Hiss and Tell, page 1
Hiss & Tell is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2023 by American Artists, Inc.
Interior/Illustrations copyright © 2023 by Michael Gellatly
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Bantam Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
Bantam Books is a registered trademark and the B colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.
Hardback ISBN 978-0-593-35754-5
Ebook ISBN 978-0-593-35755-2
Ebook ISBN 9780593357552
Book design by Diane Hobbing, adapted for ebook
Cover design: Victoria Allen
Front-cover, spine, and back-flap illustrations and hand lettering: Sara Mulvanny
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Cast of Characters
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Authors’ Note
Author’s Note
Books by Rita Mae Brown & Sneaky Pie Brown
About the Authors
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CAST OF CHARACTERS
THE PRESENT
Mary Minor Haristeen, “Harry” was the postmistress of Crozet right out of Smith College. As times changed and a big new post office was built, new rules came, too, such as she couldn’t bring her animals to work, so she retreated to the farm she inherited from her parents. Born and raised in Crozet, she knows everyone and vice versa. She is now forty-five, although one could argue whether maturity has caught up with her.
Pharamond Haristeen, DVM, “Fair” is an equine vet specializing in reproduction. He and Harry have known each other all their lives. They married shortly after she graduated from Smith and he was in vet school at Auburn. He generally understands his wife better than she understands herself.
Susan Tucker is Harry’s best friend from cradle days. They might as well be sisters and can sometimes pluck each other’s last nerve as only a sister can. Susan bred Harry’s adored corgi. Her husband, Ned, is the district’s delegate to the General Assembly’s House of Delegates, the lower house.
Ballard Perez lives on a cottage at Lone Pine, his family’s large estate in Keswick established before the Revolutionary War. He can’t afford the estate but has kept it going with help from the historical society. He owns an Irish Wolfhound.
Deputy Cynthia Cooper is Harry’s neighbor, as she rents the adjoining farm. Law enforcement is a career she is made for, being meticulous, shrewd, and highly observant. She works closely with the sheriff, Rick Shaw, adores Harry, and all too often has to extricate her neighbor out of scrapes. Harry returns the favor by helping Coop with her garden. It probably isn’t an equal exchange but they are fine with it.
Tazio Chappers is an architect in her late thirties, born and raised in St. Louis. Being educated at Washington University, she received an excellent education, winding up in Crozet on a fluke. Just one of those things, as Cole Porter’s song lets us know. Warned off a job at an architectural firm by many people back in Missouri, due to her being half black and half Italian, she came to Virginia, anyway. No one can accuse her of being a chicken. Now owner of her own firm, getting big jobs, she is happy, married for two years, and part of the community. She is also terrifically good-looking, which never hurts.
Joel Paloma owns a large food distributing company serving much of central Virginia all the way to Richmond. He hopes to show his Irish Wolfhound at AKC shows.
Sy Buford owns and runs a large orchard in Crozet. He grows succulent peaches, pears, cherries, and apples. Successful as the business is, it is difficult to find workers, plus Mother Nature is not an easy business partner.
Linda King breeds Irish Wolfhounds at her kennels, Ard Rhis. She is training local owners to really look at Irish Wolfhounds as a judge might look at them. She is much in demand in the Irish Wolfhound world.
Sam Ewing is known as Mr. Irish Wolfhound. His contributions to the breed have been enormous.
Big Mim Sanburne, an outstanding horsewoman born to an avalanche of money, has Tazio’s husband, Paul, running her stables. She is called the Queen of Crozet and while not much in evidence in this book, she’ll be a bigger part of others. Sooner or later, Big Mim (who is tiny) gets her way.
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
Cloverfields
Ewing Garth owns this vast estate on the north side of the old road to Wayland’s Crossing (later named Crozet). Worldly, intelligent, he has the courage of his convictions, risking everything he owned during the Revolutionary War.
Catherine Schuyler is Ewing’s oldest daughter at twenty-five. She married a hero of Yorktown, John Schuyler. He is modest, reliable, not well educated, but he can think quickly during a crisis. He was born for battle, having natural leadership abilities. He worships his gorgeous wife and she has helped him modify his hardscrabble Massachusetts ways to Virginia’s sometimes comical sense of elegance. Virginia is as close to the Cotswolds as an American can come. A terrific horsewoman, Catherine works with her father, soaking up much of what he knows about business, people, life.
John Schuyler has been put in charge of developing the Virginia militia, as we still don’t have a standing army but we do have enemies.
