Hotspur

Rating:
Summary: Lots & lots of info on fox hunting in America!
Review: Okay, so Rita Mae indulged in her love of hunting a bit too much for some readers! I actually enjoyed learning about this, especially since I didn't know that in this country they merely chase the fox to his/her den, and try to avoid killing them. That was always the reason I avoided books on this in England, it seems an inhumane sport there on the line of cockfighting in this country. The interplay between the various animals always has me cracking up in Brown's novels. Since I have cats and dogs of my own, I am very aware they have personalities, and often consider us humans to be their pets rather than vice versa. I also remember long ago in biology they used to teach that we could not anthromorphize animals (give them human traits) like playing, but I've seen too many animals do things just for the plain fun of it rather than merely to eat and reproduce...another scientific fallacy hits the fan!

In this book, the mystery seemed more of a side plot, with the hunting information taking precedence. I am sure this is what other readers complained about. This was not a big enough flaw for me to avoid finishing the book, I actually got through it quickly because I enjoyed it. So it wasn't gory...big deal. The mystery dealt with an old cold case, that actually wasn't even a case, since no one knew what had happened to the people involved. One beautiful young woman disappears off the face of the earth, along with one of her boyfriends. Unfortunately, the inevitable change in ground and water levels, added to hunting and dogs digging brought up some old bones, proving to be human.

Sister, the head of the hunt in this area, may be older, but certainly has not lost either her riding/hunting abilities, or her concern for others. She's wise in the way we all hope we will age, losing our ability to hold grudges, finding forgiveness easier as we age, showing love when love and a kind touch are needed. She had me a bit worried at the end when she chased down the culprit of the murders, but everything worked out.

An enjoyable summer read.

Karen Sadler

Rating:
Summary: Hunt with Sister
Review: Sister returns to the Hunt, Master at 71 years. It is cubbing season but instead of teaching young foxes and young foxhounds she must discover why, after twenty years, the bones of a young woman are uncovered.
The story starts slowly then the tension increases to the beat of horses hooves and the voice of the hounds. Great imagery and an intriging puzzle. As in most of Rita Mae Brown's mysteries the animals, horses dog and foxes talk among themselves. Most of the time all except the horses are critical of the humans.

Rating:
Summary: for fans of the Mrs. Murphy series
Review: There is a small little town in Virginia that is quite quaint and magical, a place where the animals understand and speak to one another. The most influential people in town belong to the Jefferson Hunt Club, an organization where humans, horses and hounds combine to flush out the foxes. One day while walking the horses and hounds, the hound master "Sister" Jane Arnold sees an old horse that died in his sleep on After All farm.

Sister organizes the horse's burial but before it can be put in the ground, the body of a woman wearing a sapphire ring is dug up. The body is that of Nola, the daughter of Tedi and Edward Bancroft. The young woman disappeared one day in 1981. Also vanishing at the same time as Nola was Guy Ramy, her boyfriend and the sheriff's son. his body as shortly found later. Sister, with the help of some friends, both human and animal, are able to solve the decades old murders and bring peace to two grieving families.

Fans of the Mrs. Murphy series are going to love HOTSPUR, an enchanting tale where the animals delight the reader with their ready wit, common sense and love for their humans. Sister is a memorable heroine who knows how to guide the members of the Jefferson Hunt Club in the direction she wants them to go. Reader will want to finish this book in one sitting so they can find out who the killer is and what the motive was.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Bored to tears
Review: This could have been a fabulous story with interesting and compelling characters. Instead, we have another self-indulgent wallow in the world of fox-hunting and so-called gracious southern living. I gave up on Rita Mae Brown several years ago when she stopped writing inventive and intriguing novels and started writing stories about talking animals. Recently I picked up Hotspur hoping some of the old zing had come back into her writing. Sadly, it hasn't.

Rating:
Summary: Where oh where is Rita Mae Brown? I miss you!
Review: What a disappointment. Yet ANOTHER Rita Mae Brown book about ... big surprise ... foxhunting, Southern manners, and some kind of perceived aristocracy that some people fancy themselves belonging to. The animal personalities, descriptions and conversations were great, as always, but I had difficulty following the storyline, buried as it was in endless descriptions of how such-and-such snooty interior decorating firm from London furnished so-and-so's house with sofas that cost more than many Americans' houses, pages of hound bloodlines, the history of the European aristocracy and how Virginians descended from them, and how foxhunters "understand" the master/servant relationship between people and address their "superiors" accordingly. Whatever happened to the Rita Mae Brown of liberal views, political activism and advocacy of social change ??? She seems to have disappeared into this insular foxhunting culture with delusions of their own grandeur, and I miss her. I have missed her for years, ever since she stopped writing books with fascinating and often controversial subject matter and equally fascinating and often controversial characters. Even her Sneaky Pie mystery series has become more about foxhunting and manners than good, sink-your-teeth-into mystery and the delightful Harry and her animals. She tried to introduce an interesting and controversial character in "Alma Mater" but the book devolved into yet another study of Southern manners and frankly, Southern snobbery -- as if they are the only ones who live graciously. I never thought I would say this about my favorite author and a person of such intelligence and depth as Rita Mae Brown, but her books have become predictable, high-handed, one-dimensional and boring. She needs new subject matter.

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating read
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Rita Mae at her best
Review: While spottedtowhee obviously disagrees, as a self-described conservative Southerner I prefer Rita Mae's light hearted hunting and animal descriptions to her older "controversial" work. This book is an excellent choice for anyone interested in animal welfare, Virginia hunt country, fox hunting, and horses. The animals do talk to each other but it flows more smoothly in this book than in some others of the Sneaky Pie variety where the dialogue seems a little contrived.

It would be helpful to read "Outfoxed" before Hotspur. As I maintain two residences I don't have my copy of Outfoxed handy, but I thought one of the provisions of Peter Wheeler's will was that Doug become joint master. In Hotspur he has been shipped off to a neighboring hunt and does not participate in the story; I missed him.

I suspect we haven't seen the last of Carter Howard and I look forward to another installment in the life of the Jefferson Hunt's members.

Rating:
Summary: Rita Mae at her best
Review: While spottedtowhee obviously disagrees, as a self-described conservative Southerner I prefer Rita Mae's light hearted hunting and animal descriptions to her older "controversial" work. This book is an excellent choice for anyone interested in animal welfare, Virginia hunt country, fox hunting, and horses. The animals do talk to each other but it flows more smoothly in this book than in some others of the Sneaky Pie variety where the dialogue seems a little contrived.

It would be helpful to read "Outfoxed" before Hotspur. As I maintain two residences I don't have my copy of Outfoxed handy, but I thought one of the provisions of Peter Wheeler's will was that Doug become joint master. In Hotspur he has been shipped off to a neighboring hunt and does not participate in the story; I missed him.

I suspect we haven't seen the last of Carter Howard and I look forward to another installment in the life of the Jefferson Hunt's members.