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"Sister" Jane #4
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 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 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 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 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.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
101 people are currently reading
428 people want to read
About the author
Rita Mae Brown
144 books2,257 followersRita Mae Brown is a prolific American writer, most known for her mysteries and other novels (Rubyfruit Jungle). She is also an Emmy-nominated screenwriter.
Brown was born illegitimate in Hanover, Pennsylvania. She was raised by her biological mother's female cousin and the cousin's husband in York, Pennsylvania and later in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Starting in the fall of 1962, Brown attended the University of Florida at Gainesville on a scholarship. In the spring of 1964, the administrators of the racially segregated university expelled her for participating in the civil rights movement. She subsequently enrolled at Broward Community College[3] with the hope of transferring eventually to a more tolerant four-year institution.
Between fall 1964 and 1969, she lived in New York City, sometimes homeless, while attending New York University[6] where she received a degree in Classics and English. Later,[when?] she received another degree in cinematography from the New York School of Visual Arts.[citation needed] Brown received a Ph.D. in literature from Union Institute & University in 1976 and holds a doctorate in political science from the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C.
Starting in 1973, Brown lived in the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles. In 1977, she bought a farm in Charlottesville, Virginia where she still lives.[9] In 1982, a screenplay Brown wrote while living in Los Angeles, Sleepless Nights, was retitled The Slumber Party Massacre and given a limited release theatrically.
During Brown's spring 1964 semester at the University of Florida at Gainesville, she became active in the American Civil Rights Movement. Later in the 1960s, she participated in the anti-war movement, the feminist movement and the Gay Liberation movement.
Brown took an administrative position with the fledgling National Organization for Women, but resigned in January 1970 over Betty Friedan's anti-gay remarks and NOW's attempts to distance itself from lesbian organizations. She claims she played a leading role in the "Lavender Menace" zap of the Second Congress to Unite Women on May 1, 1970, which protested Friedan's remarks and the exclusion of lesbians from the women's movement.
In the early 1970s, she became a founding member of The Furies Collective, a lesbian feminist newspaper collective in Washington, DC, which held that heterosexuality was the root of all oppression.
Brown told Time magazine in 2008, "I don't believe in straight or gay. I really don't. I think we're all degrees of bisexual. There may be a few people on the extreme if it's a bell curve who really truly are gay or really truly are straight. Because nobody had ever said these things and used their real name, I suddenly became [in the late 1970s] the only lesbian in America."
Brown was born illegitimate in Hanover, Pennsylvania. She was raised by her biological mother's female cousin and the cousin's husband in York, Pennsylvania and later in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Starting in the fall of 1962, Brown attended the University of Florida at Gainesville on a scholarship. In the spring of 1964, the administrators of the racially segregated university expelled her for participating in the civil rights movement. She subsequently enrolled at Broward Community College[3] with the hope of transferring eventually to a more tolerant four-year institution.
Between fall 1964 and 1969, she lived in New York City, sometimes homeless, while attending New York University[6] where she received a degree in Classics and English. Later,[when?] she received another degree in cinematography from the New York School of Visual Arts.[citation needed] Brown received a Ph.D. in literature from Union Institute & University in 1976 and holds a doctorate in political science from the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C.
Starting in 1973, Brown lived in the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles. In 1977, she bought a farm in Charlottesville, Virginia where she still lives.[9] In 1982, a screenplay Brown wrote while living in Los Angeles, Sleepless Nights, was retitled The Slumber Party Massacre and given a limited release theatrically.
During Brown's spring 1964 semester at the University of Florida at Gainesville, she became active in the American Civil Rights Movement. Later in the 1960s, she participated in the anti-war movement, the feminist movement and the Gay Liberation movement.
Brown took an administrative position with the fledgling National Organization for Women, but resigned in January 1970 over Betty Friedan's anti-gay remarks and NOW's attempts to distance itself from lesbian organizations. She claims she played a leading role in the "Lavender Menace" zap of the Second Congress to Unite Women on May 1, 1970, which protested Friedan's remarks and the exclusion of lesbians from the women's movement.
