Rita Mae Brown Books In Order

Mags Rogers Books In Publication Order

  1. A Nose for Justice (2010)
  2. Murder Unleashed (2011)

Mrs. Murphy Books In Publication Order

  1. Wish You Were Here (1990)
  2. Rest in Pieces (1992)
  3. Murder at Monticello (1994)
  4. Pay Dirt (1995)
  5. Murder, She Meowed (1996)
  6. Murder on the Prowl (1998)
  7. Cat on the Scent (1999)
  8. Pawing Through the Past (2000)
  9. Claws and Effect (2001)
  10. Catch as Cat Can (2002)
  11. The Tail of the Tip-Off (2003)
  12. Whisker of Evil (2004)
  13. Cat’s Eyewitness (2005)
  14. Sour Puss (2006)
  15. Puss ‘n Cahoots (2007)
  16. The Purrfect Murder (2008)
  17. Santa Clawed (2008)
  18. Cat of the Century (2010)
  19. Hiss of Death (2011)
  20. The Big Cat Nap (2012)
  21. Sneaky Pie for President (2012)
  22. The Litter of the Law (2013)
  23. Nine Lives to Die (2014)
  24. Tail Gait (2015)
  25. Tall Tail (2016)
  26. A Hiss Before Dying (2018)
  27. Probable Claws (2018)
  28. Whiskers in the Dark (2019)
  29. Furmidable Foes (2020)
  30. Claws for Alarm (2021)

Runnymede Books In Publication Order

  1. Six of One (1978)
  2. Bingo (1988)
  3. Loose Lips (1999)
  4. The Sand Castle (2008)
  5. Cakewalk (2016)

“Sister” Jane Books In Publication Order

  1. Outfoxed (2000)
  2. Hotspur (2002)
  3. Full Cry (2003)
  4. The Hunt Ball (2005)
  5. The Hounds and the Fury (2006)
  6. The Tell-tale Horse (2007)
  7. Hounded to Death (2008)
  8. Fox Tracks (2012)
  9. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie (2014)
  10. Crazy Like a Fox (2017)
  11. Homeward Hound (2018)
  12. Scarlet Fever (2019)
  13. Out of Hounds (2021)

Standalone Novels In Publication Order

  1. Rubyfruit Jungle (1973)
  2. In Her Day (1976)
  3. Southern Discomfort (1982)
  4. Sudden Death (1983)
  5. High Hearts (1986)
  6. Venus Envy (1993)
  7. Dolley (1994)
  8. Riding Shotgun (1996)
  9. Alma Mater (2001)

Collections In Publication Order

  1. Songs to a Handsome Woman (1973)
  2. Poems (1987)

Non-Fiction Books In Publication Order

  1. A Plain Brown Rapper (1976)
  2. Starting from Scratch: A Different Kind of Writer’s Manual (1988)
  3. Rita Will: Memoir of a Literary Rabble-Rouser (1997)
  4. Sneaky Pie’s Cookbook for Mystery Lovers (1999)
  5. Animal Magnetism: My Life with Creatures Great and Small (2009)

Anthologies In Publication Order

  1. Hand That Cradles the Rock (1971)
  2. I’d Kill For That (2004)

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Mrs. Murphy Book Covers

Runnymede Book Covers

“Sister” Jane Book Covers

Standalone Novels Book Covers

Collections Book Covers

Non-Fiction Book Covers

Anthologies Book Covers

Rita Mae Brown Books Overview

A Nose for Justice

Explosive sabotage and the startling unearthing of a hundred year old skeleton on a Nevada ranch thrillingly start off this debut novel in a tail wagging new series from New York Times bestselling author Rita Mae Brown. With the ruins of her high powered Wall Street job now far in the rearview mirror of her rented silver Camaro, thirty two year old Mags Rogers arrives at her great aunt Jeep’s sprawling Wings Ranch to reassemble her life. In the passenger seat, with his suspicious nose to a cracked window, is Mags s beloved wirehaired dachshund, the urbane Baxter. Mags was named for her great aunt, Magdalena though everyone calls the spry octogenarian rancher Jeep. From piloting planes in World War II to discovering one of America s largest gold deposits, Jeep has enjoyed a lifetime jam packed with love and adventure, and she s not done yet. At her side to Baxter s low down distress is Jeep s loyal German Shepherd mix, King. The growlings are mutual: King sniffs that Baxter is a fuzzy sausage. Meanwhile, someone pipe bombs Red Rock Valley s pumping station, endangering the water supply near and far. Deputy Pete Meadows links the sabotage to a string of local murders, but he doesn t yet know if it s a corporate plot or twisted eco terrorism. He s also called out to Wings Ranch when human bones are dug up in Jeep s barn; the dead man s ring identifies him as an elite Russian military officer from the late 1800s, apparently knifed to death. In her search to find out whodunit, Mags uncovers fascinating history about Jeep s ranch, including an intriguing connection to Buffalo Bill. Mags and Pete have mysteries to solve, among them why they are so drawn to each other. Baxter and King team up when it comes time to protect their humans. And all the while, Jeep Reed, the sassiest wit in the West, has a bold plan for Red Rock Valley in which they all will play a part.

Wish You Were Here

Curiosity just might be the death of Mrs. Murphy and her human companion, Mary Minor ‘Harry’ Haristeen. Small towns are like families: Everyone lives very close together…
and everyone keeps secrets. Crozet, Virginia, is a typical small town until its secrets explode into murder. Crozet’s thirty something post mistress, Mary Minor ‘Harry’ Haristeen, has a tiger cat Mrs. Murphy and a Welsh Corgi Tucker, a pending divorce, and a bad habit of reading postcards not addressed to her. When Crozet’s citizens start turning up murdered, Harry remembers that each received a card with a tombstone on the front and the message ‘Wish You Were Here‘ on the back. Intent on protecting their human friend, Mrs. Murphy and Tucker begin to scent out clues. Meanwhile, Harry is conducting her own investigation, unaware her pets are one step ahead of her. If only Mrs. Murphy could alert her somehow, Harry could uncover the culprit before the murder occurs and before Harry finds herself on the killer’s mailing list. From the Paperback edition.

Rest in Pieces

Mrs. Murphy thinks the new man in town is the cat’s meow…
. Maybe she should think again. Small towns don’t take kindly to strangers unless the stranger happens to be a drop dead gorgeous and seemingly unattached male. When Blair Bainbridge comes to Crozet, Virginia, the local matchmakers lose no time in declaring him perfect for their newly divorced postmistress, Marry Minor ‘Harry Haristeen.’ Even Harry’s tiger cat, Ms. Murphy, and her Welsh Corgi, Tee Tucker, believe he smells A okay. Could his one little imperfection be that he’s a killer? Blair becomes the most likely suspect when the pieces of a dismembered corpse begin tuming up around Crozet. No one knows who the dead man is, but when a grisly clue makes a spectacular appearance in the middle of the fall festivities, more than an early winter snow begins chilling the blood of Crozet’s very best people. That’s when Ms. Murphy, her friend Tucker, and her human companion Harry begin to sort throughout the clues…
only to find themselves a whisker away from becoming the killer’s next victims.

Murder at Monticello

Mrs. Murphy digs into Virginia history and gets her paws on a killer. The most popular citizen of Virginia has been dead for nearly 170 years. That hasn’t stopped the good people of tiny Crozet, Virginia, from taking pride in every aspect of Thomas Jefferson’s life. But when an archaeological dig of the slave quarters at Jefferson’s home, Monticello, uncovers a shocking secret, emotions in Crozet run high dangerously high. The stunning discovery at Monticello hints a hidden passions and age old scandals. As postmistress Mary Minor ‘Harry’ Haristeen and some of Crozet’s Very Best People try to learn the identity of a centuries old skeleton and the reason behind the murder Harry’s tiger cat, Mrs. Murphy, and her canine and feline friends attempt to sniff out a modern day killer. Mrs. Murphy and corgi Tee Tucker will stick their paws into the darker mysteries of human nature to solve murders old and new before curiosity can kill the cat and Harry Haristeen.

