Horse Thriller

The horse Susan Richards chose for rescue wouldn't be corralled into her waiting trailer. Instead, Lay Me Down, a former racehorse with a foal close on her heels, walked right up that ramp and into Susan's life. This gentle creature, malnourished, plagued by pneumonia and an eye infection, had endured a rough road, but somehow her heart was still open and generous.

Slough House is a dumping ground for British intelligence agents who've screwed up cases in any number of ways - by leaving a secret file on a train or blowing a surveillance. River Cartwright, one such "slow horse", is bitter about his failure and about his tedious assignment transcribing cell phone conversations. When a young man is abducted and his kidnappers threaten to broadcast his beheading live on the Internet, River sees an opportunity to redeem himself.

Imogen Duffy is an up-and-coming Irish jump jockey making her mark in steeplechase racing. But not all is well in Imogen's life. Jealous of her success, Imogen’s controlling boyfriend Liam is stalking her and when she tries to break it off with him, he turns violent. Fleeing to England, Imogen hopes to leave Liam behind. But Liam vehemently refuses to let her go–until he’s found dead, stabbed with a knife bearing Imogen’s fingerprints.

London, England: Slough House is where washed-up MI5 spies go to while away what’s left of their failed careers. The “slow horses,” as they’re called, have all disgraced themselves in some way to get relegated there. Maybe they botched an Op so badly they can’t be trusted anymore. Maybe they got in the way of an ambitious colleague and had the rug yanked out from under them. Maybe they just got too dependent on the bottle—not unusual in this line of work. One thing they have in common, though, is they want to be back in the action. And most of them would do anything to get there.

Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war, an itinerant young artist who has made his name on paintings of the racehorse takes up arms for the Union. On a perilous night, he reunites with the stallion and his groom, very far from the glamor of any racetrack.

A controversial, frightening bio-thriller that blurs the line between truth and fiction, Upon A Pale Horse raises disturbing questions about the man-made origin of nightmare epidemics, and posits a conspiracy so plausible that it will linger long after the novel's shocking conclusion. When young attorney Jeffrey Rutherford's brother is killed in a plane crash minutes after takeoff from JFK, his life is turned upside down - especially when he discovers that his brother's career wasn't what it seemed. Jeffrey's staid existence is upended as he races to unravel a Gordian knot of deceit and ...

Dick Francis, the bestselling master of mystery and suspense, takes you into the thrilling world of horse racing. In the middle of the night, two masked men break into Neil Griffon’s home and abduct him. He quickly discovers that unless he agrees to their unreasonable demands, they will destroy his father’s precious horse and racing stable, and ultimately Neil himself. Returned to his father’s stables, he must find a way to bring down these criminals, because having to choose between his integrity and his life is no choice at all.

Evan Smoak is a man with many identities and a challenging past. As Orphan X, he was a government assassin for the off-the-books Orphan Program. After he broke with the Program, he adopted a new name and a new mission—The Nowhere Man, helping the most desperate in their times of trouble.

This is Jackson Lamb's kingdom: a dumping ground for spies who've screwed up. Once high fliers, they're now slow horses, condemned to a life of pushing paper as punishment for crimes of drugs and drunkenness, lechery and failure, politics and betrayal. In drab and mildewed offices, these highly trained spies moan and squabble, stare at the walls, and dream of better days - not one of them joined the Intelligence Service to be a slow horse, and the one thing they have in common is their desire to be back in the action.

Steven Scott is relatively new to horses. A successful, wealthy inventor, he takes up horse racing as a hobby - a hobby that soon brings him winner after winner under the inspired guidance of his trainer, Jody Leeds. Currently both their reputations are wrapped up in a beautiful black hurdler named Energise. But just when Steven is winning at both women and horses, he discovers deceit in his own stables. Termination of the troublemaker marks Steven for his own termination - and much sooner than he can imagine...

