Rita Mae Brown

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Rita Mae Brown's Latest Book

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  • Bibliography:
    68 Books (4 Series)
  • First Book:
    January 1973
  • Latest Book:
    April 2025
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Full Series List in Order

Mags Rogers

1 - A Nose for Justice (Oct-2010)
2 - Murder Unleashed (Oct-2011)

A Mrs. Murphy Mystery

1 - Wish You Were Here (Nov-1990)
2 - Rest in Pieces (Jun-1993)
3 - Murder at Monticello (1994)
4 - Pay Dirt (1995)
5 - Murder, She Meowed (1996)
6 - Murder on the Prowl (Apr-1998)
7 - Cat on the Scent (Mar-1999)
8 - Pawing Through the Past (May-2000)
9 - Claws and Effect (Feb-2001)
10 - Catch As Cat Can (Feb-2002)
11 - The Tail of the Tip-Off (Mar-2003)
12 - Whisker of Evil (Apr-2004)
13 - Cat's Eyewitness (Jan-2005)
14 - Sour Puss (Mar-2006)
15 - Puss 'n Cahoots (Mar-2007)
16 - The Purrfect Murder (Feb-2008)
17 - Santa Clawed (Nov-2008)
18 - Cat of the Century (Apr-2010)
19 - Hiss of Death (Apr-2011)
20 - The Big Cat Nap (Apr-2012)
21 - Sneaky Pie for President (Aug-2012)
22 - The Litter of the Law (Oct-2013)
23 - Nine Lives to Die (Jun-2014)
24 - Tail Gait (Jun-2015)
25 - Tall Tail (May-2016)
26 - A Hiss Before Dying (Jun-2017)
27 - Probable Claws (May-2018)
28 - Whiskers in the Dark (Jun-2019)
29 - Furmidable Foes (May-2020)
30 - Claws for Alarm (Oct-2021)
31 - Hiss & Tell (Apr-2023)
32 - Feline Fatale (Apr-2024)
33 - Sealed with a Hiss (Apr-2025)

Runnymede

1 - Six of One (Sep-1979)
2 - Bingo (Oct-1988)
3 - Loose Lips (Jul-1999)
4 - The Sand Castle (Jul-2008)
5 - Cakewalk (Oct-2016)

A Sister Jane Novel

1 - Outfoxed (Feb-2000)
2 - Hotspur (Nov-2002)
3 - Full Cry (Nov-2003)
4 - The Hunt Ball (Sep-2005)
5 - The Hounds and the Fury (Oct-2006)
6 - The Tell-tale Horse (Oct-2007)
7 - Hounded to Death (Oct-2008)
8 - Fox Tracks (Nov-2012)
9 - Let Sleeping Dogs Lie (Nov-2014)
10 - Crazy Like a Fox (Nov-2017)
11 - Homeward Hound (Oct-2018)
12 - Scarlet Fever (Nov-2019)
13 - Out of Hounds (Jan-2021)
14 - Thrill of the Hunt (May-2022)
15 - Lost & Hound (Oct-2023)
16 - Time will Tell (Nov-2024)

Book List in Order: 68 titles

  • Songs to a Handsome Woman

  • Rubyfruit Jungle

    “The rare work of fiction that has changed real life . . . If you don’t yet know Molly Bolt -- or Rita Mae Brown, who created her -- I urge you to read and thank them both.” -- Gloria Steinem   Winner of the Lambda Literary Pioneer Award |...

  • The Hand That Cradles the Rock

    The inversion in its title-which transforms a cliché for women as mothers into a call for a feminist revolution-The Hand the Cradles the Rock is equal parts playful and incisive, sensuous and tart, political and personal....

  • Six of One

    Runnymede - 1

    Perched right on the Mason-Dixon line, tiny Runnymede, Maryland, is ripe with a history almost as colorful as the women who live there -- from Celeste Chalfonte, headstrong and aristocratic, who murders for principle and steals her brother’s wife, ...

  • Southern Discomfort

    Here is the story of Hortensia Reedmuller Banastre, a beautiful woman entrenched in old money, white magnolias and a loveless marriage -- until she meets a gorgeous young prizefighter. Against a panorama of such memorable characters as Banana Mae Par...

