Fox Tracks: A Novel (Sister Jane)

Being from Virginia, I especially loved the depictions of the countryside. I find Rita Mae Brown's fox hunting mysteries hard to put down. The stories are true to the genre, fast paced and a blend of humor and mystery. Highly recommend.

Septuagenarian Master of the Jefferson Hunt Club in Virginia "Sister" Jane Arnold is staying at Manhattan's posh Pierre while attending the Masters Ball. She and college student Anne "Tootie" Harris walk in the snow to a nearby Fifth Avenue tobacco shop where the proprietor Aldolfo Galdos sells Sister a special WWI lighter. The two visitors return to the hotel only Sister forgot her cell phone so go back to the shop. In the few minutes between their stops, someone put a bullet between the eyes of Aldofo. The victim had an Amercian Smokes cigarette pack on him.

An eerily similar murder occurs in Boston. Sister begins to think the murders tie back to tobacco farms, but unsure how. When she mentions her feelings, she becomes a target too. At the same time Sister's enemy Crawford Howard deploys a scheme to devastate the Jefferson Hunt Club. In both cases, Sister and her four legged posse refuse to go away quietly.

The latest Sister Jane amateur sleuth (see Hounded to Death) is an enjoyable whodunit that provides a spotlight on the sport of the hounds and the foxes. The storyline starts passive as readers meet the players while obtaining a deep look into what motivates the passionate two legged players and the various friendly and hostile rivalries between groups and participants. Series fans will enjoy Sister's sleuthing.

Harriet Klausner

Jane Arnold, a lively lady in her seventies, is in Manhattan when she discovers the body of a tobacconist who has been shot. As she has no more to do with the case, this does seem forced. Then there's a hunt ball, a chapter full of too much gossip which we don't need.
FOXTRACKS takes off back in Virginia when it is based around a winter's foxhunting, and as in her previous books Rita Mae Brown makes it clear that in the American version of the sport, foxes are chased but not intentionally killed. The grey fox is native to America and settlers imported the European counterpart, the larger red fox, for hunting. The hunt puts out food for them during a hard winter. During a day's sport for Jane and the hunt a decaying body is discovered by hounds in the woods. Perhaps the man met with an accident during deer season... but he was a petty crook who moved moonshine and anything else.
A second tobacconist is murdered, in Boston, and Jane looks into tax rates around the states, seeing where tobacco, a traditional Virginia crop, is taxed the most - making it more profitable to ship black market cigarettes. We see a tobacco drying shed and hear how this crop built the state's economy.

While Brown may be authentic to depict Virginia natives as complaining about the discouragement of smokers and taxation of tobacco products, and she mentions that China has become the largest producer of cigarettes, in a world running short of food and swamped with health care issues I consider that other views should have been provided to balance the debate. For instance, the hundreds of chemicals added to each cigarette are now listed on websites, after the tobacco firms fought against handing over a listing for years, but no character alluded to this fact. Tobacco is also a very greedy crop requiring much fertiliser, so obviously good farmland is given over to it instead of food crops, and Virginia could be growing a valuable alternative.

Jane and her horses, hounds and foxes - which talk amongst themselves - are as always entertaining and there is a dearth of in-depth police evidence so the tale is not too gory - we have come to expect a discussion of the evidence at least but Brown doesn't seem to want to get with the times. Mystery fans can enjoy FOXTRACKS knowing that no fox was harmed during the making of this adventure, though there is a dead deer.

Sister Jane is back! She is back in publication and back solving a murder. Sister Jane, friends and fellow fox hunters are in New York City attending the Master of Foxhounds Ball. Since I have attended this event, the descriptions by the author are so true. Once again, Sister is drawn into a murder mystery with her discovery of a dead body. The story may have started in New York City but action takes place in Virginia. The reader gets to see a little of Virginia history revolving aroung the tobacco industry. Lets say, Sister has many challenges in this book. Crawford is back and trying to undermine both Sister Jane and the Jefferson Hunt. Tootie makes an important decision on what she wants to do with her life. Sister Jane digs deep into this murder mystery and almost pays the highest price of all. Of course, there are the hounds, horses and foxes too. In all, a wonderful book and a joy to read.

This review applies only to the audio or CD version of the book. I made the mistake of getting it and it is read by the author. And it is just read aloud by her. There is no effort to narrate the story by changing her voice for different characters. Her voice also sounds like she has laryngitis or is a heavy smoker. I tried 4 times to listen to it. I even tried a CD later in the set to see if her voice and reading improved. I had previously read the book in hardcover which I enjoyed. Ms. Brown writes great stories. She needs to leave the narration to someone else.

Rita Mae Brown is a great storyteller but her last two books have been filled with her Libertarian views of politics. When I am reading a mystery I really don't want to have to wade through 3 pages of discussion about the good and bad of the government banning tobacco smoking in public, for example. To her credit, she does give a balanced discussion, but it doesn't belong in a mystery as it is completely irrelevant to the plot and to character development.

I noticed some changes in writing style in the Sister Jane book before this one, shrugged it off, and looked forward to this one. Whoa (ha - equine humour here)...this is one boring lecture on tobacco, Muslims, tobacco, blah!! If it weren't for the excellent (but very very sparse) comments by the animals: dogs, horse, crows, fox... this would be a one-star rating. Brown sounds jaded and tired of life....bummer!

Brown's opinions on gun control, terrorism, and the tobacco industry are in full force during this novel. She hasn't yet reached the level of opinionism (not sure if that's a word but it works for me) as in her "Mrs. Murphy" series, but it's getting there. I stopped reading the Mrs. Murphy books because Brown's personal opinions began overshadowing the plot. Hopefully I won't be driven to do the same here.

I have enjoyed the "Sister Jane" series. This book is a little more preachy than usual but what really bothered me was the lack of good editing. Character names are mis-spelled. Also, relationships between characters are plain wrong.

I have enjoyed the "Sister Jane" series. This book is a little more preachy than usual but what really bothered me was the lack of good editing. Character names are mis-spelled. Also, relationships between characters are plain wrong.