Customer Reviews

Hotspur

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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

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.

Fortunately for me, I'd borrowed "Hotspur" from the library. The trouble was not that the book was poorly written or that it was terribly uninteresting and banal. The trouble was that I was expecting a mystery novel along the lines of Rita Mae Brown's "Wish You Were Here" & "Rest in Pieces;" the trouble was that the mystery plot kept getting sidelined by the ruminations of the animals (foxes, horses, owls, etc) and the politics of the Jefferson Hunt club. Another problem was that I couldn't for the life of me figure out how the title fitted into the novel. Indications seem to suggest that one of the characters had a Hotspur-like personality, except that I couldn't quite see it. But perhaps that fault lies with me.

"Hotspur" centers on the murder of Nola Bancroft. Nola, was the beautiful and capricious younger daughter of the well heeled Bancrofts, Edward and Tedi. And about twenty-one years ago, she disappeared. Since she was dating the sheriff's dashing son, Guy, and her parents openly disapproved of that relationship, everyone assumed when the couple suddenly disappeared that Nola and Guy had eloped. But as the years passed and nothing was heard of the pair, local gossip also included the speculation that Guy had murdered Nola in a fit of anger and left town in order to avoid arrest. The recent discovery of Nola's body now bolsters the latter theory. But "Sister" Jane Arnold, Master of the Jefferson Hunt Club doesn't believe that Guy murdered Nola, and she's determined to discover what really happened even if it means reopening old wounds and stirring things up -- even a murderer's ire...

While I rather enjoyed Brown's descriptions of the Virginian countryside, the ins and outs of what goes on in a hunt club, and her character-descriptions of both the animals and humans (and what makes certain individuals tick), I still felt that a lot could have been left out since "Hotspur" was supposed to be (primarily) a murder mystery novel. For example, Nola's body is discovered at the end of chapter 1, and yet it is not until somewhere around chapter 15 that Brown delves into the mystery subplot again. And since I had checked out the book on the strength that it was supposed to be a mystery novel, this really left me feeling a little frustrated.

"Hotspur" is not a bad read. If you enjoy books about small towns, with well developed characters, and bits about nature and animals and our (human) relationship with animals (and theirs with us), and don't really mind that the mystery subplot takes a long while to get underway, than you will probably not be disappointed with "Hotspur." But be advised, Brown does take a while to get into the mystery of who murdered Nola and why.

I adored this book. It took me away to another world. It is full of violence, passion, lust, envy, anger, love and grace. The folks in the Jefferson County Hunt Club are all so complex and each one has his or her own fully fleshed out backstory and then there are the animals: Dragon the arrogant hound, Inky the black fox, wise Aunt Netty the red fox, Athena the fearless horned owl and Raleigh the devoted Doberman. The creatures in Rita Mae Browns books all have intense lives and opinions of their own and I cared about them as much if not more than the people.

Some reviewers complained that the book gets too deeply into the day to day life of the hunt but that IS what the book is about :Sister Jane's life with murder thrown in to complicate things. I loved Sister. She's a tough old girl with a mind as sharp as Jane Marple. My only regret with this entire series is that Sister is 71. I hope this series goes on for quite a while and at this rate Sister may have to live to be over 100 like Poirot did.

If you want a book that offers a complete escape from the ordinary and you want a book that takes its time to settle into the story then you'll like Hostspur.

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

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.

Jane "Sister" Arnold is walking around the barns when she discovers the body of an old hunter who died in his sleep. The horse famous for his valour in the field is to be given an honors burial, but while preparing his grave an other grave is exposed. That of Nola Bancroft who disappeared 21 years before. Guy Ramy, the son of the local sheriff also disappeared the same night and his body is soon discovered.
What happened to these two vibrant young people and who killed them so long ago are questions "Sister" Jane Arnold can not let fallow in the dirt.
This is good, but it doesn't have the punch of OUTFOXED.
Nash Black, author of SINS OF THE FATHERS.

Read the entire series. It's worth it to read twice, if you have the time. Sure did learn a lot. I don't understand all the wardrobe details, but each to her own. Rita Mae Brown is the greatest! Interaction between animals is, of course, quite enlightening.

I've read every book in the series so far & have enjoyed them all. As a rider and former horse groom,I know all about horses, riders, & barn politics & Rita Mae's details are dead on. How frustrating it is to read a book & it's obvious the author didn't do their homework. That's not a problem with Rita Mae. Besides being an author she is also Master of Foxhounds for her own club.

This is a 'niche' series. Readers that are not interested in horses or foxhunting could find the books tedious. At times the mystery takes a backseat to the characters (animal & human) & the sport. For folks into horses/hunting riding with Sister, Shaker, & the rest of the gang is the perfect way to spend an afternoon without even getting your boots muddy!

While I love Rita Mae Brown's ability to co-mingle the animal and human experience, I found her detailing of the incredible complexity of the fox hunting set to be more information than I need to read a mystery.

I love Jane "Sister" Arnold, the 71 year-old Master of the Hunt and her friends/hounds/horses, but the details in this book would appeal to only the most dedicated hunt fan. I did learn one good thing, however. Americans only hunt the fox to its den, not like their brutal British cousins who hunt to the death.

HOTSPUR's murder mystery takes a second -- or sometimes third -- seat to the machinations of the hunt season, the old money, the social climbers and all the ins and outs of hunt life. I suppose if you're a member of that set, these details and the constant fretting over your horse, your wardrobe and your standing in your club would make for good reading.

It just doesn't play in Peoria....or a small town in east Texas.

I'll continue to read Rita Mae Brown and hope she realizes she's exhausted the hunt and it's time to move on to other prey.