In the early 1970s, she became a founding member of The Furies Collective, a lesbian feminist newspaper collective in Washington, DC, which held that heterosexuality was the root of all oppression.
Brown told Time magazine in 2008, "I don't believe in straight or gay. I really don't. I think we're all degrees of bisexual. There may be a few people on the extreme if it's a bell curve who really truly are gay or really truly are straight. Because nobody had ever said these things and used their real name, I suddenly became [in the late 1970s] the only lesbian in America."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
February 21, 2015
This is the first one I've listened to as an audio book. The author as a narrator was serviceable, but that's all. Her husky voice fit well, but her lack of inflection & occasional odd cadence didn't do the story any favors. I am picky about narrators, though.
The murder mystery was OK, but the best part was how detailed she got about working the hounds, the hunt, & habits of all concerned. Some parts might seem over the top, but nothing was really. Except for the murder part, I've seen almost everything she described at our club at one time or another. Really, these books are read for the hunt scene atmosphere.
As usual, she does a great job of showing that the 'hunt' is really a chase & the care taken is what I'm accustomed to. The chatter between the animals was a bit much at times & they certainly don't always play that well together.
All in all, it was a good listen. My library has some others, so I will probably get another at some point.
The murder mystery was OK, but the best part was how detailed she got about working the hounds, the hunt, & habits of all concerned. Some parts might seem over the top, but nothing was really. Except for the murder part, I've seen almost everything she described at our club at one time or another. Really, these books are read for the hunt scene atmosphere.
As usual, she does a great job of showing that the 'hunt' is really a chase & the care taken is what I'm accustomed to. The chatter between the animals was a bit much at times & they certainly don't always play that well together.
All in all, it was a good listen. My library has some others, so I will probably get another at some point.
February 28, 2009
I'm still reading about fox hunting which, of course, is a sport in which I will never participate. All that bouncing around on a horse would do me in! This volume in the series was good although the resolution of the mystery seemed to occur very suddenly and the explanation of the crime was not completely satisfying. Still, I love reading about these characters, the Virginia countryside, and the animals, many of whom have more distinct personalities than the some of the people we meet in our everyday lives.
February 21, 2014
"Read" the audio version of this book. I could not get past the first 20 minutes. The author should have paid a professional actor to read the book! She was horrid, the personalizations would have been better if she had been reading the phone book. It may be a good book, but with this rendition I could not vouch for it. I am on the road a lot, and listen to books at all times.
December 29, 2012
I picked this up very randomly as I was looking for a mystery. It is a whodunnit, but not of the compelling, many-clued, mind-twisting sort. So it didn't really satisfy the neurons. It is more of a small school country fox hunting novel. I knew less than zero about fox hunting and spent half an hour mulling over the terms and characters listed in the front and back of the book. The hunts are fun, and the history and fox hunting knowledge are respectable. There is plenty of wit in the net of characters, as well as just easy enjoyment. A good vacation choice that educated and amused rather then stumped and brow-furrowed.
December 18, 2008
I enjoy the light touch of RMB's animal mysteries, and like RMB, I find my own pets 'speak' to me and each other, so I have no trouble with the animal characters in these books.
February 17, 2009
Didn't finish; listened to first CD and couldn't get into story. Returned to library.
July 22, 2009
The author incorporates humans and animal narritives in a witty way. I figured out the who dunnit half-way thru the book but who cares? She tells a good story.
January 21, 2026
A long meandering novel with nothing to say and characters about as equally two dimensional. This novel needs about 100 pages removed and the characters punched up and given personality and emotions. I've never seen such an emotionless ensemble.
And then there are the conversations between animals. I could see how it could potentially work, but the author couldn't pull it off.
The prose. The prose was soiled by a bonanza of head hopping and line level amateurism that was stunning for such an apparently successful author. Are all of her books this poorly written. I couldn't believe she got this book published. Where was the editor in the process?
