The Cart Before The Corpse (The Merry Abbot Carriage-Driving Mystery) [Paperback]

Carolyn McSparren (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Merry Abbot Carriage-Driving Mystery | Publication Date: October 1, 2009

Hitch your imagination to an intriguing new mystery series set in the world of competitive carriage driving--an elegant yet cut-throat realm in which gorgeously costumed drivers and their magnificently harnessed horses vie for championships in the challenging obstacle course of the show ring.

Jane Austen, meet Mad Max.

Fans of the long-running Mossy Creek Hometown Series will gallop to bookstores for this spin-off equine mystery series by veteran Mossy Creek author Carolyn McSparren, a nationally known novelist and expert carriage driver, who owns and shows carriage-driving horses in her home state of Tennessee.

Open your barn doors and fasten your (buggy's) seatbelts for THE CART BEFORE THE CORPSE.

Famous southern carriage-horse trainer Hiram Lackland, a handsome widower, dies mysteriously after retiring to a farm outside Mossy Creek. His estranged daughter, Merry Abbot, also a horse trainer, arrives to settle his estate. But Merry quickly plunges into bit-chomping dilemmas when her father's friend and landlord, mystery-novel maven Peggy Caldwell, insists he was murdered.

Before Merry can so much as snap a buggy rein, a handsome and annoying GBI investigator, Geoff Madison, is on her case. Then there's the troublesome donkey: Don Qui. Short for Don Quixote. And the fact that Hiram was teaching all of Mossy Creek's lonely women how to--ahem--drive his carriage.

Can Merry rein in the truth? What kind of horse play was her rakish dad involved in, and why would someone want to giddy-yup him into an early grave?

Stay tuned for the answers in this first episode of, "As the Carriage Wheel Turns."

Editorial Reviews

Review

This is one wonderful ride! --Virginia Brown, author of Dixie Divas

About the Author

Carolyn McSparren's grandfather held her on a horse when she was two. That moment began a love affair with horses that has continued all her life, even when she lived in cities where the only horses she saw were either pulling carriages through the park or maintaining crowd control.
Although she longed for her own horse when she was a teenager, her parents couldn't afford to buy or keep one, so she set her dream aside. While in graduate school at the University of North Carolina life intervened. Carolyn fell in love, married and followed her new husband overseas.
After five years in Europe, Carolyn returned to the States with her Army officer husband, a fourteen-year-old step-daughter, and what the British call "a bun in the oven." She earned her Master's Degree from the University of Memphis, then became a developer of continuing education programs in business.
After her first published book, a Harlequin Super Romance titled, The Only Child, she has gone on to publish ten more. She's won multiple romance novel awards on the state and national level. She's served as president of the River City Romance Writers in Memphis, TN, and is founder and first president of Malice in Memphis, a chapter of Sisters in Crime.
Carolyn lives in the country outside Memphis with her daughter, Megan, her husband of 38 years, George, three horses, four cats, and a basset hound. Over the years Carolyn has known many veterinarians, farriers, trainers, riders, dog and cat fanciers, and general animal people, all of whom love to tell stories.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: BelleBooks, Inc. (October 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0984125833
• ISBN-13: 978-0984125838
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #188,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars From Steve (Hubby), December 10, 2009

By 

365andMe - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Cart Before The Corpse (The Merry Abbot Carriage-Driving Mystery) (Paperback)

"The Cart Before the Corpse" by Carolyn McSparren, is a murder mystery spin-off of the Mossy Creek Hometown Novels. Mossy Creek Hometown series are books of anthologies by different authors set in Mossy Creek, Georgia. It's a Southern rural hometown that claims "it ain't going nowhere, and don't want to." Populated by colorful local as well as retired out-of-town folk, the characters are all a bit flawed, and truly southern.

McSparren love horses, carriages and mystery, not necessarily in that order and combined all three in "The Cart Before the Corpse." Southern carriage-horse trainer Hiram Lackland, a handsome widower, dies mysteriously after retiring to a farm outside Mossy Creek. His estranged daughter, Merry Abbott, also a horse trainer, arrives to settle his estate. Peggy Caldwell, Hiram's landlord and friend, who happens to be a mystery-novel buff, claims he was murdered.

This fast paced, action-packed mystery is filled with odds and ends of the horse carriage world. If you don't know what that is, you will have a good understanding after reading this. The only thing missing was the fresh scent of horse `apples'. This was the first Mossy Creek story I've read and it covers all you need to know. Even though this is the first of the series, it is complete in itself. This was a good, enjoyable read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cozy quick read for a rainy-day, February 14, 2010

By 

S. Stephens (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cart Before The Corpse (The Merry Abbot Carriage-Driving Mystery) (Paperback)

"The Cart Before the Corpse" by Carolyn McSparren is a new spin-off book of the Mossy Creek Hometown series. Having not read those books I was a bit afraid I'd find myself out of my depth before I even have a chance to get started. I was happily mistaken - you don't need to know one single thing about the series this spins off from to pick up the reins and start in on this new series.

