A Hiss Before Dying

chapter 1

October 17, 2016 Monday

A blood-­red sugar maple glowed next to the farm lane as the autumn sun shone through its leaves. Two cats and one dog walked in the pleasant sixty-­degree weather toward the barns, the Blue Ridge Mountains at their backs.

The bottom rim of the sun, hovering over the spine of the mountains, would soon dip down, ushering in an explosive sunset followed by a beautiful twilight. The changing seasons specialized in twilights of various blues.

Animals moved about as day gave way to night. Day hunters and feeders headed for home, the night creatures popped their heads out of dens, stuck beaks out of tree hollows, preparing for activity. The deer moved toward their sleeping places, which were usually sheltered from the winds in a thicket. Even the beavers stopped timbering, carrying a few thinner branches toward their lodge. That would be tomorrow s task, trimming the branches.

Mrs. Murphy, the tiger cat; green-­eyed Pewter, the overlarge gray cat; and Tee Tucker, the intrepid corgi, relished this time of day. With a few barks from Tucker, the retiring deer bolted as the domesticated animals chased after them. Deer were so much bigger, to see them scatter away just puffed up the three amigos. A few harsh words might be exchanged with the fox whose den extended under the roots of an ancient walnut.

The turtles, the salamanders, the fish and crayfish prepared for night. When they sat by the creek, the cats would stare at the freshwater creatures, but in the main they found the fish boring. Birds, on the other hand, squawked, chattered, spit seeds, dropped earthworms on them, cussed the cats unmercifully.

A blue jay looked down from a poplar tree. Empty-­handed.

We weren t hunting. Pewter detested that bird.

You couldn t catch a mouse if your life depended on it. Fat, fat, water rat, the handsome bird taunted.

Before Pewter could return the insult, Tucker looked up. She d heard the sound wind makes through

Rita Mae Brown & Sneaky Pie Brown

Clearly the cat s meow. Library Journal
 
Thoroughly delightful! Red Carpet Crash
 
An air of mystery, a touch of history and that undeniable voice . . . Sneaky Pie Brown is back on the prowl. Daily Progress
 
The staccato conversation style of the contemporary chapters contrasts nicely with the more fluid prose of those set in the eighteenth century. Brown s signature asides on such subjects as local and national politics, traditional art, race, God, and just about anything else that strikes her fancy give readers plenty to think about. Publishers Weekly