The mystery was … Well, it could have been so much better in the hands of a capable writer. Everything simply happens in this story and, SPOILERS, the characters simply move through it. There are perhaps only fifteen to twenty pages, of the 303, that are devoted to the mystery.
My summary: Don't read this book. It's just not very good.
And then there are the conversations between animals. I could see how it could potentially work, but the author couldn't pull it off.
The prose. The prose was soiled by a bonanza of head hopping and line level amateurism that was stunning for such an apparently successful author. Are all of her books this poorly written. I couldn't believe she got this book published. Where was the editor in the process?
The mystery was … Well, it could have been so much better in the hands of a capable writer. Everything simply happens in this story and, SPOILERS, the characters simply move through it. There are perhaps only fifteen to twenty pages, of the 303, that are devoted to the mystery.
My summary: Don't read this book. It's just not very good.
January 3, 2024
This weekend I finished "The Hunt Ball" by Rita Mae Brown. This is Book 4 in the "Sister Jane" series.
Sister Jane is the master of a fox hunting (they don't kill them!) group. You get to see the ins and outs of fox hunting, as well as southern culture. However, just like Jessica Fletcher in "Murder She Wrote" and Miss Marple, you wouldn't particularly want to invite her for dinner because someone is going to be murdered! I enjoy these books because I love riding and horses, but the writing is very good, too. The animals in the books, hounds, cats, foxes, crows, owls, and so forth talk to one another, and often have the one-up on the humans. I highly recommend to anyone who likes a cozy mystery with a lot of animals and interesting characters.
Sister Jane is the master of a fox hunting (they don't kill them!) group. You get to see the ins and outs of fox hunting, as well as southern culture. However, just like Jessica Fletcher in "Murder She Wrote" and Miss Marple, you wouldn't particularly want to invite her for dinner because someone is going to be murdered! I enjoy these books because I love riding and horses, but the writing is very good, too. The animals in the books, hounds, cats, foxes, crows, owls, and so forth talk to one another, and often have the one-up on the humans. I highly recommend to anyone who likes a cozy mystery with a lot of animals and interesting characters.
January 8, 2020
I’ve read a couple of Sneaky-Pie Brown books but this is the first of the fox hunting books I’ve read. I did find that I kept losing track of who people were - the character list was not as all-encompassing as other books - and I had trouble working out a lot of the hunting terminology despite the glossary at the back of the book. Nevertheless, the plot was very good and the climax was exciting. I’ll look for others in this series now.
July 10, 2020
This book has the same weaknesses as #3. A bit too political, though at least not as heavy handed about it. The dramatic climax of the mystery was better than #3's but still felt more forced than the first two. I'm still enjoying these books, but feeling a bit dubious about how the rest of this series will go.
September 1, 2020
I've learned a lot about American fox hunting from this book. For example, in American fox hunting, the fox is never killed. There are also multiple murders! As usual in Rita Mae Brown's stories, the characters are wonderfully described. In fact, the animals (foxes, hounds, horses, and owls) are as individual and interesting as the humans.
August 21, 2023
I could not fully connect to the story. Too much fox hunting for me and too little mystery. I now know a ton about hunting and horse riding, though. If you are more into that sport than I am, you might like it more than I did. Overall, the mystery felt like the sub plot…
May 12, 2017
My favorite series from Rita Mae Brown
July 13, 2019
Usual easy reading mystery with he animals. Easy reading.
September 27, 2019
Really disappointed in the inconsistencies in this book,
April 18, 2020
Another fun "cozy" mystery - Interesting between the Hounds & the horses with a few "humans" - along with murder....
November 24, 2020
A lot of hunting and not hard to figure out who did it, but oneo f the funniest scenes ever written.
February 4, 2021
I only made it through the first five chapters of this poorly written, poorly narrated book.
February 11, 2021
I think I've made it clear I'm here for the talking animals. Not enough talking animals in this one.
