvage yard she operated with her late husband. She knows more about cars than many mechanics and body-shop workers do. She is passionate about old cars.

The ReNu Mechanics

Walt Richardson, Nick Ashby, Jason Brundige, Sammy Collona, Lodi Pingrey, and Bobby Foltz.

The Really Important Characters

Mrs. Murphy —She’s a tiger cat who is usually cool, calm, and collected. She loves her humans, Tucker the dog, and even Pewter, the other cat, who can be a pill.

Pewter —She’s self-centered, rotund, intelligent when she wants to be. Selfish as she is, she often comes through at the last minute to help and then wants all the credit.

Tee Tucker —This corgi could take your college boards. She is devoted to Harry, Fair, and Mrs. Murphy. She is less devoted to Pewter.

Simon —He’s an opossum who lives in the hayloft of the Haristeens’ barn.

Matilda —She’s a large blacksnake with a large sense of humor. She also lives in the hayloft.

Flatface —This great horned owl lives in the barn cupola. She irritates Pewter, but the cat realizes the bird could easily pick her up and carry her off.

The Lutheran Cats

Elocution —She’s the oldest of the St. Luke’s cats and cares a lot about the “Rev,” as his friends sometimes call the Very Reverend Herbert Jones.

Cazenovia —This cat watches everybody and everything.