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.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 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (42)

Over the Wall and on with the Hunt
Rita Mae Brown's OUTFOXED introduces her many fans to a new world of foxhunting and a died-in-the-wool southerner in the persona of Jane "Sister" Arnold who is master of the Jefferson Hunt Club.
The seventy odd years are weighing heavily on Jane Arnold and she decides to name a co-master to the hunt. Never dreaming that the rivalry between a Yankee and a good ole boy will lead to murder.
It took a bit to keep the animal characters in perspective, but the reading was fun.
Nash Black, author of TRAVELERS.

Fox is never killed!
Rita Mae Brown's Foxhunting series is exceptional.Very detailed, lots of action sequences, and interesting human:human and human:animal interactions.Can't beat Rita Mae Brown for an absorbing reading experience!

Great Book! Kept me interested from start to finish!
This was really a great book for a rainy day.Once I started it I just kept going until the end!A good mystery!Really a great story for people who love animals! I would reccomend it.

Beatrix Potter with attitude
An interesting combination of fantasy and mystery although the mystery is not important to the storyline.

You may wonder as you read any book in this series how a town full of freedom loving, democratic minded citizens could be persuaded to call a silly, 70-year old harridan Master. Why they would endure her pettiness and mean spirited insults and why they obey her whimsical dictates.Those answers and others are never fully revealed to the reader.

Brown shows an absurd lack of knowledge when it comes to all the animals in her novels.Foxes don't enjoy being hunted, nor do they sit around their humble dens at night and gossip about foxhunters.Horses don't enjoy being jumped over ice to give their riders a thrill.But wishing makes it so in this Virginia community, that is if you are one of the hunting-mad, rich gentry.

Ignore the basic cruelty to animals and the unpleasant sense of entitlement felt by the fox hunters.

I laughed I cried I was entertained and I was engaged...life positive
Just found this Rita Mae Brown fox hunting murder mystery series and loved it.. read all of them so far but am posting review for the first...

bottom line all are superb... to be honest when I picked up the first I was not sure what the bit was about anthropomorphizing the animals (hounds, horses, foxes) but it is fine... not overdone and fits right in...

what I like about the series is it is above all positive about life and positive about keeping on living with any and all set backs that occur to people including the loss of loved ones, jealousy sexual and professional, rivalry, pettiness, etc. etc. etc.

it's darned entertaining hearing about American fox hunting from someone expert in the sport who loves it (btw they don't kill the foxes)... it's fun reading the glossary at the end and in the text ("gyp" is a synonym for "bitch" etc.) ...

and finally it's reassuring to read about keeping on keeping on and having both youth and elders and middle agers being able to coexist and help each other...

what can I say I laughed I cried I was entertained and I was engaged... what more would one want ! :) ... Read more

Product Description
In the third novel of her captivating foxhunting series, Rita Mae Brown welcomes readers back for a final tour of a world where most business is conducted on horseback–and stables are de rigueur for even the smallest of estates. Here, in the wealth-studded hills of Jefferson County, Virginia, even evil rides a mount.

The all-important New Year’s Hunt commences amid swirling light snow. It is the last formal hunt of the season; therefore, participation is required no matter how hungover riders are from toasting the midnight before. On this momentous occasion, “Sister” Jane Arnold, master of the foxhounds, announces her new joint master and the new president of the Jefferson Hunt. And her choices will prove to be no less than shocking.

The day’s festivities are quickly marred, though, by what appears on the surface to be an unrelated tragedy. Sam Lorillard, former shining star and Harvard Law School alum, lies dead of a stab wound on a baggage cart at the old train station, surrounded by the outcasts and vagabonds who composed his social circle at the end of life. No one can remember when Sam started drinking, but the downward spiral was swift–and seemingly deadly.

Murder is followed by scandal when Sister Jane discovers dishonest hunting practices going on in a neighboring club. Unsure whether to turn a blind eye or report the infringement to the proper authority, Sister and her huntsman, Shaker Crown, decide to investigate a little further, with the help of their trusty hounds. But when they come a little too close to the staggering truth–and uncover an unforeseen connection to Lorillard’s murder–they realize they might not survive to see the next New Year’s Hunt.

Intricate, witty, and full of the varied voices of creatures both great and small, Full Cry is an astute reminder that even those with the bluest of blood still bleed red.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (40)

Brown's "Full Cry"
I agree wholeheartedly with another reviewer who remarked that Brown should decide if she's going to sermonize or write a mystery.I think she has decided....she's sermonizing.This book wasn't even remotely interesting.A minor mystery was deeply embedded in all Brown's preaching.If you aren't paying attention, it'll slip right past you.
...And I made the mistake of getting "The Hounds and the Fury" at the same time I got "Full Cry."I'm not looking forward to it.

