I was so infatuated with this series by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown (her cat) when it first rolled out that I bought them all. I drifted away but when I saw her newest episode among the new audiobooks at the library, I grabbed it. What a disappointment. The polemics of her politics just weighed this down and overshadowed the thin thread of plot. Whether they were positions with which I agreed (humans are making a mess of the environment) or disagreed (all government and especially taxes are BAD), they were repeated so often and so pedantically--with no specific support for claims--that they just grew wearisome and eventually annoying. I am all for using literature to engage people through alternative and less threatening means in thinking deeply and sometimes differently about controversial issues. Carl Hiaasen's books for young adults that deal with ecological issues come to mind as good examples. But Brown has failed, both through her tone and her overly simplistic presentation of the issues. That being said, this book, like many of her other works, is a heartfelt and loving portrayal of her part of the country (Virginia) and offers an interesting cast of characters. Her early book,
Six of One, is still in my top 10 list because it is so funny.
