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, prime foxhunting season for the members of Virginia's Jefferson Hunt Club. The girls at Custis Hall are finishing their last semester before heading off to college, the entrepreneurially shrewd Crawford Howard is still smarting from January's breech in hound etiquette, and the Casanova Hunt Club is hosting their annual ball. New neighbors bring new friendships, and romance is in the air. Then 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. The septuagenarian still has a strong spring in her step and her wits about her, but that may not be enough. As Sister gets closer to the truth, she could become the killer's next victim. But humans aren't the only ones equipped to sniff out the trail. The local foxes, horses, and hounds have their own theories on the whodunit. If only these peculiar people could just listen to them, they'd see that the killer might be right undertheir oblivious noses. Once again, this charming southern community finds itself caught up in a bone-chilling tale of murder and greed. It's up to everyone, two- and four-legged alike, to band together, beat the bushes, and bring to bay the evil forces that have declared the Jefferson Hunt Club fair game

Joanna Kasimir, an old friend of Jane Lawless's, left town years ago to make it big in Hollywood. She succeeded, but stardom had a price. Early on, Joanna met a man who quickly went from being a dalliance to a stalker. A decade has passed since she sent him to prison, but just as she has returned to Minneapolis to perform at Jane's friend Cordelia Thorn's theater, Joanna receives one of his ominous calling cards.