Critics and fans alike are wild about Rita Mae Brown's richly imagined and utterly engaging foxhunting mysteries—and this latest novel promises more thrilling hunts, breathtaking vistas, and an all-new sinister scandal.Millions of dollars seem to be missing after a long-overdue audit of the local aluminum plant reveals a major accounting discrepancy. Company president Garvey Stokes finds himself at a loss—in more ways than one. He turns to his sharp-tongued, ornery bookkeeper, Iphigenia "Iffy" Demetrios, for an explanation, but she's no help. Yet when the fuzzy math suddenly includes a body count, the figures can no longer be ignored.While the town sheriff tries to get to the bottom of the matter, leave it to "Sister" Jane Arnold, venerable master of the Jefferson Hunt Club, to rely on her keen horse-and-hound sense to follow the trail of murder and cover-up. Throwing her off the scent, however, is former hunt club donor and all-around cad Crawford Howard, who thinks he can go toe-to-toe with the beloved septuagenarian and outclass her club by grossly sidestepping hound- and-hunt etiquette. Against the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a menagerie of friends, foes, and fresh new faces saddle up for the breakneck ride to unravel the conspiracy. Even the furry denizens in the fields and boroughs have a thing or two to say about these peculiar humans.Incomparable author Rita Mae Brown returns to the glorious hills of Virginia and its genteel foxhunting society, where how much money you have in the bank is not nearly as important as how long your family has lived on the land—and where nearly everyone has something to hide. As Sister muses, "The little secrets leak out. The big ones, well, some escape like evils from Pandora's box. And others we'll never know."

A Sister Jane - 5, 6

“A rich, atmospheric murder mystery . . . rife with love, scandal . . . redemption, greed and nobility,” raved the San Jose Mercury News about Outfoxed, Rita Mae Brown’s first foxhunting masterpiece. In The Hunt Ball, the latest novel in this popular series, all the ingredients Brown’s readers love are abundantly present: richness of character and landscape, the thrill of the hunt, and the chill of violence.The trouble begins at Custis Hall, an exclusive girls’ school in Virginia that has gloried in its good name for nearly two hundred years. At first, the outcry is a mere tempest in a silver teapot–a small group of students protesting the school’s exhibit of antique household objects crafted by slaves–and headmistress Charlotte Norton quells the ruckus easily. But when one of the two hanging corpses ornamenting the students’ Halloween dance turns out to be real–the body of the school’s talented fund-raiser, in fact–Charlotte and the entire community are stunned. Everyone liked Al Perez, or so it seemed, yet his murder was particularly unpleasant.Even “Sister” Jane Arnold, master of the Jefferson Hunt Club, beloved by man and beast, is at a loss, although she knows better than anyone where the bodies are buried in this community of land-grant families and new-money settlers. Aided and abetted by foxes and owls, cats and hounds, Sister picks up a scent that leads her in a most unwelcome direction: straight to the heart of the foxhunting crowd. The chase is on, not only for foxes but also for a deadly human predator.No one has created a fictional paradise more delightful than the rolling hills of Rita Mae Brown’s Virginia countryside, or has more charmingly captured the rituals of the hunt. No one understands human and animal nature more deeply. The Hunt Ball combines a rounded, welcoming world with an edge of unforgettable white-knuckled menace.

Autumn has descended and crops are being harvested all over Crozet, Virginia, ideal conditions for a scenic drive for Harry and husband Fair. Bucolic views are all well and good, but Harry’s nose for trouble leads her straight to a cornfield’s macabre scarecrow—an all too real murder victim that frightens all but the noisy crows.

This accountant’s gruesome death is only the first of many disturbing events in this normally pastoral corner of the world. While Harry tends her beloved grapes and sunflowers, a killer edges closer—as does Harry’s protective menagerie of animals.

Halloween’s approach brings with it bona fide terror and a beloved local tradition that threatens to become fatal. Rooting out the guilty in the treacherous center of a lucrative conspiracy requires Harry’s farmer’s wisdom—along with the quick wits and extraordinary senses of Sneaky Pie, Pewter, and Tucker. A vicious murderer may know the lay of the land far better than Harry does, but that’s about to change. It’s up to her vigilant four-footed companions to make sure that the unearthing of this plot is not Harry’s last act.

It's autumn in cozy, idyllic

Crozet, Virginia—a time for

golden days, crisp nights…and

murder. Mrs. Carla Paulson is

one of the diamond-encrusted

“come-here” set who has descended on Crozet with

plenty of wealth and no feeling

for country ways. She's

determined 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. From the

start, the project—and Mrs.