Good Read!
I have been a great fan of Rita Mae Brown (and Speaky Pie Brown) for many years.I am enjoying the Foxhunting Mysteries trementously.I love the characters, the plots, the education I am getting on the sport of fox hunting, and Rita Mae Brown's personal philosophy on many subjects. I highly recommend this series, if you like books that are thought provoking as well as entertaining. Full Cry is the third book in the series.I have read all five of the books now available and am anxiously awaiting the next great story about the Jefferson Hunt Club.

Ridiculous climax
I listened to this on CD in my car...driving around western Virginia.

-The author is not a very good reader...her rhythm/intonation is off...but I didn't mind the flubs at all. It's nice to have a reader that sounds like a real person. And by having her read it, the we avoid the distraction of having the technical terms being pronounced incorrectly. (Although I'm not used to hearing "hooves" rhyming with "moves".)

-It's a matter of taste, but talking animals (or babies, for that matter) have no appeal whatsoever for me. Ugh! And if they did talk, no horse that I've ever ridden would have said, "Are you all right?" when I fell off. I believe they'd say, "Aaaaaaaaah...at last. Hey, there's some grass!"

-Being a woman of a certain age, I liked the Sister character, (although I don't believe she still had her figure at 72). But the denouement---and Sister's actions in it---was utterly improbable and illogical. Gimme a break!

Full Cry //Audio (I almost did)
I have always enjoyed Rita Mae Brown's work. That being said, and yes, thisstory line does wear abit thin, but the worst, unforgivable sin is that she read the story herself.It was awful.Several times she will start a sentence, only to stop and restart after a few words.There was no feeling of character in her voice. Yoy can hear her swallow and clear her throat, so I guess it's the production values that are the biggest offender.

Full Cry
Having read the other books in this fox hunting series, I can say this one is not up to the standard. The plot line is not as well defined as in the other books. It is rather sketchy to be honest.

While Rita Mae Brown fans will probably read it anyway, it is not a book that will draw in new fans. ... Read more

Product Description
Hugh Robards reveals how field members can more fully absorb the subtleties of the hunt and greatly increase the enjoyment of their hunting day. What is the huntsman doing? Why? The Staff? The hounds? The fox? Even while standing still, interesting things are happening if you know what to look for and how to interpret what you see and hear. Norman Fine's Introduction provides the novice foxhunter with what he or she needs to know in the way of attire and etiquette to assure a gracious reception at any meeting of foxhounds. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

From one foxhunter to another
This is a great book for anyone interested in foxhunting, or that is already involved in the sport.It looks at the day from every point of view so no matter what you already participate in you get to look at things from the "other side".

How to watch and listen
A great read for the seasoned member of the hunting field and the novice to foxhunting alike. Patrick Teroerde, MFH
... Read more

Product Description
Originally published in 1826, this very early work on fox hunting is both expensive and hard to find in its first edition. This is a fascinating read for any fox hunting enthusiast or historian, and also contains much information that is still useful and practical today. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original artwork and text. ... Read more

Product Description
“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.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

Slow Going
THE HUNT BALL by Rita Mae Brown is slow going after the previous three in the series. This one has more information about the sport of fox hunting and the differences between English and American editions of the sport.
A murder that is shocking when a Halloween effigy turns out to be the body of the chief fund raiser for an exclusive girls school.
"Sister" Jane Arnold, master of the Jefferson Hunt has the help of the animals that surround her, but things are fuddled by humans who have lost their understanding. A fun read, which has the deepest insights into human behavior expressed by the foxes.
Nash Black, SINS OF THE FATHERS.

The Hunt Ball
Rita Mae Brown writes a sparkling mystery that takes place in the world of Virginia fox hunting society. This is a unique setting, with well-off to wealthy people that keep horses on their estates. The hunting season is in the winter, so the riding and the jumps are dangerously exciting.

The animals converse with more style than the humans do in this story. Like the black fox, Inky, and her daughter Georgia, talking about human ideas on the afterlife:

"Some believe they go up to the sky and play harps. Other think they go to paradise and have forty virgins if they die a martyr's death," Inky wryly commented. "And then there are those who think they come back in some other form at some other time."

"We could have been humans?" Georgia thought out loud.

"I don't know. They call it reincarnation, and if it's true and a human comes back as a fox, it would be a step up, " Inky confidently replied.