I love horses and reading about their handling and various competitions, equipage, grooming, and the like, but I'm not terribly knowledgeable about the proper terms...until now. This book doesn't assume that you come from the world of horse shows, driving and carriages but it also doesn't "talk down" to the reader to explain things. The explanations all fit in very well without breaking the flow of the story and I know a lot more now than I did about it all. For some reason I had a preconceived notion that the book would be in a bit more of a "primitive" setting. It wasn't that way at all - much to my delight - I like a good historical or "primitive" set book, but I generally prefer to not mix those with my mystery/investigative reading.

Merry is a strong female character, if you like your female characters to be simpering "let the guy take the lead and sweep her off her feet and solve her problems" types, this is probably not the book for you. She's not so strong that she doesn't have emotions, break down, cry or freak out, but she handles what must be done first, then falls apart if she feels she needs to. She just wants to do the best she can in the face of her fathers death, to do right by what he was trying to accomplish near the end of his life, to find out who killed him, why he was killed, and somehow figure out what to do now that she can't ever truly reconcile with her father now that she's finally reached the point in life when she's ready to allow him back into her life.

In addition to Merry, the other primary characters are well developed and at points during the novel get to tell things from their point of view. While primarily from Merry's viewpoint, you do occasionally get a glimpse of what others are doing - this can help advance the storyline while keeping Merry out of the loop of the ongoing police investigation and further "fleshing out" who these other characters are when they're away from Merry from their own standpoint. The sections are all clearly marked with who's point of view it's being told from, so there is little to no confusion about the sudden switches in locale and method of thinking about the investigation.

I am definitely looking forward to more books in this new spin-off series.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clever cozy mystery with wonderful setting and rich emotional content, November 24, 2009

By 

D. Merrimon Crawford (Colorado) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cart Before The Corpse (The Merry Abbot Carriage-Driving Mystery) (Paperback)

Horse show manager Ms. Merry Abbot may not be having the best of days. A runaway horse causes havoc to her well made plans and news of her estranged father's death follows closely afterwards, necessitating a trip to Mossy Creek. Although most people assume Hiram Lackland's death was accidental, Peggy Caldwell disagrees. From the position in which she discovered Hiram's body, Peggy Caldwell is all too certain that Hiram's death was a case of murder. Geoff Wheeler from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation tends to agree with her. As the only heir in her father's will, Merry realizes that suspicions might be too easily directed at her. As she tries to put her father's affairs in order, Merry Abbott also sets out to discover the motive and culprit behind her father's murder. Will she uncover the important clues in time before she becomes the next victim?

Carolyn McSparren's THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE is a cozy mystery with all the excitement of a clever whodunit puzzle with the added bonus of a rich emotional content to draw one into the delightful cast of characters, setting and the story itself. Told mostly through Merry's first person point of view, some clearly marked chapters are told through Peggy Caldwell and Geoff Wheeler's third person point of view. Rather than disrupting the flow of the narrative, Carolyn McSparren uses these moments well, allowing the reader to gain additional insight into the character's personalities and at other times creating a smoother narrative flow of events. Although Merry has been estranged from her father, his death becomes a catalyst for inner changes within her. As she prepares for his funeral, she comes to know other sides of the man and indeed, discovers more about herself in the process. Carolyn McSparren combines a delightful sense of humor with emotion as Merry Abbott sorts through the funeral preparations and the minute details involved in transfer of his assets. Southerners (and misplaced Southerners too!) will find a special delight in Carolyn McSparren's ability to capture those particular Southern customs, especially funeral customs, engraved in our hearts. THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE takes the reader right into the heart of the world of horse carriage-driving with all sorts of fascinating details from horse breeds to carriage types. Above all, each and every detail brings a depth to the story. Merry Abbot is a woman devoted to horses, not only in her profession but also in her heart. THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE is a mystery for all horse lovers, from those intimate with carriage-driving to readers who just have a soft spot in their heart for these magnificent creatures. Carolyn McSparren just knows how to bring out pertinent, moving details while also integrating them fully into her characters' personalities and the events of her story. THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE draws one into the Mossy Creek world of the book, making one want to return to the book each spare moment possible and revisit the characters. What a delightful ending! This reader is anxiously awaiting the next Merry Abbot mystery!

Carolyn McSparren's THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE is a spin off of the popular Mossy Creek Hometown novels. If you are new to this series, rest assured that THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE works as a stand alone and an easy entry into the world of Mossy Creek, all the more so since Merry Abbott is herself a visitor when she arrives. However, once one gets to know the characters and setting, one might very well find oneself eager to revisit this world, either the main Mossy Creek series itself or another Merry Abbot mystery.

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