“Sister” Jane Arnold and her hounds must sniff out a thief with expensive taste when a string of missing paintings leads to murder in this exciting foxhunting mystery from New York Times bestselling author Rita Mae Brown.“Cunning foxes, sensible hounds, and sweet-tempered horses are among the sparkling conversationalists in this charming series.”—The New York Times Book ReviewSpring is peeking … Book Review
Spring is peeking through the frost in Virginia, and though the hunting season is coming to a close, the foxes seem determined to put the members of the Jefferson Hunt Club through their paces. Sister and her friends are enjoying some of the best chases they’ve had all season when the fun is cut short by the theft of Crawford Howard’s treasured Sir Alfred Munnings painting of a woman in hunting attire riding sidesaddle. When another painting goes missing five days later—also a Munnings, also of a woman hunting sidesaddle—Sister Jane knows it’s no coincidence. Someone is stealing paintings of foxhunters from foxhunters. But why?
Perhaps it’s a form of protest against their sport. For the hunt club isn’t just under attack from the thief. Mysterious signs have started to appear outside their homes, decrying their way of life. stop foxhunting: a cruel sport reads one that appears outside Crawford’s house, not long after his painting goes missing. no hounds barking shows up on the telephone pole outside Sister’s driveway. Annoying, but relatively harmless.
Then Delores Buckingham, retired now but once a formidable foxhunter, is strangled to death after her own Munnings sidesaddle painting is stolen. Now Sister’s not just up against a thief and a few obnoxious signs—she’s on the hunt for a killer.
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I love Sister Jane and the members of the Jefferson Hunt Club. They are such a loveable group of characters. Sister Jane especially is so wise, well-read and able to handle any crisis. It is no wonder so many people turn to her in time of trouble. As usual Rita Mae Brown’s 13th Sister Virginia mystery has me wanting to move to Virginia and join the Jefferson Hunt. Even though I hate the cold, and can ride but never jump a horse to save my life, if Sister Jane was real , I might just try it for her! The mystery of stolen art work of beautiful women riders sidesaddle on equally beautiful horses, in true Rita May style keeps you guessing until the startling finale. And this novel has more than it’s fair share of new and old love blossoming as well.
As usual, the foxes are smart and sassy(Aunt Netty the grumpy old Vixen, even saves the day!). The foxhounds have their own special personalities and even the horses show off. Rita Mae not only writes a great mystery she introduces you to the sport of American Foxhunting and art history at the same time. A day spent reading a Sister Jane book is a day spent romping over the fields and woods of Virginia. While you could read the novels as stand alone, they are best read in order to get the true flavor of the world that Rita Mae has created for Sister Jane and the Jefferson Hunt Club! ,
Sister is back with another fox hunting season. This book has most of our familiar characters. I enjoy the characters including the animal characters. During a hunt, an expensive painting is stolen. As the season progresses similar paintings are stolen in other hunting areas. Also, some sketchy characters are found missing. Sister tries to puzzle out this mystery.
Spring of 2020 is the start of the Covid season and it appears that the hunt season will end early. I enjoy Sister’s way of puzzling out a mystery and her discussion of current events. Nothing alarming but often thought provoking. The ending of this mystery is filled with drama and provides a great ending. I really enjoyed this book.
Out of Hounds by Rita Mae Brown is the first of the series I have read, although I have read others by Brown and enjoyed them. This book never really grabbed me: it was all about hounds, horses, and hunts, none of which do I have experience with. There were art thefts and murders and usually that’s enough, but there were too many characters and too many things I knew nothing about. This is a prolific author and this is far from the first book in the series. Possibly if I started at the beginning I would feel differently, but at this point, I did not care for it at all.
I was invited to read a free ARC of Out of Hounds by Netgalley. All opinions contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #outofhounds.
I like this series more for the mystery and not as much for the fox hunting. Having said that, I do learn a lot in each book beyond the who done it and the why done it. My problem in almost all of Rita Mae Brown’s mysteries is too many characters to keep straight – people and animals all have names and that is a bit hard to deal with when reading on a Kindle. It’s not a deal breaker and I make lots of notes.
Here we are with the 13th in the series starring “Sister” Jane Arnold and it’s almost Spring and the end of the season for foxhunting. Soon theft and murder enter their lives when various members of the hunt have paintings of women riding sidesaddle, all painted by real life artist Sir Alfred Munnings and one such theft leaves one of their own dead. Sister Jane has been a force to be reckoned with as the Master of Foxhounds for forty years so solving thefts and murder won’t get the better of her.
The theme of art history and the various bits of Colonial Virginia history were perfectly blended into the mystery. The reader comes away with an understanding of the history of foxhunting, too. With a setting of early 2020, Covid is a feature, too. Overall a very enjoyable mystery.
My thanks to the publisher, Ballantine Books and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
This is my first Rita Mae Brown book and what a treat it was! The book starts with a list of all the characters in the book, animals as well as the humans. It is written in recent times of early 2020. Having never been exposed to fox hunting, I knew little about it. However, the descriptions were very vivid and the scenes were well imagined. The theft of fox hunting art is the mystery. While Sister is trying to figure out who is guilty, coronavirus is appearing in the country. A little romance is included for enjoyment. I enjoyed this story and learning about this sport.
I received an advance copy of this book from the author, publisher and NetGalley. I voluntarily wrote an honest review. All opinions are strictly my own.
art-theft, American Fox Hunting, Virginia, animals, animal-welfare, murder, murder-investigation, cozy-mystery*****
February 2020 in Virginia where the state sport is Fox Hunting and the state dog is Foxhound. It’s a good thing that there is an explanatory cast of characters at the beginning because there are so many animals as well as humans! If you come for wealthy humans and a good mystery with murders and art theft, you’ll love it. I come for the animal conversations and antics, and I loved it!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine via NetGalley. Thank you