During a November ice storm, equine insurance agent, Connie Holt, is called to a breeding farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, where she finds a prize stallion dead in his stall—and a dead man huddled in the corner. Tension mounts as two more horses in the area die under similar suspicious circumstances. Connie suspects that someone is systematically killing very expensive stallions with great breeding potential, but has no proof. Connie’s investigation, with the help of her boss, Cary McCutcheon, moves her ever closer to discovering how the murders were accomplished and the murderer’s identity. To make matters worse, she is dealing with a personal crisis, a love that can’t be returned. Will she unmask the killer before more horses die?
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More About the Author
"Who are you, anyway?" I don't suppose many people can really answer that question, given the many and varied masks we present to others, and of course, to ourselves. But in attempting to answer the question, perhaps I can shed some light on who I am as a writer of novels.
I've always been intrigued with human motivations, why people do the things they do. What motivates people to do bizarre and self-destructive things, like going over Niagara Falls in a barrel or wrestling alligators for fun? On the other hand, rarely, I believe, people can be saintly: soldiers save fellow warriors' lives in Afghanistan, and the men and women in Doctors Without Borders are selfless. And then there are the rest of us, people who are just trying to make it in a world that is sometimes hard and unyielding. The question of what accounts for human behavior was the reason I chose to be a literature major. I've always taught my students that there is no better place than the short story or novel to learn about the reasons people behave the way they do, their dreams and aspirations, and their successes and failures as human beings. I was taught this piece of wisdom when a young undergraduate, and I believe it today.
I have, also, a great curiosity about many different subjects, which has only grown more intense as I've grown older. Since January 1, I've wondered what the real George Washington was like behind the myth. When I found out, to my complete satisfaction, after staggering through an exhaustively researched 904 page tome by Ron Chernow, I was inspired to look into Alexander Hamilton, who had been a fighter in the Revolutionary War and an aide to General Washington. Specifically, I wondered why Hamilton went clear-eyed into a duel with Aaron Burr and cut short his life. Another 832 pages by Chernow told me about Hamilton's life, thinking patterns and beliefs in such detail that I at last discovered his motivations in agreeing to let someone have the chance to kill him. An article about Predator drones patrolling the Mexican border caught my attention, and another about Clarence Darrow added to my knowledge of famous lawyers. I love to read about law cases and watch television and see movies about lawyers. Reading up on equine infectious anemia cleared up a few questions I had about it. Another article--well, enough of that. With all this reading, goes a love of research, tied into my long grad studies. The Internet is a gift of the gods. Like all the gods' gifts, we misuse it. But for someone like me, who is driven to find out the truth about things and people, it's a blessing.
I have to admit that I'm always compelled to try to think things through to their logical end, and am almost incapable of self-deception. Added to these, when I see a wrong, I want to right it, even if my hands are tied by practical considerations.
It is plain to see why novels fit the way I think. In them, I can create characters as fully as I wish, deciding how they're going to behave and why, painting them as fully as I can. I can show readers that these people cannot easily be pigeonholed as "good" or "bad," but are sometimes a mixture of both. I can present them as realistically as possible, even though they get themselves into situations that might seem fantastic. I can show readers from many different cultures that the problems of my characters are universal. We're all stuck on this turning ball together. I can research my stories, choosing topics that fascinate me and hopefully, will fascinate the reader too. And perhaps there will be a wrong committed in my stories that my readers will learn about, and put it right when they encounter that wrong in their own lives.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
FOR THE MYSTERY LOVER...,
By
This review is from: The Case of the Three Dead Horses (Paperback)
THIS UNUSUAL TALE IS AN EXPERTLY CRAFTED MYSTERY THRILLER FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO WELCOME A CLEVERLY DELIVERED PLOT, A SET OF FASCINATING CHARACTER STUDIES, REALISTIC AND COMPELLING DIALOG, HUMOR, SPOT-ON INSIGHT INTO THE HUMAN CONDITION, AND UNRELENTING TEASING SUSPENSE. TAKE THIS BOOK ON THE BEACH THIS SUMMER ALONG WITH PLENTY OF SUNSCREEN; YOU WON'T WANT TO PUT IT DOWN. Samuel J. Di Christina
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Satisfying Mystery Read,
By Bruce Henson (Atlanta GA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Case of the Three Dead Horses (Paperback)
The Case of the Three Dead Horses is a satisfying mystery, which I read in an evening. Especially gratifying is that I truly had no idea of the outcome or of the true villain of the piece. I learned a lot about the horse milieu and the beautifully described central Virginia setting. Fisher's characters are succinctly drawn and often funny. Central character Connie is likeable - something I wanted more of and look forward to discovering in future Connie Holt novels is additional backstory about her.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great mystery by a new horse novelist!,
By
This review is from: The Case of the Three Dead Horses (Paperback)
With a style reminiscent of Patricia Cornwell, Marilyn M Fisher introduces her characters-their dreams and disappointments, conflicts and resolutions-and stitches them into a skillfully woven tapestry. The clever story of THREE DEAD HORSES is straight out of today's headlines, exposing the dastardly practice of destroying valuable animals for their insurance value. Heroine, Connie Holt, an astute insurance investigator, uncovers truths that seem to implicate more than one of the colorful characters. As the plot unfolded, I found myself guessing until the final chapter. Fisher's knowledge of horses and her breath-taking, poetic description of Virginia countryside totally immerses the reader into the story and leaves them wanting more.
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