Pay Dirt

The residents of tiny Crozet, Virginia, thrive on gossip, especially in the post office, where Mary Minor ‘Harry’ Haristeen presides with her tiger cat, Mrs. Murphy. So when a belligerent Hell’s Angel crashes Crozet, demanding to see his girlfriend, the leather clad interloper quickly becomes the chief topic of conversation. Then the biker is found murdered, and everyone is baffled. Well, almost everyone…
Mrs. Murphy and her friends, Welsh corgi Tee Tucker and overweight feline Pewter, haven’t been slinking through alleys for nothing. But can they dig up the truth in time to save their humans from a ruthless killer?

Murder, She Meowed

The annual steeplechase races at Montpelier, once the home of James and Dolley Madison, are the high point in the social calendar of the horse mad Virginians of cozy Crozet. The race meet offers a cracking good time with old friends and a chance to get even on the racecourse with old enemies. Postmistress Mary Minor ‘Harry’ Haristeen will be in the thick of the action on this day of high spirits and fierce competition. But the glorious thoroughbreds and the pinks and greens and purples worn by the riders do not blind Harry to the dangerous undercurrents that start to surface. There’s sure to be some emotional fireworks at Montpelier. Still, no one expects the day to end in tragedy. Found dead in the main barn is one of the day’s riders, a knife plunged through the jockey’s heart. The only clue is a playing card, the Queen of Clubs, impaled over the fatal wound. Within the wealthy, tight knit world of horse owners, trainers, and jockeys, the victim had both admirers and enemies. Was the murderer’s motive greed, drugs a pervasive evil in the race world or sexual rivalry? Luckily for Crozet’s humans, the tiger cat Mrs. Murphy is right at home in the stable yard…
and on the trail of the shocking truth. But will Harry catch on in time to stop a killer grown bloodthirsty with success?In Murder, She Meowed Sneaky Pie Brown and her co author, Rita Mae Brown, have penned another clever and sassy mystery that probes the depths of human depravity and the heights of feline genius. From the Paperback edition.

Murder on the Prowl

It takes a cat to write the purr fect mystery ‘People who love cats…
have a friend in Rita Mae Brown,’ declares The New York Times Book Review. And nowhere is it more obvious than in this, her sixth deliciously witty foray into detective fiction written with the paws on help of collaborator Sneaky Pie Brown, and starring that irrepressible crime solving tiger cat, Mrs. Murphy. As the principal of St. Elizabeth’s, an exclusive private school that caters to Crozet, Virginia’s, best families, Roscoe Fletcher has proven himself to be a highly effective and vastly popular administrator. So when his obituary appears in the local paper, everyone in town is upset. Yet nothing compares to the shock they feel when they discover that Roscoe Fletcher isn’t dead at all. Someone has stooped to putting a phony obituary in the newspaper. But is it a sick joke or a sinister warning?Only Mrs. Murphy, the canny tiger cat, senses the pure malice behind the act. And when a second false obit appears, this time of a Hollywood has been who is Roscoe Fletcher’s best friend, Mrs. Murphy invites her friends, the corgi Tee Tucker, and fat cat Pewter, to do a bit of sleuthing. It’s obvious to this shrewd puss that two phony death notices add up to deadly trouble. And her theory is borne out when one of the men is fiendishly murdered.’Harry’ Haristeen, in her position as Crozet’s postmistress, is the first to hear all the theories on whodunit starting with the man’s jealous wife. Then a second bloody homicide follows, and a third. People are dropping like flies in Crozet and no one seems to know why. Fearlessly exploring all the places where humans never think to go, Mrs. Murphy manages to untangle the knots of passion, duplicity, and greed that have sent someone into a killing frenzy. Yet knowing the truth isn’t enough. Mrs. Murphy must somehow lead Harry, her favorite human, down a trail that is perilous…
to a killer who is deadly…
and a climax that mystery lovers will relish.

Cat on the Scent

Rita Mae Brown and her feline collaborator, Sneaky Pie Brown, have won a loyal readership with their six novels featuring that fearless investigator of mischief and mayhem, the tiger cat Mrs. Murphy. Now, in their most entertaining mystery yet, murder comes close to home. As the men and women of Crozet, Virginia, prepare for a local Civil War reenactment, popular Tommy Van Allen is reported missing. No one’s seen his single engine plane, either no one but Mrs. Murphy, who spotted it during a foggy evening’s mousing in Tally Urquhart’s abandoned barn. Even if fat cat Pewter insists that ‘nothing ever happens in May,’ Mrs. Murphy is certain that something sinister did occur that night on the Urquharts’ deserted airstrip. But how can Mrs. Murphy prove it when everyone in town is preoccupied with the debate over the region’s new reservoir and the money and power that are at stake. Even Mrs. M’s favorite human, postmistress Mary Minor ‘Harry’ Haristeen, bored by politics, can sense the dangerous anger brewing in some of Crozet’s most prominent citizens. Local tensions are set aside for the day when the gang including Mrs. Murphy, Pewter, and Tucker the corgi assembles for the reenactment of the battle of Oak Ridge. But when the smoke finally clears, someone is lying on the ground with three very real bullets in his back. While the clever tiger cat and her friends sift through clues that just don’t fit together, more than a few locals fear that the ensuing scandal will force well hidden secrets into the harsh light of day. In the end, Mrs. Murphy’s relentless tracking has consequences even she cannot imagine. When her efforts place loved ones in danger, it takes more than a canny kitty and her team of animal sleuths to set things right again.

Pawing Through the Past

It Takes a Cat to Write the Purr fect Mystery. From award winning author Rita Mae Brown and her equally celebrated feline collaborator, Sneaky Pie Brown, comes another delightfully suspenseful mystery featuring that most cunning of creatures and uncanny of sleuths, famed tiger cat Mrs. Murphy. This time out, the irrepressible Mrs. Murphy finds herself paw deep in a compelling case of old ties, old sins, and all too present danger. Emotions are running high around tiny Crozet, Virginia, among the Class of 1980, as plans get under way for the upcoming twentieth high school reunion. There’s nothing like a reunion to stir up memories, rivalries, and insecurities. It’s even put Crozet’s normally placid postmistress, Mary Minor ‘Harry’ Haristeen, who’s on the organizing committee, on edge, as she wonders if everything will come together on time. Still, when each member of the class receives an anonymous letter edged in the Crozet High School colors that reads ‘You’ll never get old,’ Harry takes it as a compliment. Others think it’s a joke. But even blitzed out on fresh catnip, Mrs. Murphy senses a much more sinister meaning. And the sly tiger cat is soon proven right…
when divinely handsome Charlie Ashcraft, the class womanizer, turns up dead with a bullet between his eyes. At first folks around Crozet figure that when a man is sleeping with other men’s wives, trouble is sure to follow. But when another threatening note to the members of the Class of 1980 is followed by the murder of a second classmate, it becomes all too clear that someone is determined to spoil this reunion…
someone who has waited twenty years to take bitter revenge. What could have happened so long ago to trigger such rage? While Harry, whose high school memories consist of football games and first love, tries to make sense of the crimes, it’s up to Mrs. Murphy, her feline pal Pewter, and the corgi Tee Tucker to try to sniff out the truth. Yet when ugly rumors surface and Harry herself has a brush with violence, Mrs. Murphy is the first to realize that in the killer’s mind, Harry’s been chosen Most Likely to Die. And now, unless the daring tiger cat and her animal pals can stop a relentless killer, Crozet High’s twentieth reunion may very well be Harry Haristeen’s last…
.