The foxes, by the way, are not killed. In fact the main character, Sister, feeds the foxes in the wintertime when food is scarce. She even includes de-worming medication when needed.

Sister is the master of hounds, which means she breeds and raises a number of foxhounds, and she trains them to hunt. She is the person in charge during the hunt, and the position is a responsibility she takes seriously. And as if all this weren't enough, there is murder most foul at a local exclusive girls' school.

And very soon, Sister is on the scent of the murderer.

I like this series because it takes me into a world I never knew about. There are enough twists and turns to keep reading, right on through. As a dyed in the fur animal lover, I find the conversations among dogs, horses, foxes, and even Sister Jane Arnold's cat to be fascinating.

Great fun reading.

The Hunt Ball
Great book. I love all her horse, animal mysteries and fiction.

Suzi

Fox & Hounds
Wonderful Characters and story line. Suspend your beliefs and enjoy the animals and the people. Lots of info on fox hunting and the people and hounds and horses who participate. Really good mystery is added joy in this excellantly written book.

Lots of Fun
I love the way Rita mae Brown makes you feel you are right there on the hunt and a part of the hunting community with her vivid descriptions. And as an animal lover, I enjoy the talking animals as they add so much spice to the mix. So I say if you want a fun read get the whole "Sister Jane" series and gallop on! ... Read more

Product Description
Memoirs Of A Fox-Hunting Man Siegfried Sassoon Early Days - The Flower Show Match - A Fresh Start - A Day With the Potford - At the Rectory - The Colonel's Cup - Denis Milden as Master -Migration of the Midlands - In the Army - At the front Originally published in 1928. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Obscure Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Superb, Please Read
There are 100,000 pretentious academic dissertations @ Siegfried Sassoon.Don't read them.Read "Memoirs," instead.

This is a hell of a book. The complexity of Siegfried's writing - aside from its often spell-binding beauty - forced me to read it very carefully, like a jeweler confronted to slowly examine a stone to be cut - a gem he's never seen before.

Musings...a 1st Edition (Am.), there'll be no marking up this book; this isn't Roberts' ten-dollar Napoleon & Wellington (& what idiot previous owner - the Fox was bought in the Ballad - threw the dust jacket away?!)...Odd realization: For once, I was reading a writer's memoir...that had nothing to do with the death of standards at The New Yorker ("Gone," "A Life of Privilege, Mostly," etc.).

MFH did not get off to a smooth start - or rather, I with it.A good deal of the first third of the book should have been trimmed.Our apprehensions at the ages of four & seven - who cares?His interminable, meaningless cricket games - what an incomprehensible morass (the terminology is bewildering).

And the dotty story @ his aunt's preparation of a hot cup of tea, on a cold primitive train, derailed the narrative as well.The author in real life dropped out of Cambridge - & these first 100 pages - weed-choked with century-old slang - almost motivated me to do the same with his memoir.

But perseverance paid off.The ending of the chapter, "A Day With The Potsford" - with its narrative tone down-shifting from a high octave of excitement then being lowered to his aunt's self-sensible concern @ the matted hair of her pet Persian cat - is so impressive, it is breath-taking.

And from then on, there are individual sentences as beautiful as anything I've ever read - & splendidly unique, a quality adding an allure I've never seen.MFH "appeared anonymously in October 1928 & delighted the public with its sensitive charm & wit."It still does, & how.

"As the [church] service proceeded, I glanced furtively around me at the prudent Sunday-like faces of the congregation.I thought of the world outside, & the comparison made life out there seem...unreal.I felt as if we were all on our way to next week in a ship."

"Memory enchants even the dilatory little train journey which carried my expectant simplicity into the freshness of a country seen for the first time."

Having first read "The Sassoons," of course, I know that this (mostly) idyllic story of his gradual development into a fox hunting gentleman must come to a brutal end, for he was primarily famous then, & noted today, as a heroic & disillusioned wartime infantry officer.

John Keegan broadly claims that at the time, almost no one in Europe saw World War I coming - that the possibility of war, on the immense scale that it did become, had been preemptively dismissed out of hand.This is stated in miniature in MFH, six years before Keegan had been born.

"War had become an impossibility" - something that would never disrupt the world of the admired huntress, Mrs. Oakfield - "She had the secret of style" - & her Midland fox hunting set, "it's uniqueness as it was when I was a unit in its hurry of hoofs & covert-side chatter."

War, instead, became everything.The hunts disappeared, the horses themselves conscripted for service.He immediately signed up as an enlisted man."Never before had I known how much I had to lose...as I sat on the ground with my half-cleaned saddle...I felt very much a man dedicated to death."During his last village cricket game at home, "outwardly, the match had been normally conducted, but there was something in the sunshine which none of us had ever known before that calamitous Monday."