  • Sudden Death

    Outrageous, irrepressible and endlessly  entertaining, the bestselling author of Rubyfruit Jungle  and Bingo spins a behind-the-scenes tale of women's  professional tennis that dramtically intertwines  the hear...

  • High Hearts

    Bright, gutsy and outrageous, Geneva Chatfield is the newly married daughter of the world's most renowned horse-breeder and the best rider in the South. So when Fort Sumter's guns signal the start of the Civil War, Geneva cuts her hair, dons a unifor...

  • Bingo

    Runnymede - 2

    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. Nicol...

  • In Her Day

    For years a "lost" collector's item, here is the second novel from a brilliant young author testing her literary muscle, and it's bursting at the seams with Rita Mae Brown's trademark cast of characters and crackling quips. Written immediately a...



  • Wish You Were Here

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 1

    Curiosity just might be the death of Mrs. Murphy--and her human companion, Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen.  Small towns are like families:  Everyone lives very close together. . .and everyone keeps secrets.  Crozet, Virgin...

  • Venus Envy

    At thirty-five, Mary Frazier Armstrong, called "Frazier" by friends and enemies alike, is a sophisticated woman with a thriving art gallery, a healthy bank balance, and an enviable social position.  In fact, she has everything to live for, ...

  • Rest in Pieces

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 2

    Mrs. Murphy thinks the new man in town is the cat's meow....Maybe she should think again. Small towns don't take kindly to strangers unless the stranger happens to be a drop-dead gorgeous and seemingly unattached male. When Blair Bainbridge comes ...

  • Murder at Monticello

    • / Amateur Sleuth
    • Buy Buy
    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 3

    Mrs. Murphy digs into Virginia history--and gets her paws on a killer. The most popular citizen of Virginia has been dead for nearly 170 years. That hasn't stopped the good people of tiny Crozet, Virginia, from taking pride in every aspect of Thom...

  • Dolley

    She had the president’s ear and the nation’s heart. She’s the wife of the fourth president of the United States; a spirited charmer who adores parties, the latest French fashions, and the tender, brilliant man who is her husband. But while m...

  • Pay Dirt

    • / Amateur Sleuth
    • Buy Buy
    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 4

    “Mrs Murphy’s fourth caper will be lapped up like half-and-half by the faithful.” -- Kirkus Reviews “The best yet.” -- Publishers Weekly The residents of tiny Crozet, Virginia, thrive on gossip, especially in the post office, where Mary Min...

  • Murder, She Meowed

    • / Amateur Sleuth
    • Buy Buy
    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 5

    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 g...

  • Riding Shotgun

    In a delightful contemporary farce with a riotous twist, Rita Mae Brown welcomes you to Virginia's horse country, where a fox hunt is about to lead a 1990s woman, Cig Blackwood, into a 1690s adventure of the heart. Infidelity, single motherhood, fami...

  • Murder on the Prowl

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 6

    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...

  • Cat on the Scent

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 7

    It takes a cat to write the purr-fect mystery. Things have been pretty exciting lately in Crozet, Virginia--a little too exciting if you ask resident feline investigator Mrs. Murphy. Just as the town starts to buzz over its Civil War reenactment, ...



  • Loose Lips

    Runnymede - 3

    If you crossed Mitford, North Carolina, with Peyton Place, you might come up with Runnymede, Maryland, the most beguiling of Southern towns. In Loose Lips, Rita Mae Brown revisits Runnymede and the beloved characters introduced in Six of One and Bing...

  • Outfoxed

    A Sister Jane Novel - 1

    As master of a prestigious hunt club, Jane Arnold, known as Sister, is the most revered citizen in the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountain town where a rigid code of social conduct and deep-seated tradition carries more weight than money. Nearing seventy, S...

  • Pawing Through the Past

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 8

    "You'll never get old." Each member of the class of 1980 has received the letter. Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen, who is on the organizing committee for Crozet High's twentieth reunion, decides to take it as a compliment. Others think it's a joke. But ...

  • Claws and Effect

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 9

    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 sour...

