| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in The Hunt Ball (Foxhunting Mysteries) for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
“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.
From the Hardcover edition.
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.
From the Hardcover edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I have read all the previous novels from this series and loved them but this one is a bit of a let down. For me the plot was too far-fetched and lacked credibility. I had the impression that this was a novel that was written because the author had agreed to deliver a new book within a certain time, not because she had a good idea for a new book.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
25 reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Interesting read about hunting in America...
27 Oct 2005
Format:Hardcover
I had read older books about hunting in England and found it to be a tad distasteful. The thought of a bunch of wealthy and overdressed hoodlums chasing after a fox with dogs trained to kill, and then corner the poor thing and kill it while putting the blood of the fox on the person who brought the fox down like ashes on Catholics on Ash Wednesday...the whole thing struck me as very uncivilized. No wonder Britain was the place where the antivivisectionist movement started!
Apparently, this has changed significantly in the U.S. and for the better. There are still going to be people who object to this form of entertainment as stressful for the foxes, but I don't know. Having studied animals for years and seeing that almost all of the mammals have a tendency to play (do things for no reason except entertainment...like otters), I can see where foxes would enjoy a hunt. They apparently ceased to kill the fox and actually help these animals survive during harsh winters and move them if their dens are close to danger. This is a big difference in attitude.
The book is a mystery, but the mystery in this one tends to take the background to the hunt and the history of the hunt. The mystery is interesting in that it involves the stealing of valuable parts of American history in preparatory schools. I get the feeling that this book was written on something that came up in the news down in Virginia or that area. It would be all too easy to create fakes for things like George Washington's epaulettes, and then sale the real thing to the highest bidder (who often is someone out of our country).
I enjoy Rita Mae Brown's books, especially the conversations of the animals about us humans, who could take a few lessons from them. I know Brown is anthromorphizing her animals, but we really cannot say what they are and are not capable of doing. So in the meantime, I'll continue to enjoy Brown's mystery and history.
Karen Sadler
Apparently, this has changed significantly in the U.S. and for the better. There are still going to be people who object to this form of entertainment as stressful for the foxes, but I don't know. Having studied animals for years and seeing that almost all of the mammals have a tendency to play (do things for no reason except entertainment...like otters), I can see where foxes would enjoy a hunt. They apparently ceased to kill the fox and actually help these animals survive during harsh winters and move them if their dens are close to danger. This is a big difference in attitude.
The book is a mystery, but the mystery in this one tends to take the background to the hunt and the history of the hunt. The mystery is interesting in that it involves the stealing of valuable parts of American history in preparatory schools. I get the feeling that this book was written on something that came up in the news down in Virginia or that area. It would be all too easy to create fakes for things like George Washington's epaulettes, and then sale the real thing to the highest bidder (who often is someone out of our country).
I enjoy Rita Mae Brown's books, especially the conversations of the animals about us humans, who could take a few lessons from them. I know Brown is anthromorphizing her animals, but we really cannot say what they are and are not capable of doing. So in the meantime, I'll continue to enjoy Brown's mystery and history.
Karen Sadler
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Another great visit with Sister and the JHC
16 Dec 2005
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
The Hunt Ball kept me enthralled in the continuing story of Sister and the central Virginia Jefferson Hunt Club. I love the way the animal characters are full participants in the plot development. (Do I detect the influence of Sneaky Pie Brown?) While each novel works independently, I can hardly wait to see how the next book in the series picks up the continuing plot lines and takes off with them. Tally Ho!
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
fine personification mystery
31 Aug 2005
Format:Hardcover
In Virginia, the students led by the "Three Musketeers" protest that their all girls' prep school Custis Hall fails to properly credit slaves for creating some of the crafts on display. Though worthy, nothing really comes of their protest at least that is what everyone involved thought at the time.
Everybody associated with Custis Hall seems to like good natured Al Perez. That is everyone except the person who murdered the director of alumnae affairs and fund raising for the school. His corpse hangs next to a "dummy" dead body at the students' Halloween dance. Though stunned by the homicide, Headmistress Charlotte Norton remains calm and keeps everyone else relatively composed.
At about the same time, seventy-two years old "Sister" Jane Arnold, the Master of the Virginia Jefferson Hunt Club, learns of the death. She begins making inquires assisted by her beloved animals but no motive seems to surface. Still Jane assisted by the Three Musketeers and her assortment of foxhounds, horses, foxes, birds, and other "house pets" keeps digging not realizing that someone is watching how close the menagerie gets to the truth
Though Sneaky Pie is not a co-author, the animals have distinct personalities, names and traits and are able to communicate with one another; something the dumb humans except Jane fail to comprehend. The hunt and its related ball are vividly described so that the audience gets a taste of an upper crust event. The who-done-it is cleverly developed but takes a back seat to the antics of the animals (as is the case in most of Ms. Brown's novels). Fans of the author will enjoy watching the humans OUTFOXED by the animals at THE HUNT BALL.
Harriet Klausner
Everybody associated with Custis Hall seems to like good natured Al Perez. That is everyone except the person who murdered the director of alumnae affairs and fund raising for the school. His corpse hangs next to a "dummy" dead body at the students' Halloween dance. Though stunned by the homicide, Headmistress Charlotte Norton remains calm and keeps everyone else relatively composed.
At about the same time, seventy-two years old "Sister" Jane Arnold, the Master of the Virginia Jefferson Hunt Club, learns of the death. She begins making inquires assisted by her beloved animals but no motive seems to surface. Still Jane assisted by the Three Musketeers and her assortment of foxhounds, horses, foxes, birds, and other "house pets" keeps digging not realizing that someone is watching how close the menagerie gets to the truth
Though Sneaky Pie is not a co-author, the animals have distinct personalities, names and traits and are able to communicate with one another; something the dumb humans except Jane fail to comprehend. The hunt and its related ball are vividly described so that the audience gets a taste of an upper crust event. The who-done-it is cleverly developed but takes a back seat to the antics of the animals (as is the case in most of Ms. Brown's novels). Fans of the author will enjoy watching the humans OUTFOXED by the animals at THE HUNT BALL.
Harriet Klausner
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