Rachel, younger than Catherine by two years, is also beautiful but it’s a warm, very womanly beauty. Catherine focuses on facts, profit, getting the job done. Rachel focuses on easing people’s way, caring for them, and struggling with the injustices of the day. She has taken in as her own a little girl, now six, Marcia, who is the product of a brutal neighbor’s inflicting himself on the best-looking slave woman on his plantation. He was killed. The unwilling paramour and her true love blamed. Ultimately she died in hiding, with Rachel having full knowledge of all this, desperately trying to save the woman. Bettina and Bumbee really covered the escaped slave’s tracks. She and Catherine concocted a story about Marcia’s beginnings that used one whopping lie to cover another. She is years ahead of her time in many ways, although accepting of a woman’s place.
Charles West is Rachel’s husband. John Schuyler captured him at the Battle of Saratoga and Charles was marched to the prisoner-of-war camp on land now abutting Cloverfields. When the war finally ended, Ewing managed to buy much of the POW camp as well as other farms. Having marched through the new land from New York State down to Virginia he realized how rich the land was, how mighty the rivers, and how many. Although the younger son of a baron he had no desire to go back to that life, providing he lived. He did. He stayed and fell in love with Rachel. Following his heart he also became an architect. He is a supremely happy man and a terrifically well-educated one.
Yancy Grant, like Ewing, risked his goods to help finance Virginia’s part of the war. His knee was shattered in a duel. He limps, needs a cane, but manages. He, like Garth, is in his middle fifties. He never married, whereas Ewing did, losing his wife ten years back. Yancy, like Catherine, loves horses but, now living in reduced circumstances, he has given her his best horse, Black Knight. He had to stop drinking because it was affecting him in bad ways. He did it and has earned back much of the respect he lost thanks to the bottle.
THE SLAVES
Bettina is the head cook, a woman so creative with dishes that she is known throughout the former colony. She takes no guff from anyone. She was close to Isabelle, Ewing’s wife, nursing the woman on her deathbed. Isabelle asked Bettina to look after her two girls, which Bettina did. Now that the girls are grown, have families of their own, she is making a new life for herself emotionally. Bettina misses nothing.
Bumbee runs the weaving cabin. She works at a huge loom and there is a smaller one for her assistants. All intensely creative like her, slave or free. She has a wonderful way about her, plus the patterns she creates, the clothing, dazzles the women. The men are happy with their shirts, no s
Jeddie works with Catherine at the stable. A natural rider with a good eye, he works horses daily and Catherine is teaching him about bloodlines, as horses are being imported from England, a new type called blooded horses (today’s Thoroughbreds). He is ambitious, decent, and loves horses more than people. He is nineteen.
Barker O drives the carriage horses as well as being in charge of all carriages. There are different types of conveyances for different jobs, the most splendid being the coach-in-four. He handles it with such ease it looks as though he is doing nothing. He is in hot competition with DoRe at Big Rawly; it’s a good competition, as each brings out the best in the other.
Tulli is twelve, Jeddie’s shadow. He is such a small fellow. Jeddie gives him jobs, as does Catherine. Tulli often rides with Catherine’s son, about four, on Sweet Potato, JohnJohn’s pony. Tulli is pretty good and will do anything to shine. His father died in a farm accident when Tulli was five. His mother, Georgia, has ever since been distracted and sad, so everyone takes Tulli under their wing. He is an uncommonly sweet child.
Serena helps Bettina in the kitchen. She does good work, likes to cook, but lacks the creativity of Bettina. Then again, most do.
Mr. Percy, good-looking, smooth-talking, has a way with plants. He oversees the Cloverfields gardens and Ewing allows him to take commissions to design other people’s gardens, plant them. So Mr. Percy gets to move around a bit and he has a wandering eye. His body wanders with it.
BIG RAWLY
Maureen Selisse Holloway has a refined cruelty toward anyone who crosses her. Born in the Caribbean to a banker father and educated in France, she has no time for ideas of modern government. She is fine living in the New World but she thinks the politicians naïve. Money talks always and ever. In Maureen’s case it whispers, but everyone knows she is one of the richest women in this new nation. And she wants more. She believes in a strict caste system. As far as she’s concerned, the Bible countenances slavery and so will she.
