Death Reins In - Michele Scott

Death Reins In
A Horse Lover’s Mystery
Michele Scott
Berkley Prime Crime

Mystery

Michaela Bancroft finds herself in the enviable position of needing to buy more horses to expand her riding instruction business. Michaela has been working with Gen, an autistic girl and the daughter of one of her high school friends. This friend recommended Michaela as a therapeutic riding instructor. She’s resistant at first, but realizes that she does enjoy working with the kids. Now she needs horses.

As luck would have it, she’s scheduled to attend the races at Los Alamitos with her friend, Audrey Pratt. Audrey used to work with racehorses, but now confines her activities to purchasing those horses that don’t make the big money, and re-selling them to riding ranches or private owners. These days, Audrey’s main occupation is the management of fledgling singers. One of them will be performing as an opening act at Los Alamitos. But a day at the races turns sour when trainers find Audrey’s body. The question is, who would want her dead, and why?

This is the second in a series, following SADDLED WITH TROUBLE, and works very well as a standalone novel. While it’s based around the world of horses, you don’t have to be an enthusiast to enjoy the book. Michaela is a very strong and realistic character, and her decisions and feelings really drive the story. There are plenty of suspects, from a starstruck stage mom to big business. This is one that could go in any of a number of ways, and it’s a lot of fun to watch Michaela track down the truth.

Rating: 7 ½
June 2007
ISBN# 978-0-425-21609-5 (paperback)