"Sister" Jane Arnold, esteemed master of the Jefferson Hunt Club, has traveled to Kentucky for one of the biggest events of the season: the Mid-America Hound Show, where foxhounds, bassets, and beagles gather to strut their champion bloodline stuff. But the fun is squelched when immediately after the competition a contestant turns up dead-stripped to the waist and peppered with birdshot. Two weeks later, back in Virginia, a popular veterinarian dies from what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Sister refuses to believe that her friend killed herself and vows to sniff out the truth. But before she can make real headway, a wealthy pet food manufacturer vanishes during the granddaddy of all canine exhibitions, the Virginia Hound Show.
Ever reliant on her "horse sense," Sister can't help but connect the three incidents, and what she uncovers will make her blood run colder than the bodies that keep turning up in unexpected places.

Discover the classic coming of age novel that confronts prejudice and injustice with power and humanity. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY RITA MAE BROWN Molly Bolt is a young lady with a big character. Beautiful, funny and bright, Molly figures out at a young age that she will have to be tough to stay true to herself in 1950s America. In her dealings with boyfriends and girlfriends, in the rocky relationship with her mother and in her determination to pursue her career, she will fight for her right to happiness. Charming, proud and inspiring, Molly is the girl who refuses to be put in a box.

It's autumn in cozy, idyllic Crozet, Virginia--a time for golden days, crisp nights...and murder. Mrs. Carla Paulson is one of the diamond-encrusted "come-here" set who has descended on Crozet with plenty of wealth and no feeling for country ways. She's determined to make her new house the envy of all her well-heeled friends--and enemies --and she's hired architect Tazio Chappers to build it. From the start, the project--and Mrs. Paulson--are a major headache for all involved. But no one could foresee that it would end with Mrs. Paulson stabbed to death at a gala fund-raiser with Harry's friend Tazio standing over her, holding the knife. Now Harry must solve what seems to everyone else an open-and-shut case. Her four-legged partners --sleuthing cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter and corgi Tee Tucker--see it Harry's way. But will they have to choose between catching the "purr"fect killer and saving Harry?

The thrilling start of a tail-wagging new series
With her high-powered Wall Street job in the rearview mirror, thirty-four-year-old Mags Rogers arrives at her great-aunt Jeep Reed's sprawling Nevada ranch to reassemble her life. In the passenger seat is Mags's beloved wirehaired dachshund, Baxter. At Jeep's side--to Baxter's distress--is Jeep's loyal German Shepherd mix, King. The growlings are mutual. Then someone pipe-bombs Red Rock Valley's pumping station, endangering the water supply. Deputy Pete Meadows links the sabotage to a string of local murders. In her search for answers, Mags uncovers fascinating history about Jeep's ranch, including an intriguing connection to Buffalo Bill. Drawn to each other, Mags and Pete join forces to solve various mysteries, as Baxter and King team up to protect their humans from a growing threat.

Rita Mae Brown's earliest memory is of the soothing purr of Mickey, her family's long-haired tiger cat, who curled up and claimed a spot in her crib. From there, a steady parade of cats, dogs, horses, and all manner of two- and four-legged critters have walked, galloped, and flown into and through her world. In Animal Magnetism, the bestselling author shares the lessons she's learned from these marvelous creatures as well as her deep appreciation for them. We meet Franklin, a parrot with a wicked sense of humor; R.C., a courageous Doberman who defined loyalty and sacrifice; Suzie Q, the horse who taught Brown the meaning of hard work; and of course the beloved and prolific Sneaky Pie, who needs no introduction to her legions of fans. As funny as it is poignant, Animal Magnetism shows how these inspiring creatures can bring out the best in us, restore us to our greater selves, and even save our lives.

CLAWS AND EFFECT

Winter puts tiny Crozet, Virginia, in a deep freeze and everyone seems to be suffering from the winter blahs, including postmistress Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen. So all are ripe for the juicy gossip coming out of Crozet Hospital–until the main source of that gossip turns up dead. It’s not like Harry to resist a mystery, and she soon finds the hospital a hotbed of ego, jealousy, and illicit love.

But it’s tiger cat Mrs. Murphy, roaming the netherworld of Crozet Hospital, who sniffs out a secret that dates back to the Underground Railroad. Then Harry is attacked and a doctor is executed in cold blood.

Soon only a quick-witted cat and her animal pals feline Pewter and corgi Tee Tucker stand between Harry and a coldly calculating killer with a prescription for murder.

The acclaimed author of Rubyfruit Jungle and Six Of One retums to Runnymede, Maryland, for an outrageous, poignant, and surprising story of passion, rivalry, and small-town fun.  Straddling the Mason-Dixon Line since before the Civil War is Runnymede.  And it seems that ever since then, most people in the town have been inherently split:  between good and bad, or love and sex, or male and female, or politics and sobriety.  Nicole ("Nickel") Smith is in such a dilemma herself--here she is, an avowed lesbian, having an affair that would shock Runnymede as much as it shocks Nickel herself.  And her work seems to be going to the dogs, too, when the beloved newspaper where she is an editor is put up for sale.  Thank goodness the weekly bingo games still go on, though Nickel is a little weary of playing referee there for the flamboyant Hunsenmeir sisters, Louise and Julia.  Nickel's momma, who is now pushing ninety but clawing like cats over handsome newcomer Ed Tutweiler Walters.  A parade of townsfolk and kin weave their colorful way through the trials, tribulations, and ultimate triumphs of our heroines, in this spirited novel of the South that appeals as much to the funny bone as to the heart.


From the Paperback edition.