He broke an arm in a training accident & was laid up for an extraordinary time when the bone resisted healing.Then, finally whole, he received a transfer to another unit, was promoted to subaltern (2nd lieutenant?), & sent to London to Craven & Stone for a tailored officer's uniform.The officious Mr. Stoving was there to measure & outfit him.

He "chatted his way courageously through the War; 'business as usual' was his watchword.Undaunted by the ever more bloated bulk of the Army List, he bobbed like a cork on the lethal inundation of temporary [military] commissions, & when I last saw him, a few months before the Armistice, he was still outwardly unconscious of the casualty lists which had lost (& gained) him such a legion of customers."

His friends & acquaintances start getting it, even before he was finally shipped over with hordes of other replacement soldiers to France in mid-1915 - where he was then (fortuitously) posted with a battalion recently decimated up in battle.The reconstituted unit was then sent to the rear for the benefit of its few surviving, silent veterans.The "grumble & rumble" of distant heavy artillery exchanges tailed off as they slowly made their way to the west, the front-line night flares still illuminating the sky.

After a final grueling 17-mile nighttime hike, they were finally assigned to a small village where "we were all five of us sitting around the fire in my billet, which had...a clock that ticked sedately, as if there were no war on."

He received a letter from Dixon, the man who had most skillfully guided his development as a juvenile rider while working for Sassoon's aunt as carriage driver (Sassoon's parents had both died prematurely & he had been sent to live with his aunt.See Footnote One, below).

By then, R&R was over; the battalion had been moved up & into a stationary position much closer to the fighting.They're not engaged in battle, but the sniper fire & the maintenance work in trenches damaged by artillery & mine explosions was still very, very lethal.It was now a completely grim existence.

Dixon, having earlier volunteered for a cavalry support unit also now stationed in France, "had been wondering, sir...whether it might possibly be fixed up for me to exchange into your battalion...it would be quite like old times for me to be your transport-sergeant.That was a rotten business @ Mr. Colwood being killed, sir.We shall all miss him very much when this War is over."

"Dixon's letter sent me off into pleasant imagining...everything I had known before the War seemed to be withering away & falling to pieces...I wanted the past to survive & begin again; the idea [of re-uniting with Dixon] was like daylight..."

An older, wiser officer - concerned for Dixon's safety should the unit suddenly be transferred into active battle: "Things change pretty quick nowadays" - persuaded Sassoon not to arraign the transfer.Three weeks later, the letter that Sassoon had sent his old fox hunt batman was answered by another, signed by a stranger.Dixon had died of pneumonia.And then his closest friend, Dick Tiltwood, was killed by sniper fire.In the sullen aftermath, sleep became "a wonderful thing when one came back from the Line [trench duty]; but to awake was to remember."

The book ends drenched in the unspoken feeling of the author's own remoteness from everything, on Easter Sunday in 1916.His past having completely vanished, so now, will he.It is the end of a book with no ending.

And I imagine that, subconsciously, that is exactly how Sassoon intended it to be."For two years later...he published a sequel...recalling his experiences of the Somme & Arras with an understatement & integrity that have stamped 'Memoirs of an Infantry Officer' as a modern classic."


*****

Footnote One: A clarification: In the memoir, they both died when Siegfried was very young.But in real life, this was not the case.

Siegfried's father, Alfred (who had abandoned Sig's mother, Theresa) did die at the age of 34 in 1895.Sig, age nine, was traumatized, so much so that he could not attend the funeral.

But his mother, Theresa, lived long enough to sketch a picture of her teenage son engaged in a steeplechase jump, a photograph of which was inserted into the book.So her demise could not have arrived prematurely.

But that's all I can conclude.The numbskull who drew up the family genealogical map in "The Sassoons" omitted the years of Theresa's birth & death.And rounding out the Idiot Exacta was the same book's index preparer - who omitted "death of" from Theresa's listing, & "death of mother" from Siegfried's listing.

The trouble that these dual omissions created was incredible.It took forever to research these basic facts, one of which is still unresolved.And it will not be.I am not going to waste my time re-reading dozens of pages to see if I can discover the year in which she passed away.

***

Addendum to the last line: "The Sassoons," Stanley Jackson: The bibliography of this invaluable book lists the later-published "Memoirs of An Infantry Officer" (London, Faber, 1931), but not "Memoirs of A Fox Hunting Man" (1928; published anonymously).