Claws and Effect

What do you get when you take an acclaimed author and pair her with a writer of the feline persuasion? A fiendishly clever mystery series that is the cat’s meow. Now Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown have done it again: concocted a purrfectly ingenious mystery that only a clever puss could untangle. And this time out, as murder makes its rounds at a hospital, tiger cat Mrs. Murphy must pounce on every clue to save her human from a coldly calculating killer. Claws and EffectAs winter puts tiny Crozet, Virginia, in a deep freeze, everyone seems to be suffering from a case of the winter blahs, including postmistress Mary Minor ‘Harry’ Haristeen, who knows things must be dull if the hottest topic of conversation is a chain letter from the mysterious Sister Sophonisba. Even Harry’s cats, Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, and her corgi Tee Tucker, haven’t been able to dig up any dirt lately. But life in this small Southern town is about to heat up…
. The first hint of trouble comes when Hank Brevard, the plant manager of Crozet Hospital, and head nurse Tussie Logan let drop a few remarks that hint at a hospital in turmoil. Then a malicious comment by the hospital’s director suggests that there’s bad blood between him and his star surgeon, handsome Dr. Bruce Buxton. Still, no one takes any of it seriously until Hank Brevard turns up dead in the hospital boiler room. Harry, who can’t resist a mystery, no matter how dangerous, decides to do some investigating of her own. What she finds is that the hospital is a hotbed of secrets, a closed little world where ego, jealousy, and illicit love often collide. But it’s Mrs. Murphy, roaming the netherworld of Crozet Hospital, who sniffs out the most telling fact: a secret room in the old section that dates back to the time of the Underground Railroad. Then Harry is attacked and another doctor is executed in cold blood. Now the usually mild mannered postmistress vows to bring the killer to justice. But when Harry gets too close to the truth, the culprit prescribes another premeditated murder. And only a quick witted cat and her animal pals stand between Harry and a homicidal maniac who means to ensure that she carries what she knows to the grave.

Catch as Cat Can

Never have two species co created a work of such suspense and humorous catitude as the wildly popular mystery series by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown. This time out, that agile witted tiger puss Mrs. Murphy makes the round of parties where Virginia’s Very Best People mingle with some of the worst. Together, she and her human must unravel a veritable cat s cradle of ambition, greed, and murder at the center of which waits a killer with the most tangled of motives. CATCH AS A CAT CANSpring has come to the Blue Ridge Mountains, and spring fever to the tiny town of Crozet. As the annual Dogwood Festival approaches, romantic maneuvers are rampant. Even equable postmistress Mary Minor Harry Haristeen inadvertently snatches a blind date from under the nose of manhunter Lottie Pearson, the university fundraiser. As for Mrs. Murphy, her interest in the exploding bird population is intensified by Pewter s discovery of a dead rare woodpeck*er near the back porch. Feline intuition tells her more mysteries lie ahead. And they do. A case of stolen hubcaps seems relatively straightforward until the truck that transported them to the unsuspecting O Bannon brothers upscale salvage yard turns out to be completely untraceable. And while everybody deplores the tipsy, raunchy behavior of young mechanic Roger O Bannon, nobody is sure it accounts for his sudden death over a sobering cup of coffee. But when his brother Sean will not authorize an autopsy and presses on with preparations for the Wrecker s Ball, the climax of the season s junketing, people start to whisper. Then, as violent thunderstorms sweep in from the west to shadow spring festivities, another death occurs could it be murder? Harry ponders whether the two deaths are connected. And as she and her furry cohorts the cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter and corgi Tee Tucker get mud on their boots and paws mapping local terrain and relationships and sniffing out telltale scents of villainy, someone is watching their every move. When a shooting leads to the discovery of a half million crisp, clean dollar bills that look to be very dirty, Harry s blood is really up. But by the time she s close to fingering a cold blooded murderer, Mrs. Murphy already knows who it is and who s next in line. She also knows that Harry, curious as a cat, does not have nine lives. And the one she does have is hanging by the thinnest of threads.

The Tail of the Tip-Off

Never have two species co created a work of such suspense and humorous catitude as the wildly popular mystery series by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown. This time out, that agile witted tiger puss Mrs. Murphy makes the round of parties where Virginia’s Very Best People mingle with some of the worst. Together, she and her human must unravel a veritable cat s cradle of ambition, greed, and murder at the center of which waits a killer with the most tangled of motives. CATCH AS A CAT CANSpring has come to the Blue Ridge Mountains, and spring fever to the tiny town of Crozet. As the annual Dogwood Festival approaches, romantic maneuvers are rampant. Even equable postmistress Mary Minor Harry Haristeen inadvertently snatches a blind date from under the nose of manhunter Lottie Pearson, the university fundraiser. As for Mrs. Murphy, her interest in the exploding bird population is intensified by Pewter s discovery of a dead rare woodpeck*er near the back porch. Feline intuition tells her more mysteries lie ahead. And they do. A case of stolen hubcaps seems relatively straightforward until the truck that transported them to the unsuspecting O Bannon brothers upscale salvage yard turns out to be completely untraceable. And while everybody deplores the tipsy, raunchy behavior of young mechanic Roger O Bannon, nobody is sure it accounts for his sudden death over a sobering cup of coffee. But when his brother Sean will not authorize an autopsy and presses on with preparations for the Wrecker s Ball, the climax of the season s junketing, people start to whisper. Then, as violent thunderstorms sweep in from the west to shadow spring festivities, another death occurs could it be murder? Harry ponders whether the two deaths are connected. And as she and her furry cohorts the cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter and corgi Tee Tucker get mud on their boots and paws mapping local terrain and relationships and sniffing out telltale scents of villainy, someone is watching their every move. When a shooting leads to the discovery of a half million crisp, clean dollar bills that look to be very dirty, Harry s blood is really up. But by the time she s close to fingering a cold blooded murderer, Mrs. Murphy already knows who it is and who s next in line. She also knows that Harry, curious as a cat, does not have nine lives. And the one she does have is hanging by the thinnest of threads.

Whisker of Evil

A mysterious death in a Virginia farm town has the locals scratching their heads while frisky feline Mrs. Murphy and her friends, fat cat Pewter and corgi Tee Tucker, uncover clues as they curl their way around a cold blooded killer. This balmy summer in Crozet, Virginia, postmistress Mary Minor Harry Haristeen has a lot to think about. Things have been pretty cozy between her and her ex husband, Fair and her beloved old post office is in danger of being replaced with a modern building and modern rules. Harry’s thoughtful contemplation is shattered the day she stumbles over a dead body near Potlicker Creek. Barry Monteith, the handsome local horse breeder, has been savagely murdered. A true ladies man, Barry was known to have left a string of broken hearts behind him. But could a spurned lover be responsible for his untimely demise? The plot only thickens when an autopsy reveals that Barry was infected with rabies weeks before he was killed. As usual, Harry can t resist doing a little digging with Mrs. Murphy close by to warn of approaching danger. Harry makes a remarkable discovery in the creek the class ring of Mary Pat Reines, a local woman who disappeared thirty years earlier along with her prized Thoroughbred stallion. Like Barry, Mary Pat was a successful horse breeder and now all of Crozet is wondering if the two cases are linked. As the police struggle with the evidence, the pressure gets hotter than a June afternoon especially when another person is found dead of less than natural causes. As usual, Mrs. Murphy and her crew are the first to sniff out the truth. But if they don t find a way to help Harry piece together the puzzle, she could become the killer s next target and even Mrs. Murphy s slinkiest moves won t be able to save her. From the Hardcover edition.

