Wish You Were Here: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery

This is a wonderful book for everyone. The mystery is intriguing and so are the characters. They all add their special brand of humor and vitality to the book. The animals are always a step ahead of the humans in finding out who the murderer is although they don't have time to figure it out themselves. The murderer slips near the end and you'll know who it is if you pay attention. Of course, if you read the other books before this one, you'll know who it is from the start. So, my advice, read this one first and watch the characters develop as you press further into the series.

This book showed an amazing start of a fantastic series. The characters showed lots of background and the story developed at such an astounding rate you wouldn't realize it until the mystery was just about solved! With such a new way of storytelling, involving both an animal's and a person's view on these mysterys, and how they believe the mystery is outplayed. All in all this book is a perfect start to a great series.
By -Jacob Grimm

I really enjoyed Rita Mae Brown's first foray into murder mysteries. It was a well-thought out book, entertaining, and suspensful, but not gruesome. The best part was the animals, who really are so much more clever and sharp-witted (or at least sharp-nosed) than the humans. I also greatly appreciated hearing their viewpoints on humans in general, and not surprisingly found it the same as mine. I look forward to reading more in this series!

This book, though i would never never never call it quality literature, is cute and entertaining. I read it in 5 days and it kept my mind occupied and filled some time.
She portrays a small Southern town and its human and pet residents. She really makes the reader feel as though they are part of the action and each of the characters come alive through her brilliant language.
Don't expect an intellectual read (the ending isn't much of a surprise)... but it is most definately fun.
It is definately no "Rubyfruit Jungle" or "In Her Day", but i enjoyed in nonetheless...

I purchased the audiobook version of this book. I had expected a good, cozy mystery. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. I get the feeling that the author was very angry when she penned this book. I'm not prudish, but the use of unnecessary profanity (even by the animals!) was odd and made it impossible to listen to while my daughter was around. I live in a small VA town similar to the one depicted in the book and I do not know anyone who uses that kind of language that frequently.

Throughout the story men are portrayed as cheating, stupid annoyances and marriage is a joke. The author even manages to insult Europeans and the Catholic Church via a postcard from a traveling friend. The story also gets kind of preachy on the ignorance of human beings and how they will destroy the world (as per the animals). Character names like "Boom-Boom," "Market" and "Rick Shaw" were just plain silly.

As far as the actual mystery goes, it was just OK at best.

I'm a big fan of cozy mystery series (such as Cleo Coyle's Coffee House Mysteries and Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swensen Mysteries) and had hoped this would be a new one to get into. Unfortunately, I'll read no further.

This was not my first Mrs. Murphy mystery. In fact I believe I read "Whiskers of Evil" first. "Wish you were here" was the second Mrs. Murphy book that I read. I enjoyed it from start to finish. It is delightful to have a Cozy mystery to cuddle up with. The characters are all well rounded, the animals delightful, and the books are page turners. I do read other cat mysteries (Midnight Louie, The Cat who ..series). But this is the first that I stuck with from book one to the last book. I could explain more about the characters and Rita Mae Brown's talented writing, but I will let others form their own opinions. Mine would be...If you skip this series...you are missing great mysteries. Barbara

This book was exciting and full of fun. The animals came to life and the fact that their conversations were in italics was helpful. This is relaxing reading and just what I was looking for.
I know this area of Virginia and that made the book more interesting and fun. I look forward to reading all of this series.

I really liked the main characters for this book, Mrs. Murphy (the cat) and the dog, her best friend. The book was so cute, loved it, it was a very enjoyable read. The murders were gruesome, but not in a scary way. I have the first three books in the series and I definitely am looking forward to reading them!

I took this book out of the library, thank goodness, and really couldn't stand it. The author apparently feels that gratuitous profanity, in excess, makes for a good read. Not in my book! I was trying to find an author whose books might fill the void left by the end of LJB's "The Cat Who" series, as the ghost writers of that series are just painfully bad. Unfortunately, RMB comes off as a rather crude individual and her characters are the same. The "talking" animals were not cute, but rather disgusting. I could not feel any warmth from them or towards them. I know RMB has her fans who read every book she puts out, so I'm sure they all love her. That's fine. I will move on and keep looking for another author who loves cats and a good mystery.