Jeffrey Holloway is Maureen’s much younger second husband; an Apollo, he is so handsome. The son of a cabinetmaker and that was his profession when he met the new widow. She took one look at this divine creature and determined to have him. Strange as it may sound, he did learn to love her, being dazzled by her education, her worldliness. She built him an enormous work shed where he could design and build coach-in-fours. The results are slowly being seen as far north as rich, rich Philadelphia. He is now swamped with orders and happy, although he tries to mollify Maureen’s more savage impulses.
DoRe is the coachman, Barker O’s rival. He limps from a long-ago horse accident, tries out each new carriage Jeffrey builds, and is invaluable to the operation. He has found love, being widowed years back, with Bettina, herself having lost a husband. Maureen has agreed to the marriage but she will get her pound of flesh. Jeffrey is doing his best to protect DoRe.
Sulli ran off with William, a self-centered young man who promised wealth, freedom, fabulous clothing. He beat her but did manage to make it to Royal Oak, a large farm in Maryland. So they were free, but they were caught. No one on Royal Oak was part of this, but caught they were, and stolen back, delivered to Maureen, where life is hell. Sulli is eighteen years old.
William, hamstrung during the drive back as he tried to escape, is a beaten creature. He is chained every night and will stay chained until Maureen’s revenge is satisfied or she’s distracted by something else. He lied, he cheated, he stole, he jeopardized every slave at Big Rawly. He has not one friend but many enemies, including Sulli, who has sworn to herself to kill him someday. William may or may not have learned from what he did to Sulli and how he made life even worse for those at Big Rawly after he ran away. There’s no arrogance left and no hope.
Toby Tips works with Jeffrey as his second-in-command. He knows this business. Most importantly he stays clear of the Missus. She’ll have people flogged for the slightest offense. Jeffrey has stopped that, he thinks, but if he goes off the farm she has someone battered who she feels is no good.
Martin was a slave catcher but he and his partner have good work now delivering the sturdy work wagons that Jeffrey is building. They deliver goods for other people, too. The money is pretty good, with much less risk.
Shank is Martin’s partner. They do their job, are happy to take a bit of money or goods under the table. Neither man has much fear. Violence is part of life and they have little regard for life other than their own.
Elizabetta is Maureen’s lady’s maid. She paid dearly when William and Sulli ran off, for she was in charge that day. She hates those two with a white hot passion. However, she hates Maureen even more. She covers it well.
THE ANIMALS
The Present
Mrs. Murphy is Harry’s tiger cat. She is bright, does her chores, keeps the mice at bay when need be. Harry talks to her but not baby talk. Mrs. Murphy just won’t have it.
Pewter is fat, gray, and vain, oh so vain. She irritates Tucker, the corgi. She takes credit for everyone else’s work. However, in a pinch the naughty girl does come through. She’s also quite bright.
Tucker, the corgi bred by Susan Tucker, runs around everyone. She’s fast, loves to greet every person once she has checked them out, and particularly likes to herd the horses. The horses are good sports about it, which is a good thing. Tucker is brave and she loves Harry totally.
Pirate is a not-yet-fully-grown Irish wolfhound who landed in Harry’s lap as a puppy when his owner died. Huge, able to cover so much ground, he can be dominated by Pewter sometimes. Tucker has to give him pep talks. Like Tucker, Pirate has great courage, loves being part of the family. He is trying to understand people. The others help. A sweet, sweet animal.
The horses, the big owl in the barn, and the possum aren’t in the forefront in this book but they are around and will be their usual selves in future. This also applies to the barn mice, who have a really good deal at the farm.
THE ANIMALS
The Past
Piglet, a corgi, traveled through the war and the POW camp with Charles. He’s slowing down, sleeps most of the time.
Reynaldo is a blooded stallion who is proving himself in the breeding shed, along with his half brother, Crown Prince. Other than Catherine, only Jeddie can ride these two.
Black Knight is Yancy Grant’s horse, stolen by William. After an arduous experience and injury, he was found and brought back to Yancy, who asked Catherine to care for him. She has and he, too, is proving himself in the breeding shed. He’ll never run again, of course, but he gets around pretty good.
Penny is a kind mare that Catherine bought from Maureen for her father. Maureen felt Penny not fancy enough for her. She lost a really good horse thanks to her vanity.
Miss Renata is John’s horse. She’s 17 hands. He is a tall, powerfully built man and she can carry him. She’s a good girl. John can ride but he’s not really a horseman. Catherine takes care of all of that.
Sweet Potato is a bullheaded pony. Tulli is in charge of him. He’s learning, but then so is Sweet Potato.
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November 12, 2021
Friday
