Hounded to Death

Dog Lovers should enjoy Hounded to Death. I did. The killer's motive was understandable. I liked the descriptions of fox hunts, especially the foxes' opinions (foxes are not killed during American hunts). As with the Mrs. Murphy mysteries, the animals talk among themselves.

It was interesting to learn that among these fox hunters "bird shot" is called "rat shot". The victim who got some was a human rat. One of the murders was arranged to look like a suicide. Sister Jane doesn't believe it is. One of the horses lets the readers know it wasn't.

Expect the usual preaching disguised as conversation in Rita Mae Brown mysteries. The two instances that annoyed me the most were the repeat of the American laborer demanding too much money for show more his/her labor (obviously, these are rich or comfortably well-off characters). One old man brings up Pearl Harbor and is still angry that the US helped rebuild Japan after World War II. Not even Sister Jane pointed out that Arthur's attitude resembled that of the allies toward Germany after World War I: an attitude that created actions that eventually led to World War II. The USA's helping rebuilt Germany and Japan was learning a lesson from World War I.

That aside, this is an okay mystery to while away some time. show less

After a hound show at a hunting club, a man, naturally hated and who mistreats animals, is murdered. Later, a woman turns up as an apparent suicide, and another body surfaces.

I found the book a little difficult to get into, it is book seven in the "Sister" Jane Arnold series, and perhaps earlier books would help understand the characters.

Much of the book is in dialog form. I found the dialog natural and well written, and the people were well formed. There seemed to be too little investigation, I didn't feel there was adequate information for a reader to actually figure it out.

One thing that did bother me was that the animals talked. Not to humans, or at least the humans didn't understand them. I tried to interpret it as what humans show more interpret from their pets, but it did go beyond that. The hounds revealed the smell of the killer. It felt like something I shouldn't have known, but it didn't come into the solution.

The solution seemed to appear out of the blue in the late pages of the book. This just isn't my style of book. show less

A great, fast read and I didn't figure out whodunit until I was told near the end of the book. I couldn't put it down and literally read it in less than 6 hours. I loved the line drawings that they put in the book as well. It really added to the story.

Brown, Rita Mae, Hounded to Death, "Sister" Jane Arnold, matriarch, school sponsor,hunt club master - basically does nothing to investigate or solve 2 murders - a hated club member who steals other people's dogs, and a beloved horse vet - more than you ever wanted to know about hunting - amusing 'voices' from the animals

This is the only Mrs. Murphy book I hated. Well, I 'read' audio books and this one was narrated by the author. If she had read the phone book, she could not be more boring. One would think the author would have a feel for the characters. NOT!

Number 7 in the "Sister" Jane Arnold Series.