Book picks similar to
Cut Throat by Lyndon Stacey
horses
fiction
thriller
horse-books
Inside Track
John Francome - 2003
The perfect read for fans of Felix Francis' Pulse and Triple Crown.
'There are some genuinely exhilarating descriptions of races that capture the tension and excitement, and could be written only with a jockey's insight' - Daily Mail Pippa Hutchinson is an aspiring young trainer, certain that given the right horses she is as good as anyone in the business. Until, that is, an owner removes two horses to another yard, and one shows dramatic improvement. She enlists the help of her brother, Jamie, once a star flat jockey, now trying to revive his racing career over fences after a harrowing term in prison. But former wild boy Jamie has his own demons to deal with, like the new challenge of jumps riding, the hostility of those who can never forgive him for a young lad's death - and the black wall within him that separates him from his past.
What readers are saying about Inside Track:
'The best book he [John Francome] has written so far''An outstanding, compelling book from start to finish''Well written, well-paced and the way he portrays the differing characters is astounding'
Death by Dressage (She Rides, He Doesn't Mystery, #1)
Carolyn Banks - 1993
Fellow horsewoman Robin Vaughan doesn't like the way the police investigation is going. In the perfect world of competitive dressage, Nika rode like a piece of luggage. So who arranged to have a horse kick her to death? As Robin mounts her own search for the killer, she rummages through Nika's untidy past--and finds a bizarre double life that someone might kill to keep secret.
Comeback
Dick Francis - 1991
A globe-hopping diplomat comes face to face with a case of fatal corruption in Francis's new thoroughbred thriller.
The Head and Not The Heart
Natalie Keller Reinert - 2011
You can almost taste the grime of a side street in Brooklyn, and you can exactly picture what the old Claremont Riding Academy looked like." - Andrea Galbraith, Eventing-a-Go-GoFor anyone who ever doubted their life's work... for anyone who ever looked up and suddenly wondered if they were doing the right thing... The Head and Not The Heart explores just what makes passionate people tick. Horses have always been Alex's obsession. Their presence has defined her life: all her choices, from her love-life to her career, have been made with horses as her priority. But the horse business isn't for the sentimental, and it's growing harder for her to tamp down her emotions and think about the horses with her head and not her heart. Alex's life looks pretty wonderful to the casual observer. She's in a committed relationship with a master racehorse trainer. Surrounded by hundreds of horses in the green hills of Ocala, Florida, it's a dream life for any equestrian.But suddenly she's tired of hitting the ground when a flighty racehorse decides to spook, tired of fending off biting and kicking foals, tired of 2 AM calls for veterinary emergencies. And Alex is starting to wonder if she's made the right choices in life.When their racing stable suffers a loss, she and Alexander slowly begin to fall apart. A chance find of a long-lost horse sends Alex alone to New York City, and she wonders if this is the sign she's been waiting for. Is it time to leave it all behind and start fresh?Running from the lush pastures of Florida horse country to the icy streets of Brooklyn, Alex experiments with being a different sort of person, as if horses had never mattered to her, and finds herself lost in the company of strangers.Dealing with love, loss, and obsession -- all the components of a life with horses -- "The Head and Not The Heart" brings the world of racehorses and the people who love them to life.
Guilty Not Guilty
Felix Francis - 2019
Bill Russell is acting as a volunteer steward at Warwick races when he confronts his worst nightmare – the violent death of his much-loved wife. But worse is to come when he is accused of killing her and hounded mercilessly by the media. His life begins to unravel completely as he loses his job and his home. Even his best friends turn against him, believing him guilty of the heinous crime in spite of the lack of compelling evidence. Bill sets out to clear his name but finds that proving one’s innocence is not easy – one has to find the true culprit, and Bill believes he knows who it is. But can he prove it before he becomes another victim of the murderer.
Guilty Not Guilty
is a journey of greed and jealousy set against the grief of personal tragedy and loss, with many a twist and turn along the way.Praise for Felix Francis's novels: ‘As usual with a Francis, once I opened the book, I didn’t want to put it down… Felix’s resolution is darker and more shocking than his father would ever have contemplated, but reflects grittier times and changing tastes in fiction. Now, what am I going to do for the next 12 months until the next one?’
Country Life
‘He has become his own man as a purveyor of murder mysteries'
The Racing Post
'The Francis flair is clear for all to see'
Daily Mail
'From winning post to top of the bestseller list, time after time'
Sunday Times
'The master of suspense and intrigue'
Country Life
'A tremendous read'
Woman's Own
Flash in the Dark (Dogleg Island Mystery Book 5)
Donna Ball - 2021
No Man's Land
Neil Broadfoot - 2018
For DCI Malcolm Ford it's like nothing he's ever seen before, the savagery of the crime makes him want to catch the murderer before he strikes again. For reporter Donna Blake it's a shot at the big time, a chance to get her career back on track and prove all the doubters wrong. But for close protection specialist Connor Fraser it's merely a grisly distraction from the day job. But then another bloodied and broken corpse is found, this time in the shadow of the Wallace Monument - and with it, a message. One Connor has received before, during his time as a police officer in Belfast.With Ford facing mounting political and public pressure to make an arrest and quell fears the murders are somehow connected to heightened post-Brexit tensions, Connor is drawn into a race against time to stop another murder. But to do so, he must question old loyalties, confront his past and unravel a mystery that some would sacrifice anything - and anyone - to protect.
From Dundee International Book Prize and Bloody Scotland book of the year nominee Neil Broadfoot comes No Man's Land, the first in the white-knuckle Connor Fraser series.