  • Alma Mater

    Sex makes monkeys out of all of us. If you don’t give in to it, you wind up a cold, unfeeling bastard. If you do, you spend the rest of your life picking up the pieces. . . .At the start of senior year at William & Mary, the six-foot-tall, rave...

  • Catch As Cat Can

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 10

    Spring fever comes to the small town of Crozet, Virginia. As the annual Dogwood Festival approaches, postmistress Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen feels her own mating instincts stir. As for tiger cat Mrs. Murphy, feline intuition tells her there's more ...

  • Hotspur

    A Sister Jane Novel - 2

    Jane "Sister" Arnold may be in her seventies, but she shows no signs of losing her love for the Hunt. As Master of the prestigious Jefferson Hunt Club in a well-heeled Virginia Blue Ridge Mountain town, she is the most powerful and revered woman in t...

  • The Tail of the Tip-Off

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 11

    When winter hits Crozet, Virginia, it hits hard--and hangs on for months. That's nothing new to postmistress Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen and her friends, who keep warm with hard work, hot toddies, and rabid rooting for the University of Virginia's w...

  • Full Cry

    A Sister Jane Novel - 3

    Riding horseback, "Sister" Jane Arnold, the regal seventy-two-year-old master of foxhounds of the Jefferson Hunt Club, calmly surveys the peaceful rolling hills of Virginia, unaware that trouble is brewing. At the local train station a derelict is fo...

  • Whisker of Evil

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 12

    A mysterious death in a Virginia farm town has the locals scratching their heads--while frisky feline Mrs. Murphy and her friends, fat-cat Pewter and corgi Tee Tucker, uncover clues as they curl their way around a cold-blooded killer. This balmy s...



  • I'd Kill For That

    in I'd Kill For That

    WHEN DEALING WITH THE RICH... On the banks of the scenic Truxton River, nestled in rolling woodlands just minutes away from our nation's capital, lies Gryphon Gate, a premier gated community. But tempers flare and tension grows when someone decides ...

  • Cat's Eyewitness

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 13

    With the holidays approaching, Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen and her best friend, Susan Tucker, take a much-needed time-out at the mountain monastery of Mount Carmel. But their worldly worries are soon overshadowed when, before their eyes, a statue of...

  • The Hunt Ball

    A Sister Jane Novel - 4

    In The Hunt Ball, the latest novel in this popular series, all the ingredients Brown's readers love are abundantly present: richness of character and landscape, the thrill of the hunt, and the chill of violence. The trouble begins at Custis Hall, ...

  • Sour Puss

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 14

    After an unexpected rekindling of their romance, Harry and her veterinarian ex-husband, Fair Haristeen, have happily remarried. But their nuptials are quickly overshadowed by the murder of a world-famous grape expert who was in town visiting the loca...

  • The Hounds and the Fury

    A Sister Jane Novel - 5

    Millions of dollars seem to be missing after a long-overdue audit of the local aluminum plant reveals a major accounting discrepancy. Company president Garvey Stokes finds himself at a loss -- in more ways than one. He turns to his sharp-tongued, orn...

  • Puss 'n Cahoots

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 15

    Instead of a proper second honeymoon, the newly remarried Harry and Fair Haristeen leave cozy Crozet, Virginia, for Shelbyville, Kentucky, site of the famous saddlebred horse show. There they'll visit dear friends Joan Hamilton and Larry Hodge and en...

  • The Tell-tale Horse

    A Sister Jane Novel - 6

    The hunt is on in this new installment of Rita Mae Brown's clever and engaging series. Only instead of chasing foxes into their dens, the locals must track down a killer and save the life of one of the most beloved folks in town. It's February, p...

  • The Purrfect Murder

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 16

    New York Times bestselling authors Rita Mae Brown and her feline partner, Sneaky Pie Brown, return with a new mystery starring Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen, the sleuthing cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, and corgi Tee Tucker. But are they any match for a...

  • The Sand Castle

    Runnymede - 4

    A family trip to Chesapeake Bay holds life-changing revelations in this Runnymede novel by the New York Times"bestselling author of Rubyfruit Jungle.   It’s August 1952, and seven-year-old Nickel -- otherwise known as Nicole -- sets off for ...

