Customer Reviews

Cold Burn (Steve Cline Mysteries)

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When Steve Cline's friend Corey Claremont asks him to look into the disappearance of her brother Bruce he jumps at the chance. He's bored in his present position and looks forward to working at Stone Manor Farm, where they breed thoroughbreds. By a lucky coincidence, Steve is hired in Bruce's former position and he is staying at Bruce's apartment. Steve discretely questions the workers at Stone Manor Farm but all he learns is that Victor Nash, the husband of the owner Dr. Deidre Nash, told everyone that Bruce quit.

A neighbor tells Steve that someone drove Bruce's car to his parking space shortly after he disappeared. It really looks like Bruce is in hiding or dead. When a dealer wants to buy a significant amount of cocaine from Bruce, he is willing to deal with Steve instead. Steve wonders if Bruce's disappearance is drug related. The longer he works for Dr. Nash, the more he believes illegal activities are being carried out at Stone Manor Farm. As Steve looks for evidence, he almost gets himself killed.

Readers will enjoy reading COLD BURN, a novel that showcases a protagonist who wants to right the wrongs of the world. There is plenty of action as well as a surplus of suspects who could have had something to with Bruce's disappearance. Fans of Dick Frances will think Kit Ehrman is his successor because it is obvious he knows and loves horses.

Harriet Klausner

In Cold Burn, Kit Ehrman's third equestrian novel, Steve Cline is in trouble again. If you've read Ehrman's previous novels,At Risk and Dead Man's Touch, you know that Steve Cline is a risk-taker, he's dogged in his determination to find the truth, and he keeps his word, even in the most horrific circumstances. This time he promises to find out what happened to a friend's brother who disappeared from his job as a stable hand at Stone Manor Farm in Virginia, a clinic and breeding farm operated by beautiful and aristocratic Dr. Deirdre Nash. To get information, Steve takes over the missing man's underpaid, grueling, dirty, and often mind-numbing job. His struggle to find the truth is all uphill. He has to put up with another hand's jealousy because he gains Dr. Nash's approval by his newly-acquired skill in delivering foals. He has to resist his seductive boss, Maddie. There are mysterious nocturnal horse deliveries. He keeps getting hurt. And to make the whole thing worse, an arsonist is at work. Cold Burn starts with a blazing bank barn uncomfortably near Stone Manor and races through a series of often-violent events until the dramatic climax. Ehrman uses realistic imagery and detail to describe the world of a breeding farm. The description is so masterful that it's almost possible to smell the muck that has to be so laboriously raked up all the time. We don't forget the visual picture of a mare bolting out of the stable with the afterbirth dangling, or the sounds that a mare makes in labor. The scrupulous attention to detail when Ehrman describes the barns, equipment, and procedure,gives the reader a lesson in Breeding Farm 101. That realism extends to the behavior and motivations of the characters. A perfect balance.In Cold Burn, Ehrman has written a compelling book about a young man's honorable quest to find a missing person. In his investigation, Steve learns more about himself and about human nature in general.

Great book- realistic in the horse features, as well as in the human interactions, Steve Cline is a likeable character- because he is so human! The author obvioulsy has a strong backround in horses, as the details are accurate. In addition, she can write a great story! Its a fun, captivating read! Enjoy!

This was one of the best mystery books I have read! Kit Ehrman kept me flipping the pages of this outstanding book!!! Steve Cline has gotten himself into solving another mystery, basically he is putting his life @ risk!!! He better be careful or he could be caught in the line of fire!!!!

Steve Cline finds himself delivering foals at a thoroughbred breeding farm in this third entry from Kit Ehrman. He has been asked by Corey Claremont to find her brother Bruce, and Steve has been handed Bruce's old job at Stone Manor Farm. Lucky for him? Maybe.

Steve enjoys the work, although the hours are bit what he's used to. Foal watching happens mostly on the night shift, so he's putting in lots of time between 3 in the morning and noon. As usual, he's working with some different people. Maddie is the woman training him, and she makes it quite clear that she'd be willing to continue the lessons after working hours. This doesn't sit well with Paul, who things they are still together, although Maddie swears she broke it off with Paul months ago. Except she still sleeps with him on a fairly regular basis. So it's understandable that Paul doesn't really believe she doesn't "belong" to him. Was Bruce another one of Maddie's lovers?

Steve discovers that Bruce was dealing dope. This is not a side of her brother that Corey wants to hear about, although she does admit that Bruce had a problem with alcohol. Steve volunteers, sort of, to participate in a "controlled buy" with the local police. Did Bruce disappear as part of a drug deal gone bad? Or is he on the lam after his partner in crime died in a meth lab fire?

Then there are the arsons. Barns are being burned all around Stone Manor Farm. Deirdre Nash, the owner, has a special fear of fires because years ago her fiance died in a barn fire. Are the arsons connected to some of the odd comings and goings at the farm? Is Bruce missing because he connected some dots that he shouldn't have even known about?

Some say Ehrman is the new Dick Francis. I disagree, but not because of the quality of the writing. Ehrman can hold her own against Francis any day of the week. I do think that Steve Cline shares one basic characteristic with just about all of Francis's protagonists: they never do the easy thing. They want to know the truth, no matter what the personal cost may be. Cline's girlfriend Rachel has a hard time with this, but comes to terms with it by the end of COLD BURN.

Ehrman has written another entertaining, informative, engrossing mystery. How many more horse farms will hire Steve Cline? I don't know, but I certainly hope it's quite a few. I look forward to the next entry in the series.

Kit Ehrman's 'Cold Burn' is an engrossing story, well told and full of information about horses. The author's characters are well-drawn and the processes of maintaining horses is given entertainingly without being pedantic. I cared about Steve Cline and his lady-friends. I even cared about the welfare of the horses. With interesting plot twists, 'Cold Burn' was a book worth every minute I invested in it.