Cat’s Eyewitness

It’s no secret that cats are a mystery writer s best friend. Just ask the bestselling team of Rita Mae Brown and her furry partner, Sneaky Pie Brown, back on the prowl with another unforgettable whodunit. This time a controversial miracle in Virginia s Blue Ridge Mountains sparks religious fervor and a suspicious death. Now the indefatigable felines Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, along with the dogged corgi Tee Tucker, must trust their animal instincts to sniff out the worst of human nature…
. With the holidays approaching, Mary Minor Harry Haristeen and her best friend, Susan Tucker, take a much needed time out at the mountain monastery of Mount Carmel. There, under the benevolent gaze of the statue of the Virgin Mary, their worldly worries are soon overshadowed. For in front of their very eyes the statue begins to cry tears of blood. Legend has it that Mary s crimson tears are harbingers of crises. And though skeptical, the ever practical Harry can already see one on the horizon. If leaked, news of the so called miracle could turn the monastery and the town of Crozet into a circus. What Harry doesn t foresee is murder. When Susan s great uncle Thomas, a resident monk, is found frozen to death at the base of the statue, foul play is ruled out at first. But at Harry s urging, the body is exhumed for an autopsy. There s just one problem: the coffin is empty. That s when Mrs. Murphy, Pewter, and Tucker get involved. Then there s the shocking revelation of a mystery that has perplexed the citizens of Crozet for ages. With Christmas around the corner and the monastery overrun by the faithful, all Harry s meddling menagerie can do is stay on her trail as she jumps knee deep into an unofficial investigation one that becomes more dangerous when another Crozet citizen meets an untimely demise. In this case it will be a miracle if Harry stays alive…
. From the Hardcover edition.

Sour Puss

In this latest whodunit, Rita Mae Brown and her feline partner-in-crime-detection, Sneaky Pie Brown, return to the scene of their bestselling crimes-picturesque Crozet, Virginia. Love is in the air as spring comes to the small town, but no sooner has Mary Minor ‘Harry’ Haristeen remarried than she is rudely interrupted-by murder. And no sooner does the trouble start than curious cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, along with corgi Tee Tucker, sink their claws into the case….

After an unexpected rekindling of their romance, Harry and her veterinarian ex-husband, Fair Haristeen, have happily remarried. But the excitement of their nuptials is quickly overshadowed by the murder of Professor Vincent Forland, a world-famous grape and fungal expert who was in town visiting the local vineyards.

Within days of giving a lecture on how distilled fungus and cattle diseases are the current basis of chemical warfare, Forland’s decapitated body is discovered. After their initial fright, the residents of Crozet believe that this was a political murder and settle back into their routines-until a local is also found dead, killed in the same gruesome manner as Professor Forland. Now residents can’t help wondering, is this really the work of an
outsider-or one of their own?

No longer working in the post office, Harry had just planted a quarter acre of grapes, which fuels her natural curiosity over just what the two murder victims knew and had in common. Once the warmth of spring arrives, the grapevines blossom and Harry’s furry entourage discovers the first critical clue. But how can they show the humans what they’ve learned? And how can they-or anyone-stop the killing?

Puss ‘n Cahoots

In this latest whodunit, Rita Mae Brown and her feline partner-in-crime-detection, Sneaky Pie Brown, return to the scene of their bestselling crimes-picturesque Crozet, Virginia. Love is in the air as spring comes to the small town, but no sooner has Mary Minor ‘Harry’ Haristeen remarried than she is rudely interrupted-by murder. And no sooner does the trouble start than curious cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, along with corgi Tee Tucker, sink their claws into the case….

After an unexpected rekindling of their romance, Harry and her veterinarian ex-husband, Fair Haristeen, have happily remarried. But the excitement of their nuptials is quickly overshadowed by the murder of Professor Vincent Forland, a world-famous grape and fungal expert who was in town visiting the local vineyards.

Within days of giving a lecture on how distilled fungus and cattle diseases are the current basis of chemical warfare, Forland’s decapitated body is discovered. After their initial fright, the residents of Crozet believe that this was a political murder and settle back into their routines-until a local is also found dead, killed in the same gruesome manner as Professor Forland. Now residents can’t help wondering, is this really the work of an
outsider-or one of their own?

No longer working in the post office, Harry had just planted a quarter acre of grapes, which fuels her natural curiosity over just what the two murder victims knew and had in common. Once the warmth of spring arrives, the grapevines blossom and Harry’s furry entourage discovers the first critical clue. But how can they show the humans what they’ve learned? And how can they-or anyone-stop the killing?

The Purrfect Murder

New York Times bestselling authors Rita Mae Brown and her feline partner, Sneaky Pie Brown, are back for the holidays in a new mystery featuring Mary Minor Harry Haristeen, the sleuthing cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, and corgi Tee Tucker. Can they save the season from a killjoy who’s decided to gift the festive little town with murder? As Harry well knows, there s hardly a place on earth cozier than Crozet, Virginia, at Christmastime. The snowflakes drifting lazily down, the soft glow of the winter light, the sound of old carols in the streets even cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter get into the spirit batting ornaments and climbing the holiday tree. In fact, it s this year s tree that Harry and her husband, Fair, have gone to fetch when they find the one they ve chosen grimly decorated with a dead body. The tree farm is run by The Brothers of Love, a semimonastic organization that tends to AIDS patients. The brothers live in a monastery atop the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains. Harry is surprised to find an old high school friend associated with The Brothers of Love. Christopher Hewitt wasn t a bad man, but good works weren t exactly one of his priorities. But then, if even Scrooge could turn over a new leaf, certainly Chris could. And after the scandal that all but destroyed his life, there were probably few in Crozet who needed the gift of a second chance more. Harry knows she shouldn t take it personally, but it was her tree that someone left the corpse under. Now, as the season grows merrier, a murderer is growing bolder. One by one, prominent men of Crozet are being crossed off Christmas shopping lists and added to the morgue. And if Harry and her four legged helpers aren t very good and very careful this Christmas may be her last.

Santa Clawed

New York Times bestselling authors Rita Mae Brown and her feline partner, Sneaky Pie Brown, are back for the holidays in a new mystery featuring Mary Minor Harry Haristeen, the sleuthing cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, and corgi Tee Tucker. Can they save the season from a killjoy who’s decided to gift the festive little town with murder? As Harry well knows, there s hardly a place on earth cozier than Crozet, Virginia, at Christmastime. The snowflakes drifting lazily down, the soft glow of the winter light, the sound of old carols in the streets even cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter get into the spirit batting ornaments and climbing the holiday tree. In fact, it s this year s tree that Harry and her husband, Fair, have gone to fetch when they find the one they ve chosen grimly decorated with a dead body. The tree farm is run by The Brothers of Love, a semimonastic organization that tends to AIDS patients. The brothers live in a monastery atop the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains. Harry is surprised to find an old high school friend associated with The Brothers of Love. Christopher Hewitt wasn t a bad man, but good works weren t exactly one of his priorities. But then, if even Scrooge could turn over a new leaf, certainly Chris could. And after the scandal that all but destroyed his life, there were probably few in Crozet who needed the gift of a second chance more. Harry knows she shouldn t take it personally, but it was her tree that someone left the corpse under. Now, as the season grows merrier, a murderer is growing bolder. One by one, prominent men of Crozet are being crossed off Christmas shopping lists and added to the morgue. And if Harry and her four legged helpers aren t very good and very careful this Christmas may be her last.

