Starting from Scratch: A Different Kind of Writer’s Manual
1988
Rita Will: Memoir of a Literary Rabble-Rouser
1997
Sneaky Pie’s Cookbook for Mystery Lovers
1999
Animal Magnetism: My Life with Creatures Great and Small
2009
About Rita Mae Brown
Rita Mae Brown (born 28 November 1944) is an American novelist, poet and screenwriter, best known for her coming-of-age novel “Rubyfruit Jungle” and for the long-running Mrs. Murphy mysteries, which are credited jointly to her cat, Sneaky Pie Brown. She has also written the “Sister” Jane foxhunting mysteries and the Runnymede novels.
Brown was born in Hanover, Pennsylvania, and was adopted by relatives, Julia and Ralph Brown, who raised her in York, Pennsylvania, and later in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She attended the University of Florida on a scholarship until 1964, when she was expelled for taking part in the civil rights movement. She hitchhiked to New York, took a degree in classics and English at New York University, and became active in the feminist and gay liberation movements, including the Lavender Menace protest of 1970 and the Furies Collective in Washington.
“Rubyfruit Jungle” was published by the feminist press Daughters, Inc. in 1973 and sold 60,000 copies in two years, mostly by word of mouth, before Bantam bought the reprint rights. “Six of One” (1978) opened the Runnymede series, set in a small town on the Mason-Dixon line and centred on the Hunsenmeir sisters, whom Brown based on her own mother and aunt.
The Mrs. Murphy series began with “Wish You Were Here” in 1990. Set in Crozet, Virginia, it follows Harry Haristeen, who investigates local deaths with the help of her cats, Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, and her dogs. A television film, “Murder She Purred: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery”, followed in 1998. The “Sister” Jane books, which started with “Outfoxed” in 2000, feature Jane Arnold, who relies on her hounds and her knowledge of foxhunting to solve crimes. Brown lives in Afton, Virginia, and is herself a Master of Foxhounds.
As a screenwriter she wrote the 1982 film “The Slumber Party Massacre” and received Emmy nominations for the television special “I Love Liberty” and the mini-series “The Long Hot Summer”. She received the Pioneer Award for lifetime achievement at the Lambda Literary Awards in 2015. Her most recent novels are “Fox and Furious” (2025) and “Clawed and Dangerous” (2026), and a further “Sister” Jane mystery, “Pawsible Suspects”, is scheduled for February 2027.