An excellent perspective of a world reluctant but forced into change
I read this book because of my early love of the War Poets, Sassoon, Wilfred Owen and Robert Graves.
What I had not expected was to find myself transported into a nearly forgotten time where Summer was glorious and England was feeling safe, secure and on top of the world.
Yes, they knew that things were a "bit iffy" in Europe. Yes they could see that the USA and Germany could challenge them economically - if not on the seas.
I had read Robert Massie's book Dreadnought which had a solid military-political perspective of the time following Bismarck and his unification of Germany.
This book filled in the missing pieces in my mind to show just why the English and Europeans were so unprepared to fight a total war. And why the aristocracy was so casually careless of the lives of ordinary soldiers.
I wept for the innocence of young men suddenly thrown into the teeth of machine gun fire and massive explosive shells. I smiled and felt comfortable at the descriptions of park cricket at a time that this was the noblest conflict that a young man might pursue.

From the Hunt to the Front
Perhaps the best way to classify "Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man" is as an autobiographical novel; the details and events described are Sassoon's personal experiences in disguise.This book serves as the first of a trilogy, covering the author's early days up through his initial military service during WWI.Even though it is written as a novel, the truth of the author's life shines through.

The narrator of "Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man" is George Sherston, a young orphan left to live with his aunt in the remote English countryside.He is a shy, reticent and awkward boy who learns gradually to flourish under the tutelage of his aunt's stablehand, Tom Dixon.Dixon teaches young George to ride and play cricket, and as he grows he eventually makes a name for himself among the fox hunting circuit and among horse racers.George drops out of Cambridge to pursue a life of leisure (one that he cannot afford) and finds himself entering the military just before war is declared.

The narrative is surprisingly fast-paced and evocative to begin with.Sassoon has a manner of drawing readers into the story through the quaint and idyllic reminisences of a spoiled young man.Yet readers may soon become distracted with George Sherston's snobbery, his diffidence towards those who care about him and have his best interests at heart, and his pretentious attitude towards his station in life.There are also times when readers can see the author shining through his characters, in scattered asides he drops the mask he holds before him and tells it as it is."Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man" may not be for everyone, but is a definite must-read for any fan of Sassoon's poetry; it is a window into the world of a man who helped to shape the course of literature after WWI.

Interesting Vignette on Rural England Dreams Whilst the World Heads for Disaster
I read this book because I entered Sassoon first by reading his "Memoirs of an Infantry Officer." Since Sassoon has always been one of my favourite poets I thought this would allow me to see into the mind of one raised in the English Countryside at the turn of the 20th Century.

There is a lot of fox hunting here and if I was encouraged to be more sympathetic to a bunch of upper-class twits running in their finest allowing hounds to do most the work, then this book, for all its description did not engender such feelings. (Being born in Canada, real men and women hunt their animals on foot, are forbidden from using dogs in any form of hunting and a real man shoots one's game over open sights... preferably after that person has hiked over a few mountains on foot. The game is then carried out of the bush, by yourself. There are no manservants, no shared drinking of spirits or chance to rest). But the descriptions of rural life and Sassoon's existence between some limited previledge yet not quite a member of the upper classes was an interesting perspective on this time.

Sassoon writes well and economical. There is little real adventure here and the book would be one that I could recommend to someone who is thinking of touring the quite country lanes of Kent in the summer time, or open whilst on top of Downs on a sunny day. It is a reflection of rural (but not country) life in the soft cotton covered English existence while the world heads for collective insanity.

Sassoon and book eventually drift to war and the last third of the book is about him forsaking Cambridge, taking a commission and eventually heading to the front. While around him his mates, his footmen and other collegues are blown to pieces or otherwise changed unalterably by the war. Sigfried ends the book after the disasterous battles of Loos (where Kipling's son was killed) and the writing style starts to take on a melancholy and more stark tone continued in his "Memoirs of an Infantry Officer".

A good book and one worth the read for the country vignettes.

