Hotspur

Starred review from November 4, 2002
Tally-ho! From bestseller Brown (Outfoxed
and many other delicious books) comes a dashing and vibrant novel that revolves around foxhunting. The rolling hills of central Virginia are home to the Jefferson Hunt—and to scores of sly foxes, red, black and gray. When 34-year-old Peppermint dies peacefully of natural causes, the grave dug for the beloved horse uncovers the skeleton of Nola Bancroft, identifiable by her ring, the Hapsburg sapphire. The ravishing Nola disappeared without a trace from Sorrel Burrus's party 21 years earlier, leaving behind a shocked and, eventually, mourning father and mother, Edward and Tedi, and a sister, Sibyl. Many members of the hunt thought she'd eloped with handsome (but socially inferior) Guy Ramy, the sheriff's son, who went missing at the same time. Seventy-one-year-old Master of the Hunt Jane "Sister" Arnold soon finds herself searching for human prey as well as foxes. The author portrays the hunt family with such warmth and luxury of detail, one feels a friendship with each and every character, animals included. The reader will romp through the book like a hunter on a thoroughbred, never stopping for a meal or a night's sleep. A glossary of useful terms will aid those who've never ridden to the hounds. (Dec. 2)FYI:Brown is also the author with Sneaky Pie Brown of
Catch as Cat Can (Forecasts, Feb. 11) and other titles in her Mrs. Murphy mystery series.

July 15, 2002
Remember Outfoxed? Brown returns to the hunt with this story of an older woman, disillusioned with chasing after hounds, who instead finds herself chasing after a murderer.

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2002
Old mysteries come to light when an elderly gray hunting horse dies. The digging of a grave for it unearths a skeleton wearing a huge sapphire and diamond ring that had belonged to beautiful Nola Bancroft, who disappeared 20 years ago, in 1981. Guy Ramy, son of Sheriff Ramy, had been courting Nola, much to the disapproval of the headstrong young woman's family, who had sought a better match for her. When Nola and Guy vanished without a word, everyone had assumed they had run off together. With the discovery of Nola's skeleton, suspicion falls on Guy, but he is still nowhere to be found. "Sister" Jane Arnold is in her seventies but has lost none of her keenness for the hunt, in every sense of the word. She puts her shrewd instincts to work to solve the murder in a page-turner filled with wry observations of small-town southern life. Brown combines her strengths--exploring southern families, manners, and rituals as well as the human-animal bond--to bring in a winner.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)