Ah, spring The brighter days and singing birds have a way of lifting people's spirits, as well as those of their animal companions. But the season can also bring out the first blossoms of murder. As the redbuds open in Crozet, Virginia, Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen is especially excited--until a health crisis sends her reeling into the forbidding world of hospitals and doctors, treatments and procedures. Surviving this journey will be tough, but Harry has her animal friends--and her ever-helpful husband, Fair--to support her. Others are considerably less fortunate: A promising nurse's lifeless body is discovered without a mark on her. Then another hospital employee, who had seemed in perfect health, is also found dead. There's a mystery afoot--and that's one thing Harry and her menagerie can't keep their noses out of.

The annual steeplechase races at Montpelier, once the home of James and Dolley Madison, are the high point in the social calendar of the horse-mad Virginians of cozy Crozet. The race meet offers a cracking good time with old friends and a chance to get even--on the racecourse--with old enemies. Postmistress Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen will be in the thick of the action on this day of high spirits and fierce competition. But the glorious thoroughbreds and the pinks and greens and purples worn by the riders do not blind Harry to the dangerous undercurrents that start to surface. There's sure to be some emotional fireworks at Montpelier. Still, no one expects the day to end in tragedy.

Found dead in the main barn is one of the day's riders, a knife plunged through the jockey's heart. The only clue is a playing card, the Queen of Clubs, impaled over the fatal wound. Within the wealthy, tight-knit world of horse owners, trainers, and jockeys, the victim had both admirers and enemies.

Was the murderer's motive greed, drugs--a pervasive evil in the race world--or sexual rivalry? Luckily for Crozet's humans, the tiger cat Mrs. Murphy is right at home in the stable yard...and on the trail of the shocking truth. But will Harry catch on in time to stop a killer grown bloodthirsty with success?

In Murder, She Meowed Sneaky Pie Brown and her co-author, Rita Mae Brown, have penned another clever and sassy mystery that probes the depths of human depravity and the heights of feline genius.

Ask not what your cat can do for you--ask what you can do for your cat.
Tired of politics as usual? Despair not: Rita Mae Brown's intrepid feline co-author, Sneaky Pie, is taking time off from her busy schedule writing bestselling mysteries to run for President of the United States. It's never too late to start With help from her friends--the irascible gray cat Pewter, the wise Corgi Tee Tucker, and Tally, the exuberant Jack Russell--Sneaky crisscrosses her home state of Virginia hoping to go where no cat since Socks Clinton has gone: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. After all, who better to get the economy purring again than an honest tabby with authentic political stripes? Sneaky has an animal-friendly agenda to unify "all" Americans--regardless of whether they walk on two or four feet or even if they fly.
Human candidates have had their chance in Washington, and nowhere does it say in the Constitution that the next president cannot be a cat. Vote Sneaky
Includes a preview of Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown's next Mrs. Murphy mystery, "The Litter of the Law"

It takes a cat to write the purr-fect mystery--.

"People who love cats...have a friend in Rita Mae Brown," declares The New York Times Book Review. And nowhere is it more obvious than in this, her sixth deliciously witty foray into detective fiction written with the paws-on help of collaborator Sneaky Pie Brown, and starring that irrepressible crime-solving tiger cat, Mrs. Murphy.

As the principal of St. Elizabeth's, an exclusive private school that caters to Crozet, Virginia's, best families, Roscoe Fletcher has proven himself to be a highly effective and vastly popular administrator. So when his obituary appears in the local paper, everyone in town is upset. Yet nothing compares to the shock they feel when they discover that Roscoe Fletcher isn't dead at all. Someone has stooped to putting a phony obituary in the newspaper. But is it a sick joke or a sinister warning?

Only Mrs. Murphy, the canny tiger cat, senses the pure malice behind the act. And when a second false obit appears, this time of a Hollywood has-been who is Roscoe Fletcher's best friend, Mrs. Murphy invites her friends, the corgi Tee Tucker, and fat cat Pewter, to do a bit of sleuthing. It's obvious to this shrewd puss that two phony death notices add up to deadly trouble. And her theory is borne out when one of the men is fiendishly murdered.

"Harry" Haristeen, in her position as Crozet's postmistress, is the first to hear all the theories on whodunit--starting with the man's jealous wife. Then a second bloody homicide follows, and a third. People are dropping like flies in Crozet and no one seems to know why.

Fearlessly exploring all the places where humans never think to go, Mrs. Murphy manages to untangle the knots of passion, duplicity, and greed that have sent someone into a killing frenzy. Yet knowing the truth isn't enough. Mrs. Murphy must somehow lead Harry, her favorite human, down a trail that is perilous...to a killer who is deadly...and a climax that mystery lovers will relish.

The next scintillating novel in this acclaimed author's delightful series featuring doggedly determined canine sleuths and their intrepid human companions.
Settling into ranch life with her wire-haired dachshund, Baxter, former Wall Street trader Mags Rogers doesn't miss the world of investment banking--because its destructive tentacles have reached Reno, Nevada, where desperate families are squatting in foreclosed homes without water or electricity. Mags and her gregarious great-aunt Jeep Reed want to help, but they're up against corrupt officials, ruthless politicians--and a merciless murderer. After a former banker is brutally slain, Reno deputy--and Mags's unofficial significant other--Pete Meadows finds evidence of blackmail, shady real estate ventures, and other cutthroat business practices, but the killer seems to hold all the cards. Luckily, Mags and Jeep still have a few tricks up their sleeves: Baxter; Jeep's German Shepherd, King; and some other canine detectives are officially off the leash--and on the hunt.
"Captivating . . . Rita Mae Brown] is adept at fashioning a clever and relevant plot and filling it with amiable people--and animals. "Murder Unleashed" is no exception."--"Richmond Times-Dispatch"
"From murder to loveable canines, this book has it all."--"Suspense Magazine"
"A great mystery with] quirky and incredibly interesting characters."--Examiner.com