Languid evocation of Rural U.K. ca. 1900
This is a very good place to commence the life of Sassoon, better known in my country as a great poet of the First World War. Having only the briefest of equestrian experience in rural Dorset and the slightest of brushes with the class structure existing even in a small village, most of Sassoon's marvellously recounted youth falls well beyond this Aussie's radar. I found the quaint rituals of horseriding and foxing fascinating; the fact of a life so given to the pursuit of pleasure, utterly bemusing. Sassoon's everpresent sense of how protected all this was, and how he could place such significance, say, on the purchase of a riding cap, saves this work from charges of class pretension. Though an acute observer, he is amazingly free, in his writing, from the sense of superiority exuding from many of the class he aspires to join.The idyll comes crashing down with the outbreak of War, and the loss of his closest friends are sobering moments, never milked for any self-pity. His writing is exquisite,full of easy phrasings that scroll as readily on his page as the gentle topography of those pleasant pastures green. As eloquent as the succeeding volumes of this series are, I believe this is the most satisfying. Is that, perhaps, because the catostrophe of the trenches was so brilliantly trapped on silent film? iMAGES OF The Great War jittered across our tele screens in the mid 1960s, possibly with the hidden message of consolidating youthful support for our conscription to the Vietnam conflict. I was almost paralysed with fear each Sunday as I sat hypnotised before the unspooling of those oancient black and white atrocities. The effect induced a wholesome loathing of nationalism and all futile expressions on foreign soils. ... Read more

Product Description
THE UNWRITTEN LAWS OF FOXHUNTING

WITH NOTES ON THE USE OF THE HORN AND THE WHISTLE AND A

LIST OF FIVE THOUSAND NAMES OF HOUNDS.

By C.F.P. McNeill, M.F.H.

This extremely scarce and unusual little book was first published in London at the turn of the 19th century. Its author intended it to be of benefit… " to those with a lamentable amount of ignorance with regard to what you may do and what you may not do out hunting." Its content remain as relevant to foxhunting today as yesteryear.

READ COUNTRY BOOKS have now re-published this book using the original text in its entirety.

Its 47 pages contain much pertinent advice on the following :- Etiquette of following a Fox into adjoining Country. – Etiquette of following a fresh Fox found in an adjoining Country. – Duty of Newcomer.- Speaking to a Huntsman. – Cub-Hunting a private matter. – Neutral Countries. – Walking Puppies. – Coming to the Meet. – Second Horsemen. – Lord Willoughby de Broke’s letter on Cub-Hunting. -

Moving of Cubs. – Taking Hounds Home. – Covert Owners. – Advertising Meets. – Where Hounds belong to Trustees. – Master’s Resignation. – Stud Hounds and their Use. – The Horn. – The Whistle. A concluding chapter lists 5000 Names of Hounds.

Many of the earliest sporting books, particularly those dating back to the 1800s, are now extremely scarce and very expensive. READ COUNTRY BOOKS are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description

Chaseworld is a study of the foxhunters in the Pine Barrens of Southern New Jersey. Mary Hufford examines the activities that occur before, during, and after foxchases and analyzes the stories that hunters tell about chases. Through these activities and narratives, she contends, Pine Barrens foxhunters have collaboratively constructed an alternate reality—the Chaseworld.

Customer Reviews (1)

A must-read for American folklore fans
I read this book for a class in American folklore at George Mason University. Chaseworld is beautifully written, and deftly paints a bucolic scene of fox hunting in New Jersey's Pine Barrens. The foxes are chased, but not caught, as both the men and hounds only want to have fun chasing the foxes. If you are interested in quaint American traditions that are disappearing as you are reading this, then this book is well worth your time. This book is so well written and researched that it would be an excellent guide for those who are conducting and documenting their own folklife research. The Chaseworld has a sense of community that portrays the best of America. ... Read more

Product Description
The Derrydale Press Treasury of Foxhunting is a revival of some of the best foxhunting stories, written by some of America's finest sporting writers ever published. ... Read more

Product Description
In her well-received novel Outfoxed, Rita Mae Brown vividly and deftly brought to life the genteel world of foxhunting, where hunters, horses, hounds, and foxes form a tightly knit community amidst old money and simmering conflicts. With Hotspur, we return to the Southern chase–and to a hunt on the trail of a murderer.

Jane “Sister” Arnold may be in her seventies, but she shows no signs of losing her love for the Hunt. As Master of the prestigious Jefferson Hunt Club in a well-heeled Virginia Blue Ridge Mountain town, she is the most powerful and revered woman in the county. She can assess the true merits of a man or a horse with uncanny skill. In short, Sister Jane is not easily duped.

When the skeleton of Nola Bancroft, still wearing an exquisite sapphire ring on her finger, is unearthed, it brings back a twenty-one year old mystery. Beautiful Nola was a girl who had more male admirers than her family had money, which was certainly quite a feat. In a world where a woman’s ability to ride was considered one of her most important social graces, Nola was queen of the stable. She had a weakness for men, and her tastes often ventured towards the inappropriate, like the sheriff’s striking son, Guy Ramy. But even Guy couldn’t keep her eyes from wandering.