Imogen Duffy is an up-and-coming Irish jump jockey making her mark in steeplechase racing. But not all is well in Imogen's life. Jealous of her success, Imogen's controlling boyfriend Liam is stalking her, and when she tries to break it off with him, he turns violent. Fleeing to England, Imogen hopes to leave Liam behind. But Liam vehemently refuses to let her go – until he's found dead, stabbed with a knife bearing Imogen's fingerprints. Imogen's father, convinced of her innocence, seeks out Sid Halley to ask for his help uncovering the truth, and Sid reluctantly agrees to investigate.

The Denver Post hails Craig Johnson's Walt Longmire mystery series as a must-read. Joining the four previous novels - all of which have been Book Sense picks - The Dark Horse puts a unique Wyoming twist on the classic British village mystery. When Longmire meets a woman jailed for her husband's death, he travels outside his usual haunts to discover the truth behind this unusual murder case.

Late on a spring night in 1920, five boys cross the Yorkshire dales to the ruins of Fountains Abbey, intent on raising the Devil. Instead, they stumble over the Devil himself, sitting there watching them. Terrified, they run for their lives, leaving behind a book on alchemy stolen from their schoolmaster. The next morning, a body is discovered in the cloisters of the abbey--a man swathed in a hooded cloak and wearing a gas mask.

When an elderly priest is murdered, the killer searches the victim so roughly that his already ragged cassock is torn in the process. What was the killer looking for? And what had a dying woman confided to the priest on her deathbed only hours earlier? Mark Easterbrook and his sidekick, Ginger Corrigan, are determined to find out. Maybe the three women who run The Pale Horse public house - and who are rumored to practice the "Dark Arts" - can provide some answers....

Jockey Kelly Hughes and trainer Dexter Cranfield have been barred from racing - a devastating event for them both. The charge at the secret enquiry? Throwing a race for personal profit. It is a vicious frame-up and, worse, they have nowhere to turn to clear their names. Still Hughes refuses to take the phony verdict lying down - even though his personal enquiry might have him lying down permanently...

Kidnapping is Andrew Douglas's business: they take them, he finds them. But it isn't so simple when Alessia Cenci, golden-girl jockey, disappears, followed by the young child of a derby winner and the senior steward of the Jockey Club. From Italy to England to Washington, D.C., Andrew's caseload is suddenly, violently overflowing. And he must fight triply hard to keep his own name off the growing list of victims.

A helicopter driving a controversial round-up of wild horses suddenly crashes and the pilot is found to have been shot. Then the person coordinating the round-up for the Bureau of Land Management is savagely murdered, buried up to her neck and then trampled to death by the very same wild horses. And there's no lack of suspects—with the wild horse advocacy group having sworn to protect the horse At Any Cost! Now the state and federal agencies are showing up looking for answers or at least a scapegoat.

Ember Burns was determined to overcome her grief and establish a new veterinary practice, but her first client lands her in the middle of a murder mystery. When the evidence points to a horse as the cause of death, she vows to protect him. Except horses don't talk and neither do the dead, so Ember has to rely on her intelligence and instinct to get to the truth. A truth buried under layers of small-town secrets big enough to get her killed.

A new order. An ancient evil. A battle about to begin. It is the near future. Adrian De Vere, president of the European Union, oversees the signing of an unprecedented international treaty, ushering in a new era of one-world government. Jason De Vere, media mogul, finds himself forced out of the empire he helped create. With friends, allies, and even family turning against him, help comes from an unexpected quarter.... Nick De Vere, archaeologist and playboy - and newly returned from the dead - leads Jason into an underground world of hidden knowledge and forbidden secrets.

A classic mystery in the style of Chandler & Hammett with a modern twist...and Derby hats. One month before the Kentucky Derby, a wealthy thoroughbred owner turns up dead. Can his widow solve the crime in time to save her prized racehorse? When she hires private detective Cal Tyson to investigate, they find big money holds a strong influence on the horse-racing industry. Several key players may have wanted Sterling Halcott dead, but why? And how far are they willing to go to protect their interests? Cal Tyson and the widow Harper Halcott must navigate mansions, parties, wealth, power, ...