FAIRHOPE — Some have called author and poet Rita Mae Brown the mother of the feminist movement, but when asked over the weekend if the title fits, she laughed and said, “I don’t know if it should be M-O-T-H-E-R or M-U-T-H-A. They can call me anything they want.”

Feminism and women’s rights aside, Brown is also well known for her debut novel, Rubyfruit Jungle, which was first published in 1973. The coming-of-age tale deals as much with sexual acceptance as it does with typical adolescent growing pains.

These days, she stays busy on her 1,000-acre Afton, Va. farm collaborating with her feline companion, Sneaky Pie, on their popular Mrs. Murphy mystery series.

Brown will take part in a book reading and signing for the latest, The Purrfect Murder, on Feb. 6, from noon until 2 p.m., at the Fairhope Public Library, 501 Fairhope Ave.

Page & Palette Bookstore is bringing Brown to the Eastern Shore for the event, which will benefit the library and The Haven, a nonprofit, no-kill animal shelter. Lunch will be provided by Mary Ann’s Deli for a $10 donation. The shelter will also conduct a pet adoption on the library grounds.

The New York Times best-selling author and Emmy award nominee said she was a screenwriter at the time she first conceived the series about ex-postmistress Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen, the sleuthing cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, and corgi Tee Tucker.

“In 1988 I was living in Hollywood, and the Writers Guild went on strike,” Brown said. “Money was scarce and I had never considered genre fiction.” When the strike dragged on for nine months, however, the bills piled up and she changed her mind. It turned out to be an easy transition.

Brown said, “Because I’d done screenplays and teleplays, it wasn’t that different to me. Any time you step in the format, you can say anything you want.”

The Purrfect Murder is essentially a story of the haves and have-nots, and what happens when things turn bad.

Fall has arrived in Crozet, Va., and the town’s residents are hard at work in their homes and gardens, preparing for winter.

Harry is planning to harvest her first crop of Petit Manseng grapes along with her beloved sunflowers. Meanwhile, her recent marriage to Fair and her friendship with Deputy Cynthia Cooper, who has rented nearby Blair Farm, are doing well. But even though all is quiet in the countryside, murder is just around the corner.

Carla Paulson is one of the diamond-encrusted set who has moved to Crozet with plenty of wealth in tow and no idea of how country folks live. She plans to make her new house the envy of all her well-heeled friends — and enemies — and she’s hired architect Tazio Chappers to build it.

Right off the bat, the project and Mrs. Paulson both turn into major headaches quashed only by a side trip to study Thomas Jefferson’s summer home at Poplar Forest.

Harry couldn’t have predicted that a day later Mrs. Paulson would be found stabbed to death at a gala fund-raiser with Chappers standing over her, holding the knife.

Harry must solve what seems to be an open-and-shut case to prove her friend’s innocence, and her critters are eager to help.

“She (Paulson) is a newcomer to the county, and there’s a clash of cultures. You have them in Fairhope,” Brown said. “People have money. They throw it around. When one of them is dispatched, people are shocked.”

There are more than three million copies of the Mrs. Murphy books in print. The Purrfect Murder is the 16th in the series.

Brown doesn’t just include animals in her novels, she invites them into her home — and her heart.

“I’m thrilled they’re doing this as a fund-raiser,” she said. “That’s a wonderful thing. (Sneaky Pie) is a rescue cat, but I think she rescued me. Animals are more reliable than people.”

The pampered tiger cat is just one of many animal shelter rescues that call Brown’s home their own. She said, “I’ve got a house full of them.”

Brown also rescues horses, as well as raises thoroughbreds and hounds for non-lethal fox hunts. She noted, “It’s difficult to rescue a horse. There’s much more to know, and it’s harder to find homes for them.”

A lover of — and participant in — fox hunting and polo, she spends time and energy pursuing both. Brown also supports Almost Home, a no-kill animal shelter founded by Betty Graham.

Locally, The Haven is also dedicated to the plight of homeless, neglected and abused animals. The shelter typically houses between 60-70 animals a day. They are socialized, rehabilitated and treated for any medical conditions they may have in preparation for a new adoptive home.

Brown worries such shelters will become even more important in the weeks and months to come.

“As the economy worsens, you’ll see more wife abuse, more child abuse, more animal abuse,” she said. “We’re in for a really bad go.”

Brown acknowledged not everyone will go to a shelter to adopt a pet because they are looking for a specific type of animal. She said, “There are certain breeds I love, but most of my animals are rescues.”

For those who absolutely must have a particular breed, Brown suggests avoiding the so-called puppy mills.

“Those turning out puppies for money are not doing the research or the (proper) nutrition,” she said. “Everybody is doing bad work. And don’t buy from a pet store.”

Instead, she said, call or write a breeder’s club. They will not point you to a breeder, but will put you in contact with the organization’s local secretary, she added.

Brown looks forward to her upcoming visit. She said, “I love Alabama. If I didn’t live here, I’d live there. I love being on Mobile Bay and around the pecan groves. The people are so wonderful.”

The 63-year-old Hanover, Penn. native is a Southern girl at heart, and was actually born just north of the Mason-Dixon Line.

“My family was Southern,” she said. “The Yankees tell me the value of money by keeping it to themselves. Southerners are far more generous. It’s Cromwell versus Charles I. They are two world views that can never be reconciled.”

Brown encourages folks to drop by the library to say hi, and to support both it and The Haven.

“People can’t get drunk for $10,” she said. “Just send $10 to your animal shelter. Sneaky Pie requested it.”

The writing duo previously collaborated on Wish You Were Here; Rest in Pieces; Murder at Monticello; Pay Dirt; Murder, She Meowed; Murder on the Prowl; Cat on the Scent; 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; and Sneaky Pie’s Cookbook for Mystery Lovers.

Brown also authored Dolley: Dolley Madison in Love and War; Venus Envy; In Her Day; Six of One; Southern Discomfort; Sudden Death; High Hearts; Bingo; Starting from Scratch: A Different Kind of Writers’ Manual; Riding Shotgun; Rita Will: Memoir of a Literary Rabble-Rouser; Outfoxed; Hotspur; and The Hounds and the Fury.

For more information about the book-signing event, call Page & Palette at (251) 928-5295, or visit www.pageandpalette.com. For directions to the Fairhope Public Library, call (251) 928-7483. The author will exclusively sign all books purchased from Page & Palette.