Cat of the Century

Acclaimed authors Rita Mae Brown and her feline partner, Sneaky Pie Brown, are back with this new mystery starring Mary Minor Harry Haristeen, the sleuthing cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, and corgi Tee Tucker. And this time they must catch a killer determined to turn a birthday party into a funeral. Harry’s beloved and tart tongued Aunt Tally is about to turn the big 1 0 0. The alumnae association of her alma mater sees an opportunity to honor the event and make some loot off the centennial as well. The plan is to hold a big fund raiser in Aunt Tally s honor to recoup some of the school revenue lost in the cratered economy. But soon there s more at risk than investments and endowments. First, an impending blizzard threatens to ruin the whole affair. Then a suspicious transaction is discovered in the association s account: board member Mariah D Angelo has mysteriously withdrawn and then replaced $25,000. But was that enough to get her killed? Mariah s car is on campus, she s gone missing, and Tucker has found human blood near the school s stables. What s behind the disappearance? Was it Mariah s donations to crafty politicians and crooked charities? Her rivalry with fellow board member Flo Langston? And is there a connection to the forty year old unsolved death of an old acquaintance of Aunt Tally s? Using animal cunning and human canniness, Harry and her menagerie of mystery solvers must sniff out the answers or even at a hundred years old Aunt Talley may outlive them all.

Hiss of Death

Beloved authors Rita Mae Brown and her feline co conspirator, Sneaky Pie Brown, sow the seeds of an all new mystery featuring Mary Minor Harry Haristeen, sleuthing cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, and that incorrigible corgi Tee Tucker. This time around, the onset of spring ushers in more than hay fever as the animal friends must come to the aid of an ailing Harry to sniff out the season’s first blossom of murder. Ah, spring! The redbuds open, the robins return, and the days lengthen. People s spirits lift as do those of their animal companions. As a wave of tilling and planting sweeps over Crozet, Virginia, Harry is especially excited: This year is her first harvesting grapes to sell. But then a health crisis sends her reeling into the forbidding world of hospitals and doctors, treatments and procedures. Surviving this journey will be tough, but Mrs. Murphy, Pewter, and Tucker will do their best to steer Harry in the right direction as will her ever helpful husband, Fair. Others will have worse luck: An especially promising nurse s lifeless body is discovered without a mark on her. Then another hospital employee, who had seemed in perfect health, is also found dead. It s clear there s a mystery afoot and that s one thing Harry and her menagerie can t keep their noses out of.

The Big Cat Nap

To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the beloved Mrs. Murphy mystery series, Rita Mae Brown and her intrepid feline co author Sneaky Pie Brown return with a charming claw biting tale starring Mary Minor Harry Haristeen. Of course prowling faithfully at Harry’s side are the sleuthing cats Mrs. Murphy, ever wise, and Pewter, reliably cranky and always primed with a razor sharp quip. Fiercely loyal and on the alert, corgi Tee Tucker is also never far behind. This time, Harry and her menagerie throw a wrench into the gears of a killer of grease monkeys. It s mid May, and Crozet, Virginia, is heating up fast, or so it seems to Harry. The town s beloved ex post mistress is never idle, dividing her time between raising this year s bounty of crops; taking care of her veterinarian husband, Fair; indulging her passion for classic cars; and adding further to her reputation as a nosy neighbor. It starts when Harry s dear friend Miranda Hogendobber takes her on a leisurely drive that ends in a narrow drainage ditch. The chaos continues when the Very Reverend Herbert Jones s Chevy pick up also abruptly goes kaput. But these vehicular mishaps are nothing compared to the much more distressing state of a mechanic discovered by Harry in a local repair shop: His head s been bashed in. Despite numerous warnings from her much loved coterie of friends, human and otherwise, Harry rather quickly surmises that the time has come to pop the hood and conduct her own investigation. Her animal companions see disaster fast approaching but can do little except try their best to protect their foolishly intrepid human. Harry s race to the truth leads straight to powerful forces determined to avoid scrutiny at any cost even if it means running Harry Haristeen off the road for good.

Sneaky Pie for President

To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the beloved Mrs. Murphy mystery series, Rita Mae Brown and her intrepid feline co author Sneaky Pie Brown return with a charming claw biting tale starring Mary Minor Harry Haristeen. Of course prowling faithfully at Harry’s side are the sleuthing cats Mrs. Murphy, ever wise, and Pewter, reliably cranky and always primed with a razor sharp quip. Fiercely loyal and on the alert, corgi Tee Tucker is also never far behind. This time, Harry and her menagerie throw a wrench into the gears of a killer of grease monkeys. It s mid May, and Crozet, Virginia, is heating up fast, or so it seems to Harry. The town s beloved ex post mistress is never idle, dividing her time between raising this year s bounty of crops; taking care of her veterinarian husband, Fair; indulging her passion for classic cars; and adding further to her reputation as a nosy neighbor. It starts when Harry s dear friend Miranda Hogendobber takes her on a leisurely drive that ends in a narrow drainage ditch. The chaos continues when the Very Reverend Herbert Jones s Chevy pick up also abruptly goes kaput. But these vehicular mishaps are nothing compared to the much more distressing state of a mechanic discovered by Harry in a local repair shop: His head s been bashed in. Despite numerous warnings from her much loved coterie of friends, human and otherwise, Harry rather quickly surmises that the time has come to pop the hood and conduct her own investigation. Her animal companions see disaster fast approaching but can do little except try their best to protect their foolishly intrepid human. Harry s race to the truth leads straight to powerful forces determined to avoid scrutiny at any cost even if it means running Harry Haristeen off the road for good.

Six of One

If you crossed Mitford, North Carolina, with Peyton Place, you might come up with Runnymede, Maryland, the most beguiling of Southern towns. In Loose Lips, Rita Mae Brown revisits Runnymede and the beloved characters introduced in Six of One and Bingo, serving up an exuberant portrayal of small town sins and Southern mores, set against a backdrop of homefront life during World War II.’I’m afraid life is passing me by,’ Louise told her sister.’No, it’s not,’ Juts said. ‘Life can’t pass us by. We are life.’In the picturesque town of Runnymede, everyone knows everyone else’s business, and the madcap antics of the battling Hunsenmeir sisters, Julia Juts and Louise, have kept the whole town agog ever since they were children. Now, in the fateful year of 1941, with America headed for war, the sisters are inching toward forty…
and Juts is unwise enough to mention that unspeakable reality to her sister. The result is a huge brawl that litters Cadwalder’s soda fountain with four hundred dollars’ worth of broken glass. To pay the debt, the sisters choose a surprisingly new direction. Suddenly they are joint owners of The Curl ‘n’ Twirl beauty salon, where discriminating ladies meet to be primped, permed, and pampered while dishing the town’s latest dirt. As Juts and Louise become Runnymede’s most unlikely new career women, each faces her share of obstacles. Restless Juts can’t shake her longing for a baby, while holier than thou Louise is fit to be tied over her teenage daughter’s headlong rush toward scandal. As usual, the sisters rarely see eye to eye, and there are plenty of opinions to go around. Even the common bond of patriotic duty brings wildly unexpected results when the twosome joins the Civil Air Patrol, watching the night sky for German Stukas. But loose lips can sink even the closest relationships, and Juts and Louise are about to discover that some things are best left unsaid. Spanning a decade in the lives of Louise, Juts, and their nearest and dearest, including the incomparable Celeste Chalfonte, Loose Lips is an unforgettable tale of love and loss and the way life can always throw you a curveball. By turns poignant and hilarious, it is deepened by Rita Mae Brown’s unerring insight into the human heart. From the Hardcover edition.

