MURDER AT
MONTICELLO
Rita Mae Brown
For
Gordon Reistrup
because he makes us laugh.
BANTAM BOOKS NEWYORK • TORONTO • LONDON
• SYDNEY • AUCKLAND
Cast of Characters
Mary Minor Haristeen (Harry), the young postmistress of Crozet, whose curiosity
almost kills the cat and herself
Mrs. Murphy, Harry’s gray tiger cat, who bears an uncanny
resemblance to authoress Sneaky Pie and who is wonderfully intelligent!
Tee Tucker, Harry’s Welsh corgi, Mrs. Murphy’s friend
and confidant; a buoyant soul
Pharamond Haristeen
(Fair), veterinarian,
formerly married to Harry
Mrs. George
Hogendobber (Miranda), a widow who thumps
her own Bible!
Market Shiflett, owner of Shiflett’s Market, next to the post
office
Pewter, Market’s fat gray cat, who, when need be, can
be pulled away from the food bowl
Susan Tucker, Harry’s best friend, who doesn’t take
life too seriously until her neighbors get murdered
Big Marilyn Sanburne
(Mim), queen of Crozet
Oliver Zeve, the exuberant director of Monticello, to whom
reputation means a lot
Kimball Haynes, energetic young head of archaeology at Monticello. He
is a workaholic who believes in digging deeper
Wesley Randolph, owner of Eagle’s Rest, a passionate
Thoroughbred man
Warren Randolph, Wesley’s son. He’s trying to step into
the old man’s shoes
Ansley Randolph, Warren’s pretty wife, who is smarter than
people think
Samson Coles, a well-born realtor who has his eyes on more than
property
Lucinda Payne Coles, Samson’s bored wife
Heike Holtz, one of the assistant archaeologists at Monticello
Rick Shaw, Albemarle sheriff
Cynthia Cooper, police officer
Paddy, Mrs. Murphy’s ex-husband, a saucy tom
Simon, an opossum with a low opinion of humanity
Author’s Note
Monticello is a national treasure well served by its
current executive director, Daniel P. Jordan. Some of you will recall Mr.
Jordan and his wife, Lou, opening Thomas Jefferson’s home to
then–President-elect Clinton.
The architectural and
landscape descriptions are as accurate as I could make them. The humans are
made up, of course, and Oliver Zeve, Monticello’s director in this novel,
is not based on Mr. Jordan.
One eerie event took place
while I was writing this mystery.
In the book, a potsherd of good china is
unearthed in a slave cabin. On October 18, 1992, four days after I sent off the
first draft of this book to my publisher, an article appeared in
The Daily
Progress, the newspaper of Charlottesville, Virginia. This article
described how William Kelso, Monticello’s director of archaeology, found
some fine china in the slave quarters believed to have been inhabited by Sally
Hemings. These quarters were close to Jefferson’s home. Often slave
quarters were distant from the master’s house, so the location of Miss
Heming’s cabin is in itself worthy of note. Finding the china bits was
life imitating fiction. Who knows, but it fluffed my fur.
My only quibble with Mr.
Jordan and the wonderful staff at Monticello is that they aren’t paying
attention to the feline contributions to Mr. Jefferson’s life. Who do you
think kept the mice from eating all the parchment that Mr. Jefferson used? Then
again, my ancestors drove the moles from the garden and the rodents from the
stables too. No doubt when the great man wrote the Declaration of Independence
he was inspired by a cat. Who is more independent than a cat?
