Rating: 
Summary: Great Read
Review: Once again Rita Mae Brown has intrigued me. This is a great novel. Suspenseful, funny, honest. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a great book to read.
Rating: 
Summary: A disappointment
Review: Rita Mae Brown has a definite talent for description, and she uses it well when the subject matters to her: the joys of cleaning first-rate english tack(horse bridles and saddles); the pride of owning a large rural property in a place where the land is beautiful, and breeding counts; the careful nurturing of horses and hounds, and so on. This mystery novel's milieu springs from the author's real life experience as a Virginia foxhunter and gentlewoman "farmer". Unfortunately and oddly, though, she seems to lack a feel for real human beings, and her main character has so little empathy for other homosapiens(as opposed to animals)that it's more than a little disturbing. This is a murder mystery where death doesn't really bug ANYone in a supposedly close-knit, tiny community-not even the young children of a murder victim(their mother-just widowed by a gruesome murder, describes her kids as upset, of course-but really more excited than anything-!). It's a shame that Brown couldn't have done a non-fiction essay on the subjects she knows so well, but one suspects the publisher calls the tune with sales in mind, and mysteries sell. Brown just can't plot a good one, with more than one likeable character. And yes, the animals "talk" to each other, as in the Sneaky Pie series. They're just as verbose as the humans, and just barely more likeable.
Rating:
Summary: It's definitely not Sneaky Pie!
Review: Rita Mae Brown is such a talented writer. This entire series makes me feel like Crozet, Virginia, is my "summer place." I care about the development of the human characters, although the animals obviously don't develop and are starting to get stale.
Rating: 
Summary: So talented
Review: Rita Mae Brown is such a talented writer. This entire series makes me feel like Crozet, Virginia, is my "summer place." I care about the development of the human characters, although the animals obviously don't develop and are starting to get stale.
Rating:
Summary: Hopefully the beginning of a new series
Review: Rita Mae Brown writes what I hope to be a new series featuring a female senior citizen Master of the Hunt. There's plenty of action, a few bodies, and lots of crazy characters. Between laughing at the different characters(human and animal) and trying to figure out the murderer, this book just flies by. I was disappointed when it was all over.
Rating:
Summary: Loved every minute of it!
Review: The *only* reason this isn't a five-star review is because personally I found the mystery plot to be a bit thin. So if you're not into the equestrian scene, I can see where it might be disappointing. For me, however, it was a delight from start to finish, with excellent characters (both human and animal), accurate and witty social observation, and lots of lovely detail on the fine points of hunting, a lot of which I'd forgotten about. I'll be coming back to this one again and again!
Rating: 
Summary: Lots of information - not as much mystery
Review: The pace of the plot is slowed down because of so much fox hunting detail - so I didn't like it as much as the Sneaky Pie mysteries. But it's still worth the read!
Rating:
Summary: There are no words to do this work justice
Review: There are a few places left in Virginia where time seems to have stopped and the mindset remains the same as that of a hundred-plus years ago. The Jefferson Hunt Club and the immediate vicinity surrounding the facility are the epitome of the antebellum lifestyle enriched by twenty-first century technology. This small corner of the globe contains individuals steeped in a special heritage with genteel manners and seething passions especially for the Hunt led by popular Jane "Sister" Arnold.Sister is the master of the Hunt and has been for more years than many participants have lived. She currently inspects the horses, dogs, and foxes that will participate in the next Hunt. The animals are as intelligent as the humans and communicate amongst themselves. Sister has begun to feel her age and believes it is time to select a joint master to continue the tradition after she dies. However, during the Hunt, one of the leading contenders is murdered. This leaves everyone to wonder how far someone will go to eliminate the competition. Anyone who loves Sneaky Pie and Rita Mae Brown's Mrs. Murphy series will want to read OUTFOXED. The story line centers on the tightly closed American foxhunt scenario that is a part of our American heritage. The lead protagonist is a wise person who the audience will enjoy for her compassion for all that is alive and her leadership abilities. However, this novel belongs to the animals that make readers believe they can talk and think in a logical humanistic manner that Dr. Doolittle and Murphy would envy. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Rita Mae be habit forming
Review: This book, as well as the others by Rita Mae Brown, is a well written, funny book that one can appreciate more if you are familiar with her previous books. The characters are always interesting and fun. It is a pleasure to read more about them and the musing of the animals make it very special.
Rating:
Summary: For people who are VERY interested in fox-hunting arcana
Review: This is a paean to fox-hunting Virginians rather thinly disguised as a mystery. (I'm sure that the fact that Brown is one of them herself in no way prejudices her.) I often wish that authors would not turn perfectly good essays or non-fiction into mediocre (if not downright bad) novels. The plot is subordinated to lauding fox-hunting, and the character development is pretty poor. Sister, the protagonist, is what used to be described as a "magnificent character" and is possessed of every virtue and good quality except a plausible, living personality. The rest are pretty flat as well, and taken as a whole, not good exemplars of the natural nobility that Brown claims for them. The book's strongest point is it's description of the world of fox-hunting. I know several people who would revel all of the extreme detail, and would just love to fret over finding champagne versus cream-colored boots (or whatever). Personally, I find it mind-numbing either in print or in real life, but for them that likes it, enjoy!
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