The Hunt Ball by Rita Mae Brown

The Hunt Ball by Rita Mae Brown

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.

Rita Mae Brown is the bestselling author of the Sneaky Pie Brown series; the Sister Jane series; the first two books in her new canine mystery series: A Nose for Justice and Murder Unleashed; Rubyfruit Jungle; In Her Day; and Six of One, as well as several other novels. An Emmy-nominated screenwriter and a poet, Brown lives in Afton, Virginia.
Sneaky Pie Brown, a tiger cat born somewhere in Albemarle County, Virginia, was discovered by Rita Mae Brown at her local SPCA. They have collaborated on twenty previous Mrs. Murphy mysteries: Wish You Were Here; Rest in Pieces; Murder at Monticello; Pay Dirt; Murder, She Meowed; Murder on the Prowl; Cat on the Scent; Pawing Through the Past; Claws and Effect; Catch as Cat Can; The Tail of the Tip-Off; Whisker of Evil; Cat s Eyewitness; Sour Puss; Puss n Cahoots; The Purrfect Murder; Santa Clawed; Cat of the Century; Hiss of Death; and The Big Cat Nap; in addition to Sneaky Pie for President and Sneaky Pie s Cookbook for Mystery Lovers.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780345465498
ISBN 10	0345465490
Title	The Hunt Ball
Author	Rita Mae Brown
Series	Foxhunting Mysteries
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Ballantine Books
Year published	2005-08-30
Number of pages	336
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.