The Fox Wife

 The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo, 390 pages.

This novel follows two protagonists in Manchuria at the start of the twentieth century. Bao is a detective in a time before private detectives are really a thing that exist, but he's been able to hear lies since he was a small child, and using this power to solve people's problems brings him great satisfaction. He is especially intrigued when a girl is found frozen to death in an alley and people say it is the work of foxes, a subject that has fascinated him his whole life. Snow is a fox spirit (a traditionally trickstery spirit who consumes qi to live) on the hunt for her child's murderer. Their separate searches often overlap across Manchuria at the end of the Qing dynasty, and together the reader can put together answers to a whole slew of questions. 

I quite enjoyed this book, although I definitely have some criticisms. The setting was really interesting, and I think Choo did an excellent job making this story feel very rooted into it's setting while also keeping it accessible to people who don't know all that much about Chinese history. I also really like both of the protagonists, and I really enjoyed watching them interact with the world. Unfortunately, even when the protagonists eventually meet it never really feels like the two stories come together, which is puzzling since the plots definitely do. The perspectives shift every chapter, and I found it, without fail, jarring. I believe it is because it feels like the two protagonists are in different genres despite having very similar plots. Despite sometimes feeling like I was reading two books squished together, I still really liked it, and found it fun to put together the information gathered across different plots. I would recommend this book, especially to fans of historical mysteries and classic detective readers who don't mind a splash of fantasy.

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie by Rita Mae Brown (2014) 272 pages

At an event that the Jefferson Hunt Club attends in Kentucky, a storm sends a limb crashing into a grave dated from almost a hundred years ago at an equine cemetery. It is discovered that there is a human body and canine body in the grave as well as that of a horse. Thus begins interest in who could possibly have been in the grave, along with interest in the horse buried there, too. As the hunt season progresses, back home in Virginia, details are learned that appear to link horses and people from the past to the current time.

I hadn't any particular interest in the whole industry of people on horseback who follow foxhounds which are trying to sniff out foxes. But Brown skillfully weaves her tale, showing the people who love their horses, their dogs, and even the foxes (which were not chased to be killed, I need to add). As we are introduced to these characters in rural Virginia, we learn that the hunt club is very structured; there are a few employees, but there are mostly dedicated, unpaid volunteers who have specific tasks and places to be during the hunt, and specific actions to take before and during a hunt, as when a fox is sighted, or if the fox has gotten to an area of safety, away from the hounds. Seventy-three year old Sister Jane Arnold (not a nun; it's not clear how she got her name) is the Master of Foxhounds, in charge of the Jefferson Hunt Club's hunts. Through her and her companions, we also learn about horse breeding and lineage. And solve a murder.

Pax

Pax by Sara Pennypacker  276 pp.

Pax is an award winning story of a boy and his pet fox, separated because of war. The book takes place in an unknown country in an unknown time. Pax, the fox was rescued by Peter as an orphaned kit just a few days old. Peter, who is mourning his dead mother, develops a strong attachment to the animal and they are inseparable. When Peter's father must go to war he insists that Pax be released into the wild when Peter is sent to stay with his grandfather. Pax does not have the knowledge to survive in the wild but eventually is befriended by other foxes and slowly learns the way of the forest while avoided the devastating effects of war. Peter runs away in search of Pax but ends up injured and cared for by Vola, who lives like a hermit on an old farm. Vola is a veteran of a previous war and an amputee suffering from PTSD. Together she and Peter learn how to cope with their own lives, as Pax has done in the wild. This was one of the books I selected for the Treehouse Book Club.

Pax

Pax by Sarah Pennypacker, 276 pages.
When his father goes off to war, young Peter agrees out of necessity to return his pet fox, Pax, to the wild, but immediately regrets his decision. Left with his grandfather, a man who seems to have no love for him, Peter decides to run away, after Pax, and then back home. He embarks on a quest to recover his best friend without too much planning, and runs into trouble fairly soon. Vola, a wounded war veteran, grudgingly offers assistance. Despite injury and delay, Peter is determined to be reunited with Pax. Pax, who is telling his side of the story, tries to stay alive and deal with the wild world as he waits to be reunited with Peter.
A bit didactic, and though it is lacking in wizards, mythological creatures, or vampires, Pax is a decent story.