It’s February, prime foxhunting season for the members of Virginia’s Jefferson Hunt Club, when a shocking event alarms the community. A woman is found brutally murdered, stripped naked, and meticulously placed atop a horse statue outside a tack shop. The theft of a treasured foxhunting prize inside the store may be linked to the grisly scene, and everyone is on edge. With few clues to go on, “Sister” Jane Arnold, master of the Jefferson Hunt Club, uses her fine-tuned horse sense to try to solve the mystery of this “Lady Godiva” murder. But Sister isn’t the only one equipped to sniff out the trail. The local foxes, horses, and hounds have their own theories on the whodunit. If only these peculiar humans could just listen to them, they’d see that the killer might be right under their oblivious noses–and that Sister could become the killer’s next victim. Praise for The Tell-Tale Horse : SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE BESTSELLER “[A] charming and engrossing series . . . Sister Jane Arnold is Master of the Foxhounds as well as one of the most entertaining amateur sleuths since those of Agatha Christie.” – Booklist “Intriguing . . . Fans of the series will be fascinated with Jane’s evolution under Brown’s hand. With each book, Jane becomes more real–and more human–in the reader’s imagination.” –Richmond Times-Dispatch “Grabs readers from the opening scene and gallops through to the very surprising end.” –Horse Illustrated Praise for Rita Mae Brown The Hounds and the Fury “A genteel Virginia foxhunting club makes a delicious setting for murder. How pleasant to linger among the settees and brandy snifters waiting for the bodies to pile up!” –Memphis Commercial Appeal “An intriguing story.” –Associated Press The Hunt Ball “The hunt must go on, its grace and glory personified by the foxes, hounds and horses that provide these thrilling scenes with their on-the-ground perspective.” –The New York Times Book Review “Score another triumph for Rita Mae Brown–and for ‘Sister,’ who helps run another two-legged predator to ground.” –Richmond Times-Dispatch Full Cry “A great ride with heroine ‘Sister’ Jane Arnold.” –Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “A quality tale that is over all too soon.” –Charleston Post and Courier Hotspur “Dashing and vibrant . . . 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.” –Booklist Rita Mae Brown  is the bestselling author of the Sneaky Pie Brown series; the Sister Jane series;  A Nose for Justice  and  Murder Unleashed; Rubyfruit Jungle; In Her Day;  and  Six of One,  as well as several other novels. An Emmy-nominated screenwriter and a poet, Brown lives in Afton, Virginia. CHAPTER 1  Dots of brightness sparkled in the night from electric fairy lights shaped like tiny candles on the denuded dogwoods lining the driveway. Slashes of yellow light spilled onto deep snow from the high windows in the ballroom. The brick Georgian building had settled into the landscape over the years, so that people viewing this scene from outside might have thought themselves in the eighteenth century. The faint music would have put an end to that reverie. No Mozart, but everything else a hunt ball could wish. The swirl of elegant people inside added to the beauty of the scene. It was Saturday night, February 16, and the Casanova Hunt Ball was in full swing. Only stars and tiny glittering lights offered relief from the blackness of a new moon, and it was bitterly cold. Perhaps that, too, fed the frenetic energy inside, for the moon always pulls on humans whether visible or not. Jane "Sister" Arnold, Master of Foxhounds of the Jefferson Hunt, her escort, Gray Lorillard, and a large contingent of Jefferson members had come to the Casanova Hunt Ball. The two clubs enjoyed warm relations as well as a touch of competitiveness. The Jefferson Hunt members, whose own ball had been marred by a drunken scuffle and torn bodices, relaxed here. Surely nothing so tacky could happen at Casanova. Seated at the master's table were Bill and Joyce Fendley, joint masters of Casanova; their daughter, Jeanne Clark, now also a joint master; and her husband, John. Sister and Gray, Marion Maggiolo, and the entire Bancroft clan filled out the rest. Every table on the ballroom floor hosted at least one couple from JHC. Libations flowed, the dance floor was jammed, and Sister danced every dance as the gentlemen in attendance lined up to squire the master. Being Virginians, they performed this duty without thinking about it. No lady should ever sit out a dance unless she chooses to do so. Age, looks, and bloodline certainly improve a lady's chances of further engagements, but all belles have to be treated as great beauties. It's the custom. In Sister's case, the gentlemen truly enjoyed dancing