Paulson—are a major headache

for all involved. But no one could

foresee that it would end with Mrs. Paulson stabbed to death at

a gala fund-raiser with Harry's

friend Tazio standing over her,

holding the knife. Now Harry

must solve what seems to

everyone else an open-and-shut case. Her four-legged partners

—sleuthing cats Mrs. Murphy

and Pewter and corgi Tee

Tucker—see it Harry's way. But

will they have to choose

between catching the purrfect killer and saving Harry?

When winter hits Crozet, Virginia, it

hits hard--and hangs on for

months. Thats nothing new to

postmistress Mary Minor Harry

Haristeen and her friends, who keep warm with hard work, hot

toddies, and rabid rooting for

the University of Virginias

womens basketball team at the

old stadium affectionately

dubbed The Clam. But the usual postgame high spirits are laid

low when contractor H. H.

Donaldson drops dead in the

parking lot. And pretty soon

word has spread that it wasnt a

heart attack that did him in. It just doesnt sit right with Harry

that one of her fellow fans--

perhaps even an acquaintance

or neighbor sitting close by in

the stands--is a murderer. And

as tiger cat Mrs. Murphy is all too aware, things that dont sit

right with Harry make her

restless, curious, and prone to

poking her not-very-sensitive

human nose into dangerous

places. So the animals start paying closer attention to what

the people around them are

doing--and theyre the first ones

to realize when the next

murder occurs.It seems obvious

to Harry that the deaths are connected--and she intends to

find out exactly how. Theres no

shortage of suspects,

considering that H.H. was a

ladies man whod left a trail of

broken hearts all over town--the most recent belonging to his

wife-- and that the second

murder victim was not very

popular in Crozet.As the police

launch their investigation, Harry

picks up clues through savvy questioning of everyone she

knows. But its the critters who

are most attuned to trouble--

they scent something wicked

wafting Harrys way on the tail

of the next snowstorm. And as Harry draws closer to the truth

about a brutal killer, Mrs.

Murphy and her friends realize

its up to them to make sure

their intrepid mom lands on her

feet.

The hunt is on in this new installment of Rita Mae Brown’s clever and engaging series. Only instead of chasing foxes into their dens, the locals must track down a killer and save the life of one of the most beloved folks in town.It’s February, prime foxhunting season for the members of Virginia’s Jefferson Hunt Club. The girls at Custis Hall are finishing their last semester before heading off to college, the entrepreneurially shrewd Crawford Howard is still smarting from January’s breech in hound etiquette, and the Casanova Hunt Club is hosting their annual ball. New neighbors bring new friendships, and romance is in the air.Then a shocking event alarms the community. A woman is found brutally murdered, stripped naked, and meticulously placed atop a horse statue outside a tack shop. The theft of a treasured foxhunting prize inside the store may be linked to the grisly scene, and everyone is on edge.With few clues to go on, “Sister†Jane Arnold, master of the Jefferson Hunt Club, uses her fine-tuned horse sense to try to solve the mystery of this “Lady Godiva†murder. The septuagenarian still has a strong spring in her step and her wits about her, but that may not be enough. As Sister gets closer to the truth, she could become the killer’s next victim.But humans aren’t the only ones equipped to sniff out the trail. The local foxes, horses, and hounds have their own theories on the whodunit. If only these peculiar people could just listen to them, they’d see that the killer might be right under their oblivious noses.Once again, this charming southern community finds itself caught up in a bone-chilling tale of murder and greed. It’s up to everyone, two- and four-legged alike, to band together, beat the bushes, and bring to bay the evil forces that have declared the Jefferson Hunt Club fair game–because foul play is never in season.

It's a summer full of turbulence

for small-town Crozet, Virginia,

with a movie star's

homecoming, a spreading

rabies epidemic, and the clues

to an old murder unearthed. But what's unsettling for Harry is

that the building of a new post

office may depose her as

postmistress.

Curiosity just might be the

death of Mrs. Murphy--and her

human companion, Mary Minor

"Harry" Haristeen. Small towns

are like families: Everyone lives

very close together. . .and everyone keeps secrets. Crozet,

Virginia, is a typical small town-

until its secrets explode into

murder. Crozet's thirty-

something postmistress, Mary

Minor "Harry" Haristeen, has a tiger cat (Mrs. Murphy) and a

Welsh Corgi (Tucker), a pending

divorce, and a bad habit of

reading postcards not addressed

to her. When Crozet's citizens

start turning up murdered, Harry remembers that each

received a card with a

tombstone on the front and the

message "Wish you were here"

on the back. Intent on

protecting their human friend, Mrs. Murphy and Tucker begin to

scent out clues. Meanwhile,

Harry is conducting her own

investigation, unaware her pets

are one step ahead of her. If

only Mrs. Murphy could alert her somehow, Harry could uncover

the culprit before the murder

occurs--and before Harry finds

herself on the killer's mailing

list.

Mrs. Murphy - 1, 2, 3