Dead Horses [Hardcover]

Pat Hewitt