Death stalks the Blue Ridge Mountains as a centuries-old mystery resurfaces and murder mars the
lead-up to an annual beagle competition in a thrilling new tale from Rita Mae Brown and her
feline co-author Sneaky Pie Brown. As feline collaborators go you couldn't ask for better than
Sneaky Pie Brown.-The New York Times Book Review A massive nor'easter has hit northern Virginia
where Mary Minor Harry Harristeen joins groundskeeping efforts at the National Beagle Club at
Aldie as the date for its springtime Hounds for Heroes veterans' benefit approaches. Harry's
fellow volunteers including her oldest friend Susan Tucker comprise a spirited group of
hunting enthusiasts some former service members themselves. But things take a sinister turn
when after a routine tree cleanup along the Club's hunting trails retired foreign services
officer Jason Holzknect is found dead throat slit from ear to ear. Soon enough another murder
in their midst jolts the preparations convincing Harry that the killer is familiar with the
Club-and must be close by masked in plain sight. The intrigue extends to the grounds of
Harry's beloved local church where the identity of an eighteenth-century skeleton wearing
precious pearls remains a mystery. The anonymous woman's neck had been snapped and marks on
the grave where her body was secreted indicate that someone recently tried to remove it
leading Harry to question how well she really knows those around her. As always Harry's
crime-solving cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter and Tee Tucker the Corgi share her determination to
sniff out the foes among friends even those long buried. Harry will need her four-legged
companions' help more than ever: a ghostly beagle only they can see may hold the key to the
culprit.