Bingo

If you crossed Mitford, North Carolina, with Peyton Place, you might come up with Runnymede, Maryland, the most beguiling of Southern towns. In Loose Lips, Rita Mae Brown revisits Runnymede and the beloved characters introduced in Six of One and Bingo, serving up an exuberant portrayal of small town sins and Southern mores, set against a backdrop of homefront life during World War II.’I’m afraid life is passing me by,’ Louise told her sister.’No, it’s not,’ Juts said. ‘Life can’t pass us by. We are life.’In the picturesque town of Runnymede, everyone knows everyone else’s business, and the madcap antics of the battling Hunsenmeir sisters, Julia Juts and Louise, have kept the whole town agog ever since they were children. Now, in the fateful year of 1941, with America headed for war, the sisters are inching toward forty…
and Juts is unwise enough to mention that unspeakable reality to her sister. The result is a huge brawl that litters Cadwalder’s soda fountain with four hundred dollars’ worth of broken glass. To pay the debt, the sisters choose a surprisingly new direction. Suddenly they are joint owners of The Curl ‘n’ Twirl beauty salon, where discriminating ladies meet to be primped, permed, and pampered while dishing the town’s latest dirt. As Juts and Louise become Runnymede’s most unlikely new career women, each faces her share of obstacles. Restless Juts can’t shake her longing for a baby, while holier than thou Louise is fit to be tied over her teenage daughter’s headlong rush toward scandal. As usual, the sisters rarely see eye to eye, and there are plenty of opinions to go around. Even the common bond of patriotic duty brings wildly unexpected results when the twosome joins the Civil Air Patrol, watching the night sky for German Stukas. But loose lips can sink even the closest relationships, and Juts and Louise are about to discover that some things are best left unsaid. Spanning a decade in the lives of Louise, Juts, and their nearest and dearest, including the incomparable Celeste Chalfonte, Loose Lips is an unforgettable tale of love and loss and the way life can always throw you a curveball. By turns poignant and hilarious, it is deepened by Rita Mae Brown’s unerring insight into the human heart. From the Hardcover edition.

Loose Lips

If you crossed Mitford, North Carolina, with Peyton Place, you might come up with Runnymede, Maryland, the most beguiling of Southern towns. In Loose Lips, Rita Mae Brown revisits Runnymede and the beloved characters introduced in Six of One and Bingo, serving up an exuberant portrayal of small town sins and Southern mores, set against a backdrop of homefront life during World War II.’I’m afraid life is passing me by,’ Louise told her sister.’No, it’s not,’ Juts said. ‘Life can’t pass us by. We are life.’In the picturesque town of Runnymede, everyone knows everyone else’s business, and the madcap antics of the battling Hunsenmeir sisters, Julia Juts and Louise, have kept the whole town agog ever since they were children. Now, in the fateful year of 1941, with America headed for war, the sisters are inching toward forty…
and Juts is unwise enough to mention that unspeakable reality to her sister. The result is a huge brawl that litters Cadwalder’s soda fountain with four hundred dollars’ worth of broken glass. To pay the debt, the sisters choose a surprisingly new direction. Suddenly they are joint owners of The Curl ‘n’ Twirl beauty salon, where discriminating ladies meet to be primped, permed, and pampered while dishing the town’s latest dirt. As Juts and Louise become Runnymede’s most unlikely new career women, each faces her share of obstacles. Restless Juts can’t shake her longing for a baby, while holier than thou Louise is fit to be tied over her teenage daughter’s headlong rush toward scandal. As usual, the sisters rarely see eye to eye, and there are plenty of opinions to go around. Even the common bond of patriotic duty brings wildly unexpected results when the twosome joins the Civil Air Patrol, watching the night sky for German Stukas. But Loose Lips can sink even the closest relationships, and Juts and Louise are about to discover that some things are best left unsaid. Spanning a decade in the lives of Louise, Juts, and their nearest and dearest, including the incomparable Celeste Chalfonte, Loose Lips is an unforgettable tale of love and loss and the way life can always throw you a curveball. By turns poignant and hilarious, it is deepened by Rita Mae Brown’s unerring insight into the human heart. From the Hardcover edition.

The Sand Castle

InThe Sand Castle, beloved American novelist Rita Mae Brown Rubyfruit Jungle revisits some of her most spirited and unforgettable characters& 8212sisters Juts and Wheezie Hunsenmeir, and Juts’s precocious young daughter, Nickel& 8212as they come together to cope with a life defining loss. It s August, 1952, and seven year old Nickel sets off for a day at the seashore with her mother, aunt, and cousin Leroy. Everyone s excited when they reach Chesapeake Bay& 8212everyone except for Leroy, who is recently motherless and frightened of the world around him. Nickel delights in tormenting her cousin, but, as the group lounges on the beach and begins work on a magnificent sand castle, the sisters try to coax him out of his shell. As the sun swings higher in the sky, Nickel s taunting of Leroy escalates and the weight of family history between her mother and aunt rises to the surface& 8212until Leroy is bitten by a crab and all of their arguments fall away. It isn t until years later that Nickel can see that single day at the beach for what it truly was& 8212a life changing lesson on family and all the pleasure and heartbreak that comes with it.

Outfoxed

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.

Hotspur

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 as*sess 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.

Full Cry

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.

The Hunt Ball

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.

The Hounds and the Fury

Critics and fans alike are wild about Rita Mae Brown’s richly imagined and utterly engaging foxhunting mysteries and this latest novel promises more thrilling hunts, breathtaking vistas, and an all new sinister scandal.

Millions of dollars seem to be missing after a long overdue audit of the local aluminum plant reveals a major accounting discrepancy. Company president Garvey Stokes finds himself at a loss in more ways than one. He turns to his sharp tongued, ornery bookkeeper, Iphigenia Iffy Demetrios, for an explanation, but she s no help. Yet when the fuzzy math suddenly includes a body count, the figures can no longer be ignored.

While the town sheriff tries to get to the bottom of the matter, leave it to Sister Jane Arnold, venerable master of the Jefferson Hunt Club, to rely on her keen horse and hound sense to follow the trail of murder and cover up. Throwing her off the scent, however, is former hunt club donor and all around cad Crawford Howard, who thinks he can go toe to toe with the beloved septuagenarian and outclass her club by grossly sidestepping hound and hunt etiquette. Against the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a menagerie of friends, foes, and fresh new faces saddle up for the breakneck ride to unravel the conspiracy. Even the furry denizens in the fields and boroughs have a thing or two to say about these peculiar humans.

Incomparable author Rita Mae Brown returns to the glorious hills of Virginia and its genteel foxhunting society, where how much money you have in the bank is not nearly as important as how long your family has lived on the land and where nearly everyone has something to hide. As Sister muses, The little secrets leak out. The big ones, well, some escape like evils from Pandora s box. And others we ll never know.

From the Hardcover edition.

The Tell-tale Horse

The hunt is on in this new installment of Rita Mae Brown’s clever and engaging series. Only instead of chasing foxes into their dens, the locals must track down a killer and save the life of one of the most beloved folks in town.

It s February, prime foxhunting season for the members of Virginia s Jefferson Hunt Club. The girls at Custis Hall are finishing their last semester before heading off to college, the entrepreneurially shrewd Crawford Howard is still smarting from January s breech in hound etiquette, and the Casanova Hunt Club is hosting their annual ball. New neighbors bring new friendships, and romance is in the air.

Then a shocking event alarms the community. A woman is found brutally murdered, stripped naked, and meticulously placed atop a horse statue outside a tack shop. The theft of a treasured foxhunting prize inside the store may be linked to the grisly scene, and everyone is on edge.

With few clues to go on, Sister Jane Arnold, master of the Jefferson Hunt Club, uses her fine tuned horse sense to try to solve the mystery of this Lady Godiva murder. The septuagenarian still has a strong spring in her step and her wits about her, but that may not be enough. As Sister gets closer to the truth, she could become the killer s next victim.