  • Hounded to Death

    A Sister Jane Novel - 7

    From New York Times bestselling author Rita Mae Brown comes the latest novel in her enthralling series of foxhunting mysteries. Richly imagined and utterly engaging, Hounded to Death reveals the cutthroat world of competitive hound shows as both huma...



  • Santa Clawed

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 17

    New York Times bestselling authors Rita Mae Brown and her feline partner, Sneaky Pie Brown, are back for the holidays in a new mystery featuring Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen, the sleuthing cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, and corgi Tee Tucker. Can they s...

  • Cat of the Century

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 18

    Acclaimed authors Rita Mae Brown and her feline partner, Sneaky Pie Brown, are back with this new mystery starring Mary Minor Harry Haristeen, the sleuthing cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, and corgi Tee Tucker. And this time they must catch a killer det...

  • A Nose for Justice

    Mags Rogers - 1

    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. ...

  • Hiss of Death

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 19

    Beloved authors Rita Mae Brown and her feline co-conspirator, Sneaky Pie Brown, sow the seeds of an all-new mystery featuring Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen, sleuthing cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, and that incorrigible corgi Tee Tucker. This time aroun...

  • Murder Unleashed

    Mags Rogers - 2

    Unscrupulous bankers, abandoned homes, and a cold-blooded killer on the loose: Mags Rogers and her wire-haired dachshund, Baxter, digg up the dirt in the second scintillating novel in New York Times bestselling author Rita Mae Brown's delightful new ...

  • The Big Cat Nap

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 20

    To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the beloved Mrs. Murphy mystery series, Rita Mae Brown and her intrepid feline co-author Sneaky Pie Brown return with a charming claw-biting tale starring Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen. Of course prowling fait...

  • Sneaky Pie for President

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 21

    Finally, a candidate representing all Americans -- both predator and prey! Tired of politics as usual? Despair not: This election year, Rita Mae Brown has thrown her cat into the ring. Her intrepid feline co-author, Sneaky Pie Brown, is taking ti...

  • Fox Tracks

    A Sister Jane Novel - 8

    New York Times bestselling author Rita Mae Brown bounds to the front of the pack with Fox Tracks, the thrilling new mystery in her beloved foxhunting series featuring the indomitable “Sister” Jane Arnold and, among others, the boisterous company ...

  • The Litter of the Law

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 22

    Rita Mae Brown collaborates with feline co-author Sneaky Pie Brown in a new mystery starring Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen, the curious cat detectives Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, and Tee Tucker, the valiant crime-solving corgi. Halloween arrives early...

  • Nine Lives to Die

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 23

    Rita Mae Brown and her feline co-author Sneaky Pie Brown return with an all-new mystery starring Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen, intrepid kitty sleuths Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, and Tee Tucker, the ever-faithful crime-solving corgi. This time around,...



  • Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

    A Sister Jane Novel - 9

    The chase is on in New York Times bestselling author Rita Mae Brown’s gripping new foxhunting mystery, featuring the irrepressible “Sister” Jane Arnold and the wily antics of her four-legged friends. In Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, a century-old crim...

  • Tail Gait

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 24

    There’s nothing like a tail well told. Rita Mae Brown and her feline co-author Sneaky Pie Brown return with an all-new mystery featuring Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen, crime-solving cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, and ever-faithful Tee Tucker the c...

  • Tall Tail

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 25

    In this fast-paced mystery by Rita Mae Brown and her feline co-author Sneaky Pie Brown, Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen and her animal friends seek to solve a whodunit rooted in eighteenth-century Virginia -- uncovering a shocking secret that refuse...

  • Cakewalk

    Runnymede - 5

    Continuing in the exuberant tradition of Six of One, Bingo, and Loose Lips, New York Times bestselling author Rita Mae Brown returns to her much-loved fictional hamlet of Runnymede, whose memorable citizens are welcoming both the end of the Great War...

  • A Hiss Before Dying

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 26

    The beloved Mrs. Murphy series continues with this contemporary mystery involving wild animal poaching, set against a historical narrative that takes place in America's post-revolutionary past....

