Full Cry: A Novel (Foxhunting Mysteries)
by Rita Mae Brown
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Book Summary Information
Author: Rita Mae BrownEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-10-26
ISBN: 0345465202
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of Full Cry: A Novel (Foxhunting Mysteries)
Book Review: Rita Mae Brown is great at setting a scene...
Summary: 3 Stars
...but she can't quite integrate those scenes into a truly satisfying mystery. I like Rita Mae Brown a lot. I can imagine helping her muck out stalls, riding cross country with her, sitting down to a cup of tea. But her books seem to be written for fifth graders, not adults.
"Full Cry" is packed with interesting watercolor vinettes of foxhunting, as written by an author with a deep love of the sport. It is a sport steeped in tradition, with a lot of beauty and a lot of mud, blood, and guts. Anyone remotely interested in why people foxhunt, and the history of the sport are well served by this book.
One might quibble about just how much the foxes enjoy it...or whether the fox is always allowed to get away without being torn to pieces. Rita Mae Brown's affectation of having many of the animals speak doesn't work as well in this book as in her other mysteries, as having created each animal as an individual, she is apparently reluctant to have natural consequences play out: not just foxes dying, but hounds being torn apart by raccoons or mountain lions, and housepets getting eaten by coyotes. Don't worry: these things just don't happen in her foxhunting universe.
Why harp on this? Because it's a mystery novel, ultimately, and the sharpness of the mystery is dulled by the cuteness of cat, hound, horse, coyote, mountain lion, great-horned owl, etc., working things out with a little bit of verbal sparring. Readers are asked to enter into the very frank and natural world of foxhunting, but there seems to be a real reluctance to treat any character with real depth, and therefore real seriousness. Although the main human character, Sister, is set up to be interesting, I find over the course of the book to have difficulty separating one human from another. (The animals are drawn a bit better.) Human conversations tend towards formulaic, plot twists are predictable, but then you arrive at yet another splendid description of waking up at dawn to prepare for a foxhunt in January. You can smell the snow on the air, hear the crunch of the horses' hooves, feel the fan of the hounds' sterns as they wave. So maybe the best way to read this book is to think of it as a series of foxhunting sketches strung together loosely by a little plot and not much mystery.
If you are a fan of Rita Mae Brown, or are interested in foxhunting, you will like this book. As a mystery, it's not very substantial.
Summary of Full Cry: A Novel (Foxhunting Mysteries)
In the third novel of her captivating foxhunting series, Rita Mae Brown welcomes readers back for a final tour of a world where most business is conducted on horseback?and stables are de rigueur for even the smallest of estates. Here, in the wealth-studded hills of Jefferson County, Virginia, even evil rides a mount.The all-important New Year?s Hunt commences amid swirling light snow. It is the last formal hunt of the season; therefore, participation is required no matter how hungover riders are from toasting the midnight before. On this momentous occasion, ?Sister? Jane Arnold, master of the foxhounds, announces her new joint master and the new president of the Jefferson Hunt. And her choices will prove to be no less than shocking.
The day?s festivities are quickly marred, though, by what appears on the surface to be an unrelated tragedy. Sam Lorillard, former shining star and Harvard Law School alum, lies dead of a stab wound on a baggage cart at the old train station, surrounded by the outcasts and vagabonds who composed his social circle at the end of life. No one can remember when Sam started drinking, but the downward spiral was swift?and seemingly deadly.
Murder is followed by scandal when Sister Jane discovers dishonest hunting practices going on in a neighboring club. Unsure whether to turn a blind eye or report the infringement to the proper authority, Sister and her huntsman, Shaker Crown, decide to investigate a little further, with the help of their trusty hounds. But when they come a little too close to the staggering truth?and uncover an unforeseen connection to Lorillard?s murder?they realize they might not survive to see the next New Year?s Hunt.
Intricate, witty, and full of the varied voices of creatures both great and small, Full Cry is an astute reminder that even those with the bluest of blood still bleed red.
From the Hardcover edition.
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