Horse Mystery Fiction

Finding a dead body was not unusual for an autumn night in the 87th Precinct. But this young woman's body was naked - and potentially related to the series of odd missives received at the station house. All signs point to the Deaf Man's return, this time with a plot more diabolical than even the jaded policemen could imagine. He's been sending them mysterious pictures of police equipment: nightsticks, helmets, black horses, and more. But what did they mean?

This volume includes: The Ghost in the First Row, The Box That Watch Found, and A Horse Named Dragon.

The February hunt season is in full swing in genteel Virginia when the neighborhood is rocked by murder: the female victim was stripped naked and propped onto a horse statue outside a tack shop.

The Aldens have promised Grandfather a vacation from mysteries during their island visit. But the promise proves hard to keep when things start to go missing. Then an old fisherman tells Benny of the island’s ghost horse, and late that very night Benny sees a mysterious stallion galloping down the beach. Could the ghost horse have something to do with the disappearances?

Derby Day at Epsom Downs and a multitude of people crowd to watch the races: dukes and dustmen, bishops and beggars, privileged ladies and prostitutes. The gamut of Victorian society, though, is also a hotbed for crime and crooks of all kinds. With the country a-flutter in the run-up to this national occasion, events reach fever pitch when a disembodied head is discovered on a passenger train at Crewe; the first in a murky course of events that takes in murder, fraud and race-fixing.

During Fiesta, three desperate men converge in a perilous New Mexico town. It takes four days for Sailor to travel to New Mexico by bus. He arrives broke, sweaty, and ready to get what's his. It's the annual Fiesta, and the locals burn an effigy of Zozobra so that their troubles follow the mythical character into the fire. But for former senator Willis Douglass, trouble is just beginning.

Rumor has linked Queen Elizabeth I to her master of the horse, Robin Dudley. As gossip would have it, only his ailing wife, Amy, prevents marriage between Dudley and the Queen. To quell the idle tongues at court, the Queen dispatches Ursula Blanchard to tend to the sick woman's needs. But not even Ursula can prevent the "accident" that takes Amy's life. Did she fall or was she pushed? Was Ursula a pawn of Dudley and the Queen?

For twenty-five years, the case of the McGraw twins kidnapping has remained unsolved. As the eldest son, Cull oversees the McGraw horse ranch, wary of prying eyes. So when true-crime writer Nikki St. James comes forward with new information, Cull can't believe his father invites her onto the compound. His family has suffered enough - he's not about to let St. James snoop and ruin them completely. But Nikki finds the eldest McGraw's protectiveness as endearing as it is aggravating.

As Thanksgiving approaches, Cheryl stumbles across a startling discovery: Someone is sleeping in Naomi and Seth Millers’ winter buggy and helping himself to food from their farmhouse cellar. Could it be the same person who is stealing from businesses up and down Sugarcreek’s Main Street? Despite Naomi’s insistence on extending the hand of hospitality to their unknown guest, when items are stolen from the Swiss Miss gift shop, Cheryl intends to get to the bottom of these mysteries

Sid Halley had one good hand and another made of metal. Five hundred pounds of horse had landed on him, directly ending his career as a brilliant jockey - and indirectly ending his marriage to the woman he loved. He had become a private investigator, quite a good one, though his new life could never erase the haunting memories of his past glories.

Shell-shocked and missing a foot-lost to an IED during his tour of duty in Afghanistan, Captain Tom Forsyth has been sent "home" by the army and returns to his estranged mother's house. But Josephine Kauri, the "first lady of British racing", has always put the horses she trains first and her family last. Tom soon finds himself strained to the breaking point with his mother and stepfather. But there's another reason for the stifling tension at Kauri House Stables: Josephine is being blackmailed for a hefty sum every week - and forced to make her horses lose.

Vivienne embarks upon the summer of her dreams as one of the few students selected for a training program back east at Liberty Farms. But as focused as she is on her riding, Vivvie also has a secret agenda: to investigate the death of Joel Parker, her friend who she believes was tragically murdered. Vivvie has hardly set foot in the state-of-the-art barns before things start to go amiss.

As 17-year-old Vivienne Taylor returns to Fairmont Riding Academy for the second semester, she just wants to get past the drama that dominated her first months at the school. Reunited with her beloved horse, Harmony, Vivvie vows to focus on riding, particularly with the announcement that a select group of students will be chosen to compete at a Three Day Event in Kentucky, with access to world-class coaches afterwards. Making the team is exactly what Vivvie needs to get to the next level.

Derek Franklin is an injured jockey. The last fence at Cheltenham has left him on crutches. But his brother’s death means even bigger trouble. He inherits a jewellery business, a mistress – and some very shady business associates. Franklin likes to play things straight. But with £1.5 million in diamonds gone missing, he finds honesty can be a deadly virtue.

In Slough House memories are stirring, all of them bad. Catherine Standish is buying booze again, Louisa Guy is raking over the ashes of lost love, and new recruit Lech Wicinski, whose sins make him outcast even among the slow horses, is determined to discover who destroyed his career, even if he tears his life apart in the process.

Small town 17-year-old Vivienne Taylor is a talented equestrian with Olympic dreams and a little something extra going on - she is also an "equine empath", someone who has the ability to read horses’ minds and moods. When she receives a full scholarship to attend Fairmont Riding Academy, a prep school with a famous riding program, she struggles with homesickness, hazing by the school’s snooty drama queen, intense competition in the sport of three-day-eventing, and the not-altogether-unwelcome interest of a hot guy. On top of all of that the horse given to Vivienne via the scholarship is an animal that she cannot "read" or understand.

A sunken U-boat has lain undisturbed on the Atlantic ocean floor since the Second World War - until now. Inside its rusting hull, among the corpses of top-rank Nazis, lie secrets people will kill to obtain. The sequel to Len Deighton's game-changing debut The IPCRESS File, Horse Under Water sees its nameless, laconic narrator sent from fogbound London to the Algarve, where he must dive through layers of deceit in a place rotten with betrayals.

I'm Viola Parker, known on the circuit as one of the best show jumper riders around. Some say I have a bit of an attitude, but they don't understand what it takes to deal with certain horse owners. That's why, I'm worried about my current situation. I have a surprise trust fund waiting if I can keep a job for one year before I hit 30. Do you know how much crap I'll have to endure to make that happen? It boggles the mind.

They took her mother 23 years ago. Now they want Ava. Forced home at Rosegate Farm by fragmented memories, Ava Cade learns her mother didn't abandon her but was murdered by a criminal network hiding secrets in plain sight. From hidden cellars to powerful men and corrupt officials, Ava unearths a conspiracy tied to land, money, and blood. With allies she barely knows and enemies lurking in the shadows, she's in a race against time. Justice is a long shot in the bayou... unless you fight for it!

Mallory Martin left her marriage and her unfulfilling job to move back to her hometown of Hillspring, Arkansas, and start a horse rescue. It’s everything she’s been missing, with paddocks of happy horses and one very quirky donkey. But when her cantankerous neighbor and longtime critic, Albert Cunningham, is found murdered in his fancy show barn, Mallory becomes suspect number one. Since Sheriff Grady Sullivan is ignoring all good sense and focusing only on Mallory, she decides to take matters into her own hands.