When Nola and Guy disappeared on the Hunt’s ceremonial first day of cubbing more than two decades ago, everyone assumed one of two things: Guy and Nola eloped to escape her family’s disapproval; or Guy killed Nola in a jealous rage and vanished. But Sister Jane had never bought either of those theories.
Sister knows that all the players are probably still in place, the old feuds haven’t died, and the sparks that led to a long-ago murder could flare up at any time.

Hotspur brings all of Rita Mae Brown’s storytelling gifts to the fore. It’s a tale of Southern small-town manners and rituals, a compelling and intricate murder mystery, and a look at the human/animal relationship in all its complexity and charm.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Long Dead Tell Stories
Jane "Sister" Arnold is walking around the barns when she discovers the body of an old hunter who died in his sleep. The horse famous for his valour in the field is to be given an honors burial, but while preparing his grave an other grave is exposed. That of Nola Bancroft who disappeared 21 years before. Guy Ramy, the son of the local sheriff also disappeared the same night and his body is soon discovered.
What happened to these two vibrant young people and who killed them so long ago are questions "Sister" Jane Arnold can not let fallow in the dirt.
This is good, but it doesn't have the punch of OUTFOXED.
Nash Black, author of SINS OF THE FATHERS.

The Fox is not killed!
Read the entire series.It's worth it to read twice, if you have the time.Sure did learn a lot.I don't understand all the wardrobe details, but each to her own.Rita Mae Brown is the greatest!Interaction between animals is, of course, quite enlightening.

Accurate, Likeable Characters
I've read every book in the series so far & have enjoyed them all. As a rider and former horse groom,I know all about horses, riders, & barn politics & Rita Mae's details are dead on. How frustrating it is to read a book & it's obvious the author didn't do their homework. That's not a problem with Rita Mae. Besides being an author she is also Master of Foxhounds for her own club.

This is a 'niche' series. Readers that are not interested in horses or foxhunting could find the books tedious. At times the mystery takes a backseat to the characters (animal & human) & the sport. For folks into horses/hunting riding with Sister, Shaker, & the rest of the gang is the perfect way to spend an afternoon without even getting your boots muddy!

Disappointing resolution
I enjoy the animal's personification and dialogue in these books and while I'm not enamored of foxhunting, the information about it does make the book informative.

My complaint is that the resolution of the mystery resembles a CHiPs episode I saw in the late 70s. A re-enactment with actors playing the parts of people who've been dead for 2 centuries? It's rather unsatisfactory. I wonder if the author just got painted into a corner and could only conjure up this elaborate scheme to solve the mystery. I found it to be a disappointing way to end an otherwise enjoyable novel.

A fascinating read
While other reviewiers here find the talking animals and foxhunting information not to their taste, I find it enjoyable and fascinating.The mystery here is not as well done as in the previous work _Outfoxed_, and the recent _Full Cry_, but the intrigues of the Jefferson Hunt are what make the book. The murder of Nola seemed to me a bit of rehashing of plot from one or two of the Sneaky Pie books, but I am an avid re-reader of Ms Brown's Sneaky Pie work. It would probably go unnoticed by a reader not as familliar with those stories.
The real stars of the story are the animals' interactions with each other and with Sister, and foxhunting itself.Rita Mae Brown paints a picture of life in rural Virginia as intriguing and affectionate as Peter Mayle's France from _A Year In Provence_.
She makes me want to visit, observe a hunt, and wallow in the hospitality of the south.With this and the first book, you grow to know the players in the hunt club as closely as actors on a soap opera.I too missed Doug, and hope he returns in future books.If you enjoied _Outfoxed_, you will enjoy Hotspur. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Bring Crawford Back!!
Is it just me, or is anyone else sick of Tootie and the Custis Hall girls? They were okay for one book, but now it seems they have developed into main characters. Too bad as they are just not that interesting.Please, Rita, send them off to college already.They can write the occasional letter to Sister Jane, can't they?

I have loved, loved, loved this series, but this book was such a disappointment. So much talking - a lot done by Sister about her views on nonsensical things that didn't advance the plot - and practically no action.Where were the heart-stopping descriptions of a thrilling hunt?Where were the foxes?And ** only somewhat of a spoiler** why was such an interesting, slimy character introduced early in the book done away with so quickly?I was looking forward to reading more about him - then *poof* he's gone.

I really hope conniving, manipulative, INTERESTING Crawford comes back.We've been teased in previous books about him forming his own hunt, but nothing's come of that.There's certainly some fertile ground there to explore for conflict.

Sister Jane Solve Another Mystery.
The girls are leaving for college as Sister Jane scrambles to solve this series of deaths associated with Hound Shows and Hunts.The victims in these deaths are not the nicest people, so there are plenty of motives to sort through before she can find this killer.Will the love of her hounds cause Sister Jane's death?

