The Big Cat Nap

her
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Acknowledgments
    Erica Eversman tops the list, but she tops my list always. The Automotive Education & Policy Institute is hers ( www.autoepi.org ). This good woman drove all the way from Akron, Ohio, to stay in my barn, calling it headquarters despite no air-conditioning or Internet service. She soldiered on in punishing heat, brought me all manner of hard copy, and had the incredible patience to explain just what’s at stake with this issue.
    We are so accustomed to seeing any of the Big Three auto manufacturers as the bad guys. In this case, they are not. For one thing, they don’t want you to die in their vehicles. Let’s leave it at that.
    Thanks seem inadequate for all that this tall, blonde smarty has done for me and by extension for all Americans, although you may not know about it. Erica and others are fighting the good fight for auto safety.
    Mrs. Donna Packard, Academic & Professional Services, always prepares my manuscripts. For this mystery, she actually researched some agriculture questions. Nothing like a last-minute call. She came through, but then Donna always does, whether it’s for her profession, her children, her husband, or her friends.
    Thanking a jewelry store—well, is there a woman who doesn’t love a good jewelry store? Keller & George has served Charlottesville for well over one hundred years. Bill Liebenrood of Keller & George, whom I think of as the Big Cheese, asked me to kill him off in this book so he wouldn’t have to go to work anymore. Only Bill. I like him so much I just couldn’t do it, but perhaps in subsequent books I can make him suffer.
    I am especially grateful to Bill and Gayle Lowe for their kindness to me during a spectacular reversal in my life. It didn’t help them, or Keller & George, either, but they handled it with their good humor and grace, and I am forever in their debt.
    Wherever you live, I hope you are surrounded by good people, as I am here in central Virginia. You see people in business circumstances, social, and it’s pleasant. But when the you-know-what hits the fan, I am overcome with just how helpful and genuinely caring people are. Even better, how they are all busting with ideas, many of which find their way into Sneaky’s books.
    Lucky cat. Lucky me.
    Ever and always,
Rita Mae            

Books by Rita Mae Brown & Sneaky Pie Brown
    WISH YOU WERE HERE•REST IN PIECES•MURDER AT MONTICELLO•
PAY DIRT•MURDER, SHE MEOWED•MURDER ON THE PROWL•
CAT ON THE SCENT•
SNEAKY PIE’S COOKBOOK FOR MYSTERY LOVERS•
PAWING THROUGH THE PAST•CLAWS AND EFFECT•CATCH AS CAT CAN•
THE TAIL OF THE TIP-OFF•WHISKER OF EVIL•
CAT’S EYEWITNESS•SOUR PUSS•PUSS ’N CAHOOTS•THE PURRFECT MURDER•
SANTA CLAWED•CAT OF THE CENTURY•HISS OF DEATH
    Books by Rita Mae Brown featuring “Sister” Jane Arnold
    OUTFOXED•HOTSPUR•FULL CRY•THE HUNT BALL•
THE HOUNDS AND THE FURY•
THE TELL-TALE HORSE•HOUNDED TO DEATH
    Books by Rita Mae Brown
    ANIMAL MAGNETISM: MY LIFE WITH CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL•
THE HAND THAT CRADLES THE ROCK•SONGS TO A HANDSOME WOMAN•
THE PLAIN BROWN RAPPER•RUBYFRUIT JUNGLE•IN HER DAY•SIX OF ONE•
SOUTHERN DISCOMFORT•SUDDEN DEATH•HIGH HEARTS•
STARTED FROM SCRATCH•
A DIFFERENT KIND OF WRITER’S MANUAL•BINGO•VENUS ENVY•
DOLLEY: A NOVEL OF DOLLEY MADISON IN LOVE AND WAR•
RIDING SHOTGUN RITA•
WILL: MEMOIR OF A LITERARY RABBLE-ROUSER•
LOOSE LIPS•ALMA MATER•SAND CASTLE
    Don’t miss the tail-wagging new mystery series—
A Nose for Justice
and
Murder Unleashed!

About the Authors
    R ITA M AE B ROWN writes as she breathes, which is to say constantly. Many of her novels have been bestsellers and she has received two Emmy nominations. The greatest joy in her life is hunting her pack of hounds, which has made her an ardent environmentalist. Or as her mother used to say, “When the cane is cut, it doesn’t rise up again.”
    S NEAKY P IE B ROWN , a tiger cat rescue, has written many mysteries—witness the list at the back of this novel. Having to share credit with the above-named human is a small irritant, but she manages it. Anything is better than typing, which is what “Big Brown” does for the series. Sneaky calls her human that name behind her back after the wonderful Thoroughbred racehorse. As her human is rather small, it brings giggles among the other animals. Sneaky’s main character—Mrs. Murphy, a tiger cat—is a bit sweeter than Miss Pie, who can be