WHISKERS IN THE DARK

A present-day killer strikes during the preparations for a
veterans’ benefit while an 18th-century family attempts to modernize their
household routines.

After working to ready the Institute at Aldie, Virginia, a site
for agricultural programming and the current home of the National Beagle Club
of America, for the Hounds F4R Heroes fundraiser for veterans, Harry Haristeen
and Susan Tucker join their fellow volunteers for some fireside political
musings. Arlene Billeaud and Jason and Clare Holzknect, whose strong political
opinions stem from their war experiences, agree on the importance of supporting
veterans through the beagle-focused fundraiser. Harry’s longtime cat companion,
Mrs. Murphy, along with Pewter, veteran dog companion Tee Tucker, and new
addition Pirate join the festive preparations. But they’re startled when they
spy Ruffy, an unfamiliar beagle who has the distinction of being a ghost dog on
Aldie’s premises. Conversations about politics and beagles are interspersed
with the ongoing story of Cloverfields (Probable Claws, 2018, etc.), an
18th-century farm whose upstairs/downstairs dynamics inform the problem of a
murdered body that Harry’s been pondering almost as an aside. Modern times see
a killer at Aldie that Ruffy’s trying to keep quiet; the story of past times
alternates between a trio of runaway slaves and a romance that may unite two
farms. It’s never entirely clear why the focus is split between past and
present, but that doesn’t seem to be Brown’s leading concern anyway, though
it’s hard to say just what that concern is this time or where the series is
going.

Franchise fans who aren’t enamored of the more recent focus on
sport hunting or political philosophy will feel even further alienated.