Рита Браун - Outfoxed

Bunny, riding with Mrs. Norton, her boss and dear friend, pulled off to the side then fell in with Crawford, Marty, and the three girls, whom she called “The Three Amuses.”

“Where were you?” She stared accusingly at Tootie, wet from the knees down. Her eyes passed to a very silent Valentina and Felicity.

Crawford quickly answered. “I fell behind and the girls stayed with me and then I had the bad luck to slip in Broad Creek. If it weren’t for Tootie, Czpaka would have run off. You’ve trained your girls well, Bunny, I’m certainly grateful.”

She beamed at the praise. Bunny’s ego rested close to the surface. “I’m so glad they could be of service to you, Crawford.”

“Yes, thank you, girls.” Marty smiled broadly at the three kids, each pretty in her own way, although Tootie’s green eyes just jumped out at one.

As Bunny turned to ride up to Charlotte Norton, Crawford winked.

“Mr. Howard, she would have torn us a new one,” Valentina sighed. “Thank you.”

“Yes, I owe you one, sir. It’s our fault Czpaka spooked.” Tootie truly was contrite.

“This is foxhunting,” he said and winked. “All for one and one for all.”

Each Custis Hall student made note that she’d heard that earlier. They would find out soon enough how critical and testing that philosophy was: simple, true, and to the bone.

Praise for Rita Mae Brown

OUTFOXED

“Compelling . . . engaging . . . [a] sly whodunit . . . a surprise finish . . . [Brown] succeeds in conjuring a world in which prey are meant to survive the chase and foxes are knowing collaborators (with hunters and hounds) in the rarefied rituals that define the sport.” —People

“A rich, atmospheric murder mystery steeped in the world of Virginia foxhunting . . . rife with love, scandal, anger, transgression, redemption, greed and nobility, all of which make good reading.” —San Jose Mercury News

“A snappy mystery . . . [Brown] does a masterly job of putting you in the saddle.” — Baltimore Sun

“Original, funny, poignant, irresistible: Brown’s best work in years. . . . Not since Anthony Trollope has foxhunting been so vividly novelized.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

HOTSPUR

“Brown is a keen plotter who advances her story with well-placed clues and showy suspects.”

—New York Times Book Review

“A dashing and vibrant novel . . . The author portrays the hunt family with such warmth and luxury of detail, one feels a friendship with each and every character, animals included. The reader will romp through the book like a hunter on a thoroughbred, never stopping for a meal or a night’s sleep.”

—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Brown combines her strengths—exploring southern families, manners, and rituals as well as the human-animal bond—to bring in a winner.” —Booklis t

“Beautifully written . . . a terrific book, rich in loving detail, with scandal, redemption, greed, nobility, love, horses, dogs (hounds, of course) and foxes making it an original, funny, wonderful escape for all readers.”

—Sullivan County Democrat

FULL CRY

“A solidly crafted mystery with interesting characters and a nice sense of place. The rolling hills of the Virginia hunt country are beautiful, and all the gentility makes it a perfect place to plop a dead body.” —Toronto Globe and Mail

“As usual, Brown offers a quality tale that is over all too soon.” — Charleston Post and Courier

“A great ride with heroine ‘Sister’ Jane Arnold.”

—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

RITA MAE BROWN is the bestselling author of (among others) Ruby fruit Jungle, Six of One, Southern Discomfort, Outfoxed, and a memoir, Rita Will. She also collaborates with her tiger cat, Sneaky Pie, on the New York Times bestselling Mrs. Murphy mystery series. An Emmy-nominated screenwriter and poet, she lives in Charlottesville, Virginia. She is master and huntsman of the Oak Ridge Foxhunt Club.

Books by Rita Mae Brown with Sneaky Pie Brown

WISH YOU WERE HERE

REST IN PIECES

MURDER AT MONTICELLO

PAY DIRT

MURDER, SHE MEOWED

MURDER ON THE PROWL

CAT ON THE SCENT

SNEAKY PIE’S COOKBOOK FOR MYSTERY LOVERS

PAWING THROUGH THE PAST

CLAWS AND EFFECTS

CATCH AS CAT CAN

WHISKER OF EVIL

CAT’S EYEWITNESS

Books by Rita Mae Brown

THE HAND THAT CRADLES THE ROCK

SONGS TO A HANDSOME WOMAN

THE PLAIN BROWN RAPPER

RUBYFRUIT JUNGLE

IN HER DAY

SIX OF ONE

SOUTHERN DISCOMFORT

SUDDEN DEATH

HIGH HEARTS

STARTING FROM SCRATCH: A DIFFERENT KIND OF WRITERS’ MANUAL

BINGO

VENUS ENVY

DOLLEY: A NOVEL OF DOLLEY MADISON IN LOVE AND WAR

RIDING SHOTGUN

RITA WILL: MEMOIR OF A LITERARY RABBLE-ROUSER

LOOSE LIPS

OUTFOXED

ALMA MATER

HOTSPUR

FULL CRY

THE HUNT BALL

Outfoxed is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

2005 Ballantine Books Trade Paperback Edition

Copyright © 1999 by American Artists, Inc.

Excerpt from The Hunt Ball copyright © 2005 by American Artists, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

BALLANTINE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., in 1999.

This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming edition of The Hunt Ball by Rita Mae Brown. This excerpt has been set for this edition only and may not reflect the final content of the forthcoming edition.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Brown, Rita Mae.

Outfoxed / Rita Mae Brown.

p. cm.

I. Title.

PS3552.R698097 2000

813’.54—dc21 99-44243

CIP

www.ballantinebooks.com

eISBN: 978-0-345-48596-0

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