Fox and furious : a novel / Rita Mae Brown ; illustrated by Lee Gildea.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Two brothers fight over the inheritance of five acres and a hunting beagle kennel-until one of them is murdered. It's up to "Sister" Jane Arnold to hunt down the truth, with a little help from her four-legged friends, in this delightful new mystery from New York Times bestselling author Rita Mae Brown.

"Cunning foxes, sensible hounds, and sweet-tempered horses are among the sparkling conversationalists in this charming series." - The New York Times Book Review

It's hunting season in the foothills of Virginia, and "Sister" Jane Arnold is content to spend it alongside her friends, particularly one Olivia Bradford. Olivia is a formidable figure in town-not least because she keeps the peace between her sons Winston and Andrew-but when she passes away, the brothers return to their squabbling ways. Faced with contention over their inheritance, tensions escalate, and the two get into a fierce fight-and soon after, one of them turns up dead.

All eyes turn to the surviving brother, the suspect with the most obvious motive. But Sister can't fathom that he's capable of murder, and soon suspects begin to reveal themselves left and right. The more she learns, the more Sister begins to doubt the people she's hunted with for decades. . . . Could the killer be hiding in plain sight?

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Booklist Review

Tallyho! So begins the latest book in Brown's "Sister" Jane mystery series, which centers on a passion Brown knows very well: fox (and rabbit and deer) hunting. Brown, who holds a coveted MFH designation (Master of the Fox Hounds), not-so-gently throws novices into the middle of rolling Virginia hills and estates--and then, of course, there's a murder mystery to solve. (Readers will appreciate the up-front glossary of MFH terms.) Hunt spectators and participants are many this time around, with human characters (and characters they are!) that include Sister, herself an MFH, and young widow Solange, along with talking dogs, cats, a turtle called J. Edgar Hoover, plus copious onlookers. So who did it? Guesses and gossip pinpoint obvious suspects as Brown's narrative wends its way through multiple hunts, shopping expeditions, animal magic, and unofficial investigations into the real villain.

Kirkus Book Review

Murder returns to hunt country. Jane Arnold, better known as "Sister," has been Master of Foxhounds in Northern Virginia for more than 30 years. In her 70s, she's tough, resilient, and blessed with a wide circle of friends. Among them is wealthy Olivia Bradford, whose will splits everything between her two sons, Winston and Andrew. Andrew, who recently divorced his first wife, Georgia, to marry the stunning and much younger Solange, doesn't get on with Winston. When Olivia dies suddenly, Andrew tells Winston that he must remove his beagle kennels, which are now on Andrew's part of the estate, within a week. Most of the locals take Winston's side, angering Andrew even more, since he's now banned from hunting with the Bradford Beagles, and leading to a nasty physical altercation. Undeterred, Andrew still has the nerve to show up at fox hunts. When he's found dead at one of them, Winston and Georgia are naturally prime suspects. A hysterical Solange takes a moment out from being generally hateful to accuse Winston. Only the influence of two old friends who work for her, the married couple Scott and Ann, keeps Solange semicoherent. Winston is eventually arrested, and Sister and her friends, who have long sheets of prior crime-solving experience, continue to hunt, adding this season's killer to their list. Confusing the issue even further are several guns-drawn battles between rival deer hunters and dangerous moonshiners who have worked in the secluded Blue Ridge Mountains for hundreds of years. A startling denouement caps this catalog of everything you need to know about the ancient sport of fox hunting. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.