But humans aren t the only ones equipped to sniff out the trail. The local foxes, horses, and hounds have their own theories on the whodunit. If only these peculiar people could just listen to them, they d see that the killer might be right under their oblivious noses.

Once again, this charming southern community finds itself caught up in a bone chilling tale of murder and greed. It s up to everyone, two and four legged alike, to band together, beat the bushes, and bring to bay the evil forces that have declared the Jefferson Hunt Club fair game because foul play is never in season.

Hounded to Death

From New York Times bestselling author Rita Mae Brown comes the latest novel in her enthralling series of foxhunting mysteries. Richly imagined and utterly engaging, Hounded to Death reveals the cutthroat world of competitive hound shows as both humans and animals alike try to solve a series of bizarre deaths.

Sister Jane Arnold, esteemed master of the Jefferson Hunt Club, has traveled to Kentucky for one of the biggest events of the season: the Mid South Hound Show, where foxhounds, bassets, and beagles gather to strut their champion bloodline stuff. But the fun is squelched when, immediately after the competition, one of the contestants, Mo Schneider, turns up dead facedown, stripped to the waist, and peppered with birdshot. Universally detested by his peers, Mo had no shortage of enemies, making the list of suspects as long as the line for homemade pecan pie at a church bake sale.

Two weeks later, back in Virginia, Sister is rocked when her friend the popular veterinarian Hope Rogers dies from what appears to be a self inflicted gunshot wound. Sister refuses to believe that Hope killed herself and vows to sniff out the truth. But before she can make real headway, a wealthy pet food manufacturer vanishes during the granddaddy of all canine exhibitions, the Virginia Hound Show.

Ever reliant on her horse sense, Sister can t help but connect the three incidents. And what she uncovers will make her blood run colder than the bodies that keep turning up in unexpected places.

Thrilling adventures with horses and hounds, breathtaking vistas, furry friends, familiar faces including Shaker Crown and the girls from Custis Hall Rita Mae Brown weaves all these elements into a dazzling novel of suspense.

Rubyfruit Jungle

Rubyfruit Jungle is the first milestone novel in the extraordinary career of one of this country’s most distinctive writers. Bawdy and moving, the ultimate word of mouth bestseller, Rubyfruit Jungle is about growing up a lesbian in America and living happily ever after. Born a bast*ard, Molly Bolt is adopted by a dirt poor Southern couple who want something better for their daughter. Molly plays doctor with the boys, beats up Leroy the tub and loses her virginity to her girlfriend in sixth grade. As she grows to realize she’s different, Molly decides not to apologize for that. In no time she mesmerizes the head cheerleader of Ft. Lauderdale High and captivates a gorgeous bourbon guzzling heiress. But the world is not tolerant. Booted out of college for moral turpitude, an unrepentant, penniless Molly takes New York by storm, sending not a few female hearts aflutter with her startling beauty, crackling wit and fierce determination to become the greatest filmmaker that ever lived. Critically acclaimed when first published, Rubyfruit Jungle has only grown in reputation as it has reached new generations of readers who respond to its feisty and inspiring hero*ine. From the Paperback edition.

In Her Day

For years a ‘lost’ collector’s item, here is the second novel from a brilliant young author testing her literary muscle, and it’s bursting at the seams with Rita Mae Brown’s trademark cast of characters and crackling quips. Written immediately after her classic Rubyfruit Jungle, In Her Day takes a loving swipe at the charged political atmosphere of Greenwich Village in the early seventies. Elegant art history professor Carole Hanratty insists brains transcend lust until she crashes into Ilse, a revolutionary feminist flush with the arrogance of youth. Blazing with rhetoric, their romance is a sexual and ideological inferno. Ilse campaigns to get Carole to join The Movement, but forty four year old Carole and her zany peers have twenty years of fight behind them and are wary of causes bogged down in talk. After all, says Carole’s best friend, the real reason for a revolution is so the good things in life circulate. Her idea of subversion is hiring a Rolls Royce to go to McDonald’s. In Her Day, with its infectious merriment and serious underpinnings, proves that if politics is the great divider, humor is the ultimate restorative.

Southern Discomfort

Only Rita Mae Brown, author of Rubyfruit Jungle, could have written a novel as passionately delightful as Southern Discomfort. Here is a witty, warm and pentrating tale of two decades in Montgomery Alabama a world where all is not what it seems. Meet Hortensia Reedmuller Banastre, a beautiful woman entrenched on old money, white magnolia and a loveless marriage until she meets an utterly gorgeous young prizefighter. Amid such memorable characters as Banana Mae Parker and Blue Rhonda Latrec two first class who*res and Reverend Linton Ray who wears his clerical collar too tightly for anyone’s good, Hortensia struggles to survive the hurricane of emotions caused by her scandalous love. How she ultimately triumphs is a touching and beautiful human drama an intense and exuberant affair of the heart.

Sudden Death

Outrageous, irrepressible and endlessly entertaining, the bestselling author of Rubyfruit Jungle and Bingo spins a behind the scenes tale of women’s professional tennis that dramtically intertwines the heart stopping excitement of competition and the lingering heartache of intimate human bonds. Carmen Semanan loves three things passionalty: tennis, money and professor Harriet Rawls. Just twenty four, Carmen is at her peak as one of the world’s top seeded tennis champions, determined to win the coveted Grand Slam. She is protected from everything but the grueling demands of her sport by an avericious agent and her devoted gusty Harriet. All the odds are in her favor. But there are weeds growing in her paradise patch. Carmen’s vey latin brother, Miguel, parlays her succes into a financial house of cards with deals that include smuggling, forgery, and fraud. Susan Reilly, Carmen’s archrival and former lover, leaks word of Carms’s relationship with Harriet to the press and tennis’s best kept secret is blown into a front page scandal. From the French Open to Wimbledon, jealousies, ambitions and passions are set to explode. Now, with everything she cherishes on the line, Carmen must test the true depths of her feelings both on and off the court.

High Hearts

In her most recent New York Times bestseller, Rita Mae Brown tells the story of Geneva Chatfield and Nash Hart, who are married just five days before the South secedes from the Union. To stay with her husband, spirited Geneva cuts her hair, dons a uniform and joins the cavalry. High Hearts is Rita Mae Brown’s breakthrough novel, rich in adventures and memorable characters.

Venus Envy

At thirty five, Mary Frazier Armstrong, called ‘Frazier’ by friends and enemies alike, is a sophisticated woman with a thriving art gallery, a healthy bank balance, and an enviable social position. In fact, she has everything to live for, but she’s lying in a hospital bed with a morphine drip in her arm and a life expectancy measured in hours. ‘Don’t die a stranger,’ her assistant says on her last hospital visit. ‘Tell the people you love who you are.’ And so, as her last act on earth, Frazier writes letters to her closest family and friends, telling them exactly what she thinks of them and, since she will be dead by the time they receive the letters, the truth about herself: she’s gay. The letters are sent. Then the manure hits the fan in Charlottesville, Virginia, because the funny thing is, Frazier Armstrong isn’t going to die after all.

Dolley

She had the president’s ear and the nation’s heart. She’s the wife of the fourth president of the United States; a spirited charmer who adores parties, the latest French fashions, and the tender, brilliant man who is her husband. But while many love her, few suspect how complex Dolley Madison really is. Only in the pages of her diary as imagined by novelist Rita Mae Brown can Dolley fully reveal herself. And there we discover the real first lady impulsive, courageous, and wise as she faces her harshest trial: in 1814, the United States is once more at war with mighty Britain, and her beloved James is the most hated man in America. From the White House receptions she gaily presides over to her wild escape from a Washington under siege, Dolley gives us a legend ,made warmly human. For there has never been a first lady so tested or one who came through the fire so brilliantly.