Internal Threat
Ben Sussman - 2011
But your success could take the life of your only child. What would you do?That is the agonizing dilemma faced by Matt Weatherly, Black Ops veteran turned top cyber security expert. A ruthless killer is using his son as a pawn to destroy the state-of-the-art web of security Matt's company has spent the last seven years creating. Racing against the clock, Matt is forced to navigate the deadly, night-cloaked streets of Los Angeles, staying one step ahead of the killer and the dogged pursuit of the police, before the deadline passes and consumes everything he loves.
At Risk
Kit Ehrman - 2002
So does pride.... Stephen Cline will pay heavily for both when he drops out of college against his father's wishes and lands a job as barn manager at Foxdale Farm, one of Maryland's premiere equestrian facilities. An obnoxious trainer and difficult, demanding boarders are all part of the job, but Steve will need every bit of his smarts when he interrupts a bunch of thieves very early one morning and is hijacked along with the horses. In making his escape, he unwittingly jeopardizes a lucrative scam and challenges a sadistic killer. When the police investigation stalls, Steve uses his connections in the horse industry and launches his own fact-finding campaign. As he moves closer to uncovering the rustlers' ring, he learns that nearly everyone else around him also runs risks.... Praise for At Risk "Both horse lovers and crime fans who've never stepped into a stirrup will relish Ehrman's riveting debut, set on a Maryland horse farm....With his youthful zeal and perseverance, Steve Cline makes a captivating hero and sleuth, one readers will be eager to see again." -Publishers Weekly "As a former groom, vet and barn manager, Ehrman knows her way around horses and show barns...." -Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review Kit Ehrman currently lives and writes on a horse farm near Columbus, Indiana. The sequels to this first Steve Cline mystery are Dead Man's Touch, Cold Burn, and Triple Cross. www.kitehrman.com
Meredith & Hodge Boxset: Books 1-3
M.K. Turner - 2021
However, nothing gets in the way of them solving a case. Discover them and their world in this three book box set, containing over 1300 pages of murder, mystery, twists and turns and find out why over 60,000 readers have downloaded M K Turner’s popular series. Misplaced Loyalty – Assisted suicide or euthanasia? Meredith calls it murder! Ill Conceived – Why is an apparently innocent young woman prime suspect in a motiveless, senseless murder? The Wrong Shoes – Why did a pair of shoes set off a string of murders and a kidnapping? Want the answers? Buy the box set now!
The Hunt
Jan Neuharth - 2003
An attractive and wealthy lawyer and horseman, Doug Cummings personifies the old money equine subculture of Middleburg, Virginia. Driven to succeed, Cummings's climb to the top is halted when he becomes the target of a twisted scheme to frame him for the murders of his former lover and horse groom. As Cummings attempts to find the true culprits, the conflicting forces of his community offer a revealing look at how vengeance, love, and envy obscure the search for truth and justice.
Falling Off Air
Catherine Sampson - 2004
After learning she was pregnant with twins and being abandoned by her irresponsible boyfriend, Adam, she's settling into life as a single mother. But one night, after putting the children to bed, she hears what she thinks is an argument outside. Then, suddenly, a body falls past her window. Running outside, she finds Paula Carmichael, a renowned activist, dead on the ground. Although Robin and Paula weren't acquainted, the police find Robin's name mentioned - frequently - in the dead woman's diary. Robin then learns that her ex-boyfriend had been making a documentary about Paula and may know more than he lets on. But before she can ask him, he's killed by a hit-and-run driver - who was driving Robin's car. Now a suspect herself, Robin must figure out who wanted both Robin and Adam dead before she loses her freedom, her children, and her life.
Art in the Blood
Bonnie MacBird - 2015
A snowy December, 1888. Sherlock Holmes, 34, is languishing and back on cocaine after a disastrous Ripper investigation. Watson can neither comfort nor rouse his friend – until a strangely encoded letter arrives from Paris. Mademoiselle La Victoire, a beautiful French cabaret star writes that her illegitimate son by an English Lord has disappeared, and she has been attacked in the streets of Montmartre.Racing to Paris with Watson at his side, Holmes discovers the missing child is only the tip of the iceberg of a much larger problem. The most valuable statue since the Winged Victory has been violently stolen in Marseilles, and several children from a silk mill in Lancashire have been found murdered. The clues in all three cases point to a single, untouchable man.Will Holmes recover in time to find the missing boy and stop a rising tide of murders? To do so he must stay one step ahead of a dangerous French rival and the threatening interference of his own brother, Mycroft.This latest adventure, in the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, sends the iconic duo from London to Paris and the icy wilds of Lancashire in a case which tests Watson's friendship and the fragility and gifts of Sherlock Holmes' own artistic nature to the limits.
The Diamond Horse
Stacy Gregg - 2016
She is the daughter of a Russian Count and lives in a beautiful snowbound palace that is home to a menagerie of wonderful animals: tigers, wolfhounds and, of course, horses. And she is also the owner of a beautiful heirloom – a diamond necklace with a secret past.But when Anna defies her father’s wishes and secretly raises a young colt alongside her pet tiger cub, her actions will have far reaching consequences. And soon Anna, her tiger and her horse will be fighting for survival in the frozen tundra of Siberia…An epic adventure of horses, friendship and sparkling secrets!
Deadly Webs: The Beginning Book 0
James Hunt - 2017
Her teachers love her, and her single parent mother always knows her twelve year-old daughter will make the right decisions. But when Mallory goes missing, her mother calls Seattle PD for help. Detective Chase Grant, and his partner, piece together the evidence to find the girl before time runs out.