  • Crazy Like a Fox

    A Sister Jane Novel - 10

    In this thrilling new foxhunting mystery from New York Times bestselling author Rita Mae Brown, an investigation into a missing and valuable object flushes out murder, ghosts, and old family rivalries. Now “Sister” Jane Arnold and a pack of four-...

  • Probable Claws

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 27

    Rita Mae Brown and her feline co-author Sneaky Pie Brown return with a new tale in their bestselling Mrs. Murphy series, as mysteries past and present converge in Albemarle County, Virginia. Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen and her friends and ani...

  • Homeward Hound

    A Sister Jane Novel - 11

    “Sister” Jane Arnold returns in a colorful mystery featuring four-legged sleuths -- and the breathtaking thrill of the chase. As winter deepens over the Blue Ridge Mountains, even the threat of snowstorms cannot derail this year’s Christmas ...

  • Whiskers in the Dark

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 28

    Death stalks the Blue Ridge Mountains as a centuries-old mystery resurfaces and murder mars the lead-up to an annual beagle competition, in a thrilling new tale from Rita Mae Brown and her feline co-author Sneaky Pie Brown. A massive nor’easter ...

  • Scarlet Fever

    A Sister Jane Novel - 12

    Winter blizzards bring a flurry of cases to solve in this riveting new foxhunting mystery featuring “Sister” Jane Arnold and her incorrigible hounds from New York Times bestselling author Rita Mae Brown. Frigid February air has settled into th...

  • Furmidable Foes

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 29

    Mary Minor “Harry” Harristeen is on the hunt for a killer with a deadly green thumb when a day in the garden turns fatal in this exciting new mystery from Rita Mae Brown and her feline co-author Sneaky Pie Brown. Spring arrives in northern V...

  • Out of Hounds

    A Sister Jane Novel - 13

    Fox-chasing Virginians go up against a band of outsiders in this riveting new foxhunting mystery featuring "Sister" Jane Arnold and her incorrigible hounds, from New York Times bestselling author Rita Mae Brown. "Sister" Jane Arnol...

  • Claws for Alarm

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 30

    Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen gets a little help from her veterinarian husband to solve the murder of a young equine vet whose death may be linked to his new clinic in this tantalizing mystery from Rita Mae Brown and her feline co-author Sneaky Pi...

  • Thrill of the Hunt

    A Sister Jane Novel - 14

    A blackmailer targeting wealthy members of “Sister” Jane Arnold’s club has turned the hunters into the hunted in this thrilling mystery from New York Times bestselling author Rita Mae Brown. “Cunning foxes, sensible h...

  • Hiss & Tell

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 31

    When a series of mysterious deaths spoil the Christmas season in Crozet, Virginia, Mary Minor “Harry” Harristeen and her beloved cats and dogs lend the police a helping paw in this exciting holiday mystery from Rita Mae Brown and her feline co-au...

  • Lost & Hound

    A Sister Jane Novel - 15

    When a body is found curiously displayed on “Sister” Jane Arnold’s foxhunting grounds, members of her hunt club realize someone is sending them a dire message, in this exciting mystery from New York Times bestselling author Rita Mae Brown.“Cu...

  • Feline Fatale

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 32

    Politicians fight like cats and dogs, but when things take a deadly turn at the Virginia House of Delegates, Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen calls on her beloved pets to help her crack the case and stop the fur from flying in this latest mystery fro...

  • Time will Tell

    A Sister Jane Novel - 16

    An eye-wateringly expensive watch is found discarded on the land days prior to a dead body turning up. “Sister” Jane Arnold sets out to find the connection between the two, with a little help from her friend -- both two legged and four -- in this...

  • Sealed with a Hiss

    A Mrs. Murphy Mystery - 33

    When a decades-forgotten car bobs to the surface of a local creek, with a body still in the driver’s seat, it’s up to Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen and her beloved cats and dogs to save the day, in this latest mystery from Rita Mae Brown and h...

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Rita Mae Brown has published 68 books.

The next book by Rita Mae Brown, Sealed with a Hiss, will be published in April 2025.

The first book by Rita Mae Brown, Rubyfruit Jungle, was published in January 1973.

Yes. Rita Mae Brown has 4 series.
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