Riding Shotgun

The author of Venus Envy takes you on a riotous ride back to one woman’s future…
In a delightful contemporary farce with a riotous twist, Rita Mae Brown welcomes you to Virginia’s horse country, where a fox hunt is about to lead a 1990s woman, Cig Blackwood, into a 1690s adventure of the heart. Infidelity, single motherhood, family betrayal, and the thrill of the hunt in many varieties are hilariously and poignantly played out in this captivating novel of time travel and self discovery. From the Paperback edition.

Alma Mater

‘Sex makes monkeys out of all of us. If you don?t give in to it, you wind up a cold, unfeeling bast*ard. If you do, you spend the rest of your life picking up the pieces.’ from Alma MaterFrom the bestselling author of Rubyfruit Jungle comes an erotic and heartfelt new novel of sexual awakening, family loyalty, and unexpected first love. Everyone on the William & Mary campus knows Victoria ‘Vic’ Savedge. The six foot tall, raven haired beauty can hardly blend into the cobblestones? especially on the arm of Charly Harrison, the school?s football star and son of one of Virginia’s most prominent families. Now, at the start of her senior year, Vic’s future is mapped out in detail, courtesy of her mother, R.J., and her aunt Bunny. The plan is simple: Vic will marry Charly and settle into the role of a well respected politician’s wife. Though bright and branded by a fiery streak of independence, Vic hasn’t really considered any other options. Until she meets a woman named Chris. A transfer from Vermont, Chris is new to Southern mores and attitudes. Instantly captivated by Vic’s beauty and larger than life personality, she finds herself drawn to the entire quirky but charming Savedge family. But the young women’s friendship is not your basic college girl variety. For neither can resist their mutual attraction?an attraction that erupts into a passion that will forever change the course of both their lives. To embrace her true sexuality and sacrifice happiness with a man whom she truly loves are the wrenching decisions that Vic must face. It is a struggle at once terrifying and exhilarating. Just when she makes up her mind, she discovers that fate has its own surprising plan awaiting in the wings. In her inimitable fashion, Rita Mae Brown brings to life plucky Southern sensibilities and characters grappling with profound emotional issues. A young woman’s sudden, intense knowledge of herself?and all the conflicts and physical joys that it entails?are the backbone of this bold and tender love story.

Starting from Scratch: A Different Kind of Writer’s Manual

From the best selling author of Rubyfruit Jungle and Bingo, here is a writers’ manual as provocative, frank, and funny as her fiction. Unlike most writers’ guides, this one had as much to do with how writers live as with mastering the tools of their trade. Rita Mae Brown begins with a very personal account of her own career, from her days as a young poet who had written a novel no publisher wanted to take a chance on, right up to her recent adventures as a Hollywood screenwriter. In a sassy style that makes her outspoken advice as entertaining as it is useful, she provides straight talk about paying the rent while maintaining the energy to write; and dealing with agents, publishers, critics, and the publicity circus; about pursuingj ournalisim, academia, or screen writing; and about rejecting the Hemingway myth of the hard living, hard drinking genius. In addition Brown, a former teacher or writing, offers a serious examination of the writer’s tool language, plotting, characters, symbolism plus exercises to sharpen the ear for dialogue, and a fascinating, annoted reading list of important works from the seventh century to the late twentieth. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Rita Will: Memoir of a Literary Rabble-Rouser

From the author of ‘Rubyfruit Jungle’ comes a ‘wonderfully thoughtful, funny memoir’ ‘Publishers Weekly’ filled with Brown’s trademark social commentary only this time the subject matter is herself. 8 page photo insert.

Sneaky Pie’s Cookbook for Mystery Lovers

Favorite recipes and anecdotes from the co author of the Mrs. Murphy Mysteries.

Sneaky Pie Brown, co author of such irresistible Mrs. Murphy mysteries as Murder on the Prowl, dishes up delectable fare for cats and humans alike in this unique collection of recipes spiced with witty personal anecdotes, including glimpses of life with co author Rita Mae Brown.

What do you serve when a kitty is bored with all the old standbys? Since cookbooks are written by humans for humans, Sneaky Pie Brown has produced a cookbook with appeal for fastidious felines, including such treats as Veal Kidney and Salmon Pie.

Ever the thoughtful hostess, Miss Pie has also included plenty of recipes to accommodate the visiting human or finicky dog. There’s Mother’s Fried Chicken, Christmas Goose, Big Dog’s Delight, and, of course, Mrs. Hogendobber’s Orange Buns, the very thought of which makes Mrs. Murphy fans’ mouths water.

Throughout there are also delightfully illustrated anecdotes for those Sneaky Pie fans eager to learn more about the dashing author. She even spills the beans about what happened to Rita Mae’s brand new pickup when a neighbor came calling with his goat.

For cats and cat lovers, this book combines real and tasty recipes with the same droll humor that made one reviewer declare, ‘As feline collaborators go, you couldn’t ask for better than Sneaky Pie Brown, the canny tiger cat’ The New York Times Book Review.

Animal Magnetism: My Life with Creatures Great and Small

Rita Mae Brown’s earliest memory is of the soothing purr of Mickey, her family s long haired tiger cat, who curled up and claimed a spot in her crib. From there, a steady parade of cats, dogs, horses, and all manner of two and four legged critters have walked, galloped, and flown into and through her world. In Animal Magnetism, the bestselling author shares the lessons she s learned from these marvelous creatures as well as her deep appreciation for them. Brown readily admits that she prefers the company of animals to people, a trait handed down from her mother. After all, Brown explains, There s no such thing as a dumb dog, but God knows there are continents filled with dumb humans. In fact, by observing the dogs on her farm, the horses in her stables, and the cats that have helped her flesh out her many novels, Brown has gained better insight into herself and other human beings one need only look at a chicken coop, she once realized, to see its striking similarity to her mother s clucking and preening group of friends. In hilarious and heartwarming stories, Brown introduces us to Franklin, a parrot with a wicked sense of humor; R.C., a courageous Doberman who defined loyalty and sacrifice; Suzie Q, the horse who taught her the meaning of hard work; Baby Jesus, a tough tiger cat from New York City with sharp teeth to match his attitude; and of course the beloved and prolific Sneaky Pie, who needs no introduction to her legions of fans. In her succinct and personable style, Brown also revisits the very human parts of her life growing up in the segregated South, dealing with the pain and the loss of those dearest to her, and coming into her own as an adult and as a writer. Every recollection here reveals nature s delight and wonder and offers solid evidence of the ability of animals to love. As funny as it is poignant, Animal Magnetism shows how these inspiring creatures, great and small, can bring out the best in us, restore us to our greater selves, and even save our lives.

I’d Kill For That

New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Crusie teams up with USA Today bestselling author Bob Mayer to write a sizzling, high octane romantic adventure about a straight talking woman and a straight shooting man
Lucy Armstrong is a director of television commercials who’s just been recruited to finish a four day action movie shoot. But she arrives on the set to discover that the directing staff has quit, the make up artist is suicidal, the stars are egomaniacs, the stunt director is her ex husband, and the lead actor has just acquired as an advisor a Green Beret who has the aggravating habit of always being right.

Green Beret Captain JT Wilder had thought that hiring on as a military consultant for a movie star was a good deal: easy money and easier starlets. Instead he has to babysit a bumbling comedian, dodge low flying helicopters, and resist his attraction to a director who bears a distracting resemblance to Wonder Woman. Then the CIA calls and he realizes that somebody is taking shooting a movie much too literally.
Full of suspense and humor, non stop action and fast paced dialogue, Don’t Look Down is the perfect blend of male and female, adventure and romance, Mayer and Crusie.

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