A foxhunting mystery
This was the first foxhunting mystery by Rita Mae Brown I'd read.I have read all her Sneaky Pie Brown/Mrs. Murphy mysteries, and wasn't sure I could handle "foxhunting" per se.This is Rita Mae Brown's newest foxhunting novel and it was tough getting into all the FH terminology, etc.But I'm hooked and persuaded that the foxes win every time.Something new and fascinating to read.It's what we're all looking for, isn't it?

for pet lovers
Septuagenarian Jane "Sister" Arnold is the highly regarded master of the Jefferson Hunt Club in Virginia.She is currently attending the Mid-America Hound Show, a major event in Kentucky, accompanied by her huntsman Shaker Crown and her apprentice Tootie.

When one of her American foxhounds is stolen, her initial inclination is that odious Mo Schneider abducted her prized animal.However, she soon finds her canine next to Mo's corpse. Back home, she takes her injured horse to veterinarian Hope Rogers, who soon afterward is found dead; the police rule suicide but Sister believes otherwise as she knew the vet too well.She plans to investigate, but during the Virginia Hound Show, a club member vanishes, leaving Sister stunned with what is going on.

This is a fun tale especially for pet lovers because her latest fox and hound personification mystery (see THE TELL-TALE HORSE) is an engaging amateur sleuth starring of course Sister and her allies (including her hounds).Although there are too many sidebar discussions that leave the story line idling in neutral at times, fans of the Sister foxhunting series will enjoy another visit to the Jefferson Hunt Club.

Harriet Klausner

Hounded to Death
What a book and what a author. As Iam not to far from her age and her likes in horse I can some time just feel what she is writing about. Fun books and very accurate in what she writes about so she know her dogs and horses. That is what really holds your interest. Keep the books coming. If you are a first time reader of this series please go and start at the beginning and get all the books you will not be disappointed. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Seigfried Sasson through his own eyes.
I recommend reading this along with some other biography of Sassoon. The concordances and the differences are stunning. The factual revelations of his life which he does not reveal in these paired biographies/novels are remarkable.Sassoon writes well. The fox hunting classes of England, what must have been going on in their hearts in pre WW1 years unfolds before you. These novels are description of a class of people as well a an insight into Sassoon and the question of where his poetry "came from". A fascinating man with a life whose real events were compressed into a short time. A great study for those interested in Georgian England, in WW1 and in Sassoon himself or other WW1 poets. ... Read more

Product Description
Frances Witts was the great-grand-daughter of the Cotswold Parson, and maintained the family tradition of keeping a diary - although in this case it was a diary specific to one particular pleasure - for riding side-saddle, Frances was addicted to following the hunt. Over a period of five years during the Edwardian period she recorded the details of her hunting expeditions, and whilst out on the hunt she met Ronnie, her husband to be.The diary is illustrated throughout with pen and ink sketches by her daughter, Susan Boone. It is also accompanied by many family photographs representing life in a well-to-do Cotswold family from Guiting Grange.Hunting with the Heythrop was a passion for Frances - a fact which comes out clearly in the diary. Modern-day followers of the hunting tradition will relish the enthusiasm expressed in the diary and empathise with the excitements and disappointments Frances experienced in the hunting field in the years immediately before her marriage to Ronnie, just before the life-changing effects of the First World War.Frances Kennard, nee Witts kept the diary in manuscript form, and her daughter Susan Boone, nee Kennard edited the text in 1980 and produced detailed line illustrations to embellish the text. She had a small private edition produced in 1982, but sadly, she died shortly afterwards. This is the first commercial publication and includes much previously unpublished material not included in the private edition including family photographs. ... Read more

Product Description
A purely American "original", Melvin Poe comes from a part of Virginia where old-time huntsmen, hound breedersm and American foxhounds just naturally grew.This book will delight not only those who have the honor of knowing Melvin personally, but those who wish they did. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Foxhunting with Melvin Poe
After having the pleasure of meeting and visiting with Melvin during a recent research trip of my own for a book I am writing, I was very pleased to be lent a copy of this book for my reading/research enjoyment.Melvin is truly an original man and anyone who comes into contact with him is immediately struck by his easy ways and welcoming smile.This book will put you in the saddle and trailing behind one of the top Masters of the Hounds in the United States today, and perhaps one of the best in the world.Hats off to Mr. Winants for capturing the spirit of the sport and the spirit of Melvin Poe, a man and his horses and hounds.Judith Joyce Poe, author But I Have Known You ... Read more

Product Description