August 2, 2021
Took me three trys to actually get into this book, but once I did it was pretty good.
April 21, 2023
Easy reading.
November 15, 2023
By far my favorite one so far. The introduction of the Custis Hall girls really adds to the plot and the climax at the Hunt Ball itself is superb. Thank you Ms. Brown for such a great story!!
July 20, 2025
So Soothing
December 28, 2015
Two more in the Sister Jane Hall/Jefferson Hunt Club series (got started a few years ago with an Xmas present).
I liked both of these for the things I’ve liked before: the intrigue and details of the mystery, the awesome dogs and horses and the foxes (I love the foxes) and their reactions and relations and really vital role in the story. Man I love reading the scenes with Cora and Dasher. The hunt scenes are really wonderful and atmospheric, take you right into the thick of things.
And I didn’t like the same stuff that bugs me in each of these books: Sister Jane’s incredible self-satisifed-ness and the “how to be upstanding and moral” lessons that crop up throughout. Often has a very pedantic feel. Too preachy and often those paragraphs aren’t even in any particular character’s voice so they really throw you right out of the action.
I liked both of these for the things I’ve liked before: the intrigue and details of the mystery, the awesome dogs and horses and the foxes (I love the foxes) and their reactions and relations and really vital role in the story. Man I love reading the scenes with Cora and Dasher. The hunt scenes are really wonderful and atmospheric, take you right into the thick of things.
And I didn’t like the same stuff that bugs me in each of these books: Sister Jane’s incredible self-satisifed-ness and the “how to be upstanding and moral” lessons that crop up throughout. Often has a very pedantic feel. Too preachy and often those paragraphs aren’t even in any particular character’s voice so they really throw you right out of the action.
January 12, 2016
I'm taking advantage of my local library collection to catch up with Rita Mae Brown's "Sister" series. I don't know if it's me or if it's just that this book is deep enough into the series that it seems repetitive. I love the horse sections, of course, and the strong central women but...we run into the typical cozy issue of just how many murders can you have in one location, especially a smaller rural area? Plus Brown falls into a bit of preachyness about "kids these days," and while it would fit the character it still reads a bit like authorial lecturing. And while I like some of the animal characterization, it's almost a bit too much.
On the other hand, it's well-written and it's a horse cozy mystery. What's not to like?
On the other hand, it's well-written and it's a horse cozy mystery. What's not to like?
March 18, 2015
I took this library book thinking it would be a cute mystery for the Halloween season. There was a murder during a Halloween dance at an exclusive girls school in VA. Somehow that storyline got muddled between the fox hunting and horse and I was disappointed. Also, there are human characters and dialogue of animals (foxes and hounds) so the story was all over with points of view.
Warming: I guess any book that has to list a cast of characters in the front and useful terms in the back is probably too complex for enjoyment.
Warming: I guess any book that has to list a cast of characters in the front and useful terms in the back is probably too complex for enjoyment.
October 22, 2016
April 2012 - Definitely much more interaction with the non-hunting world. The conversations between the animals left me in stitches. Very funny, especially the scene at the end with the hounds at the ball!
March 2014- I am understanding the series a lot better the second time through. This book introduces my favorite characters.
October 2016 - Same. I love all of the characters in this series!
March 2014- I am understanding the series a lot better the second time through. This book introduces my favorite characters.
October 2016 - Same. I love all of the characters in this series!
July 6, 2009
Number 4 in the "Sister" Jane Arnold fox hunting mystery series. Another good read in this series. Complicated mystery involving murder, historical artifacts, student protest regarding a school's slave past, and rivalries within the fox hunting club. The mix of human and animal characters adds to the enjoyability of these mysteries.
January 18, 2016
This book was interesting because it's about American Fox hunting which I have never heard of and know nothing about. However, it was pretty confusing. It took me at least 200 pages to determine whether or not they shoot the foxes (they don't). So, I think it should be called American Fox Chasing, not hunting. The story itself was good and the characters were good though.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews