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.

The discovery of a body in the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains dredges up mysteries that have lingered from Revolutionary Virginia through the Civil War and beyond, in a supernaturally thrilling new tale from Rita Mae Brown and her feline co-author SneakyPie Brown. A trial is underway in Albemarle County, where Mary Minor "Harry" Harristeen and her trusty crew of two- and four-legged friends hope to catch a killer--who may not be the person accused of the crime. Since an old friend's body was discovered by the hunting club's faithful beagles, it has been up to Harry--with her crime-solving cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, and Tee Tucker the corgi--to sniff out a trail of clues. Meanwhile, bloodshed dating back generations continues to haunt the current grounds of the National Beagle Club of America. Are past claims of ghost sightings still to be ignored? And what do these paranormal apparitions have to do with the very modern drama unfolding in court and the all-too-real threats confronting Harry and her companions at every turn?
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