“Sister” Jane Arnold returns in a colorful mystery featuring four-legged sleuths—and the breathtaking thrill of the chase—from the New York Times bestselling author of Crazy Like a Fox. As winter deepens over the Blue Ridge Mountains, even the threat of snowstorms cannot derail this year’s Christmas run, not as long as “Sister” Jane Arnold has a say in it. With spirits high and traditions strong, … spirits high and traditions strong, a glorious parade of hunters in full holiday regalia gathers on the grounds of Tattenhall Station. But a blinding blizzard brings an early end to the sport. More disturbing: A horse soon returns without its rider. Gregory Luckham, a controversial presence as the president of a powerful energy company pushing for a pipeline through central Virginia, is the missing hunter. A search is organized for what is presumed will be a dead, frozen body. What is discovered, however, chills everyone to the bone—and points toward murder. Sister Jane will have to untangle a mystery packed as hard as snow—full of history, secrets, old wounds, and avarice.
Praise for Homeward Hound
“Cunning foxes, sensible hounds and sweet-tempered horses are among the sparkling conversationalists in this charming series.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Readers will be charmed by Brown’s endearing characters, animal and human, all of whom are given to philosophizing on the state of the world.”—Publishers Weekly
“With deep and broad knowledge of the sport, the area and the people and animals who inhabit it, [Brown] infuses Homeward Hound—and the entire series—with unmatched authenticity, Southern charm, beloved characters and engaging storylines.”—The Free Lance–Star
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A pipeline is a strong possibility right through the beautiful Virginia hunting fixtures of the Jefferson Hunt. Although a fox hunter himself, Gregory Luckham is also a businessman heading the very company which may disrupt so much. No one wants the pipeline to route through the way it is planned and Luckham is invited to join the Christmas Hunt by hunt club member, Ronnie. If Gregory sees the grounds for himself, maybe he will figure on an alternate route.
Crawford Howard, among others, is especially incensed about Luckham’s pipeline plans as he has been trying to restore one of the historic fixture areas, Old Paradise, on his land. Of course, Crawford outright threatens Luckham to stay away from his land
When a blizzard rips through the hunt, earlier in the day than expected, Luckham is missing presumed dead. He was last seen near Old Paradise.
Rita Mae Brown writes a novel of intensity about the people and land of beautiful Virginia around the Blue Ridge Mountains. I have always enjoyed that she begins her books with a cast of characters section. The reader gets to know the relationships, helpful even if you have never read another in the series.
My favorite writer…I’m a horsewoman !!!!
I feel really bad for giving the book only 2 stars and I must admit, I had some preconceived notions of what I expected and this book did not meet those expectations.
I have read many books by this author in the Mrs. Murphy series and so I thought this series would be similar. No, not even close. The animals do talk to each other, but not as much as I expected. And they didn’t show the need to protect and care for the humans. Also the human characters didn’t actively try to solve the murder. It was finally at about 80% that they really started to speculate and try to figure out how the killer really was. The book takes place is an area where they fox hunt and so there were many terms and pages describing the hunt. Lots of characters, both human, hound, fox, and others. Too many to easily keep track.
Now, what I liked. The writing style is easy to read and the setting sounds beautiful. I do enjoy reading about the animals and what they are thinking. The mystery was that, I didn’t guess who the killer was until the big reveal. And that happened just before the end and kind of abruptly.
Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book.
i love all of Rita Mae Brown’s books but especially the ones that deal with fox hunting. That is something I don’t know much about and she is so good at explaining for those of us wanting to learn while enjoying a good mystery.
A long time equestrian, I enjoyed the series. Accurate, fun read
Going to the Dogs
This is a book about fox hunting. There is also a murder, with clues scattered across the snowy hunting fields. There are LOTS of people, plus hounds, horses, foxes, and various other peripheral animals, all of whose interactions are amusing (and I enjoyed picking up a lot of information and terminology about hunting), with various social commentaries concerning pipelines, real estate development, and the human condition. All edifying. But, really, this is a paean to the beauty and joy of riding to the hounds. NOTE: Modern hunting is NOT about killing a fox; it seems to be just an excuse to go haring off on horseback in a social context. Sounds like a lot of fun!
I like this author, in the past, but this book is tragically difficult to read. WOW…..start a new series! Every page is a reminder of old things written, and is just BORING.
Well-written, not-compelling.
An odd book.
The mystery is pretty good, well plotted and developed.
But the overload of foxhunting details is to much.
The book begins with pages of information about the “cast” and their relationships as well as the animals, both domestic and wild! That was almost enough to make me give up.
It turns out the various animals “talk”, to themselves and each other!
Too cute, and I don’t mean that in a nice way.
With less info dumping on foxhunting and talking animals, I could have better appreciated the actual mystery.
As it was, all that go me so mentally bogged down that I lost track of who the guilty party actually was by the time it was revealed.
As with all the Sister Jane books, a wonderful ride in the world of foxhunting and mysteries. Never disappointed.
I had a horrible time trying to get this read but it was not the basic content of the story that caused the highest hurdle, so to speak. I hate long reviews that tend to tell me the whole story before I decide if I want to read it or not. That’s exactly what the “cast of characters” was in this book. Sixty-one Kindle pages of character description and terminology. Each character, be it human or a bird, or a horse, or a fox (well you get the point) had a description of either its personality or its purpose in life. When I finished reading all of these pages, I felt as if Ms. Brown might as well have put “killer” beside one of the names. How disappointing. Does this happen when a writer doesn’t have enough book material for their storyline?
I have only read two other Rita Mae Brown books and they were the “Mrs. Murphy” series. I will admit I had some trouble reading through them. They move a little slow for me, but this book was more animals and hunts than mystery to me. I know she has created some good characters over the years and they seem to be consistent.
Is it possible that the importance of adding a socially conscious issue, such as that of pipelines throughout our environment, threw off the author’s flow of writing? Readers more familiar with her might know this more than I do. I guess being such an avid reader, I am just having a difficult time trying to grasp not being fond of stories so many people crave. Then again, I suppose we all have different tastes.
I love the Sister Jane series, the characters love fox hunting and love their horses. I enjoy the plot twists and the description of the hunts as much as figuring out the guilty party.
I like Rita Mae Brown books, but the amount of mysteries are starting to feel repetitive. The mention of the saint of the day is different…
animals, American-fox-hunting, murder-investigation, cozy-mystery
Once again we are given an excellent murder mystery along with sentient animals and (for the foxes) bloodless hunting and marvelous horses. Fortunately for the reader, the book is prefaced by a dictionary of relevant terms and a comprehensive descriptive of all relevant characters both humans and animals. It’s pretty easy from the opening chapters to see who is the kind of person who would be a target for murder, but from there on it is filled with suspects, twists, and red herrings! Altogether an excellent read whether you are into American fox hunting or not!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Random House Publishing Group via NetGalley. Thank you!