Product Description

From the bestselling author of the landmark work Rubyfruit Jungle comes an engaging, original new novel that only Rita Mae Brown could have written. In the pristine world of Virginia foxhunting, hunters, horses, hounds, and foxes form a lively community of conflicting loyalties, where the thrill of the chase and the intricacies of human-animal relationships are experienced firsthand--and murder exposes a proud Southern community's unsavory secrets. . . .

As Master of the prestigious Jefferson Hunt Club, Jane Arnold, known as Sister, is the most revered citizen in the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountain town where a rigid code of social conduct and deep-seated tradition carry more weight than money. Nearing seventy, Sister now must select a joint master to ensure a smooth transition of leadership after her death. It is an honor of the highest order--and one that any serious social climber would covet like the Holy Grail.

Virginian to the bone with a solid foxhunting history, Fontaine Buruss is an obvious candidate, but his penchant for philandering and squandering money has earned him a less than sparkling reputation. And not even Sister knows about his latest tawdry scandal. Then there is Crawford Howard, a Yankee in a small town where Rebel bloodlines are sacred. Still, Crawford has money--lots of it--and as Sister is well aware, maintaining a first-class hunt club is far from cheap.

With the competition flaring up, Southern gentility flies out the window. Fontaine and Crawford will stop at nothing to discredit each other. Soon the entire town is pulled into a rivalry that is spiraling dangerously out of control. Even the animals have strong opinions, and only Sister is able to maintain objectivity. But when opening hunt day ends in murder, she, too, is stunned.

Who was bold and skilled enough to commit murder on the field? It could only be someone who knew both the territory and the complex nature of the hunt inside out. Sister knows of three people who qualify--and only she, with the help of a few clever foxes and hounds, can lay the trap to catch the killer.

A colorful foray into an intriguing world, Outfoxed features a captivating cast of Southerners and their unforgettable animal counterparts. Rita Mae Brown has written a masterful novel that surprises, delights, and enchants.


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #510016 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-26
• Released on: 2005-07-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Amazon.com Review
Rita Mae Brown fervently believes that felines are a lot smarter than most people, and in her popular Mrs. Murphy mysteries, the cats are always leaps and bounds ahead of their human companions. (They also speak in italics, which makes it easy to distinguish them from their somewhat bumbling owner/companions.) In Outfoxed the foxes, hounds, and a few clever birds solve a murder that's hardly more than a raison d'être for Brown's thorough and detailed description of the highly ritualized world of the Jefferson Hunt. Fox hunting is more than just an entertaining way to spend a fall afternoon in Virginia--it's a way of life for everyone involved, from Sister Jane, the Master of the Fox Hunt, to Crawford Howard and Fontaine Buruss, two men who'd kill for the chance to succeed her. By the time a death actually occurs, Brown is three-fourths of the way to the last page, but it doesn't really matter; by this point, the reader is wholly involved in the arcane world of casts, whippers, scent stations, ratshots, and the social rules of the canid and canine communities. And while a man has been murdered, it's the slaughter of the fox used to lure him to his death that really upsets Sister, the strong-willed matriarch who is the novel's protagonist. The thrill of the chase--the hunt itself, not the search for the killer--is on every page of this masterful foray into a fascinating world. And as usual in a Rita Mae Brown novel, the animals have the best lines as well as the last word. --Jane Adams

From Publishers Weekly
Set in Virginia's foxhunting country, Brown's latest, anthropomorphic mystery will appeal mainly to devoted fans of her animal-centric Sneaky Pie novels (Cat on the Scent, etc.). Jane Arnold, septuagenarian master of the venerable Jefferson Hunt, is preoccupied, Lear-like, with the question of succession. Whom should she train as joint-master of the foxhunting club: the philandering lightweight Fontaine Buruss, or the philistine Yankee millionaire Crawford Howard, who promises to save the club from financial ruin? While the two unworthy candidates vie shamelessly for the post, Jane (known locally as Sister, despite her matriarchal stature) must also cope with the personal travails of other club members, especially the Franklins, whose two beautiful daughters have become "coke whores." Then, in the middle of the season's opening hunt, Fontaine is found murdered, a fate that rattles Sister not half so much as the simultaneous discovery of a murdered red fox. As the foxes note appreciatively in their subterranean parallel universe, "Sister is one of us"; they also pontificate on human nature, the environment and other species ("Groundhogs have no sense of aesthetics"). Horses, foxhounds and Sister's pet cat Golliwog also hold forth for chapters at a time (Golliwog on why she reads Sister's books: "It's the best way to enjoy an uninterrupted conversation with the best human minds from any century"). Brown, herself a dedicated Virginia foxhunter, clearly knows her fascinating terrain, as well as her steely, charismatic protagonist. But few grown-up readers will buy her depiction of the animal kingdom as a benign world in which furry critters chatter philosophically, while bumbling humans commit savage acts. Author tour.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Best-selling author Brown (Rubyfruit Jungle; Venus Envy) places her newest intrigue in the middle of Virginia fox-hunting country. When 70-year-old Jane Arnold, master of the prestigious Jefferson Hunt Club, sees the grim reaper crossing a field, she knows that it's time to choose a joint-master to secure the future of the club. The two rivals for the position are Crawford Howard, a crude Yankee outsider with money greatly needed by the club, and Fontaine Buruss, a popular local with good Southern manners and a taste for women and cocaine. On opening day, one of these candidates is murdered, and Jane realizes that the culprit is a club member. Though the plot moves somewhat slowly, anyone interested in fox hunting will be pleased with the clarifications of hunting terms and the descriptions of the hunters themselves, who range from nature lovers to social climbers. Brown fans and animal lovers will also enjoy. For all public libraries.
---Patsy E. Gray, Huntsville P.L., AL
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

There are no words to do this work justice
There are a few places left in Virginia where time seems to have stopped and the mindset remains the same as that of a hundred-plus years ago. The Jefferson Hunt Club and the immediate vicinity surrounding the facility are the epitome of the antebellum lifestyle enriched by twenty-first century technology. This small corner of the globe contains individuals steeped in a special heritage with genteel manners and seething passions especially for the Hunt led by popular Jane "Sister" Arnold.

Sister is the master of the Hunt and has been for more years than many participants have lived. She currently inspects the horses, dogs, and foxes that will participate in the next Hunt. The animals are as intelligent as the humans and communicate amongst themselves. Sister has begun to feel her age and believes it is time to select a joint master to continue the tradition after she dies. However, during the Hunt, one of the leading contenders is murdered. This leaves everyone to wonder how far someone will go to eliminate the competition.

Anyone who loves Sneaky Pie and Rita Mae Brown's Mrs. Murphy series will want to read OUTFOXED. The story line centers on the tightly closed American foxhunt scenario that is a part of our American heritage. The lead protagonist is a wise person who the audience will enjoy for her compassion for all that is alive and her leadership abilities. However, this novel belongs to the animals that make readers believe they can talk and think in a logical humanistic manner that Dr. Doolittle and Murphy would envy.

Harriet Klausner

Tally-ho murder!
An exciting murder in the hunt field. Move over sheriff, it will take a special MFH and a pack of foxhounds to solve this one. Rita Mae Brown has done herself proud with this book. Once again, we are taken to the hills of Virginia to find a murder. If you love horses or the Mrs. Murphy series, this book is a must.

Mystery involving a different way of life...
I am getting the distinct feeling that many people are not happy with this information concerning fox hunting in America. Myself, I find it interesting (since Virgina is barely a hop, skip, and a jump away from Pennsylvania). Also, many readers are a little skeptical of Brown's anthromorphizing of the animals in her book. Even though we do not understand everything there is to know about animals, I do know as a scientist that many of the past ways of looking at animals are untrue. For years, scientists said animals did not play. That's been disproven on many fronts. When was the last time you saw an otter? Sometimes I think all they do is play and preen themselves. And zoos are now giving animals all kinds of 'human' things like balls, ropes, etc. because they found out that animals like bears and monkees are prone to depression if they don't have much to play with, or never see anything new to explore.

Enough of the ranting. I enjoyed this book. It obviously came before one of her other books I read with 'Sister' in it. Some of the talk between the animals is absolutely hilarious, just because I can imagine the dumb things that we do as humans probably amuse them. As for animals like foxes becoming used to people, it does happen...we went camping and had three skunks as visitors, who would munch on marshmallows for an hour while around the campfire, and then left to bug someone else. Screams all over the campsite but no one got sprayed. Those skunks knew we were a source of treats. I don't recommend feeding wild animals usually, and especially with rabies in raccons and skunks. But these guys were harmless, and just after our food. I imagine the animals got a big kick out of scaring campers too.

Rita Mae Brown has always been a favorite of mine, and will continue to be as she writes. She is a good writer, and I happen to like the dialogue between humans and between animals. This is a method of writing that has been around for a long time...remember Watership Down, and of course, Animal Farm by George Orwell. This is just a light and enjoyable read. When you have to read bioethics and science stuff all the time, it is nice to have something like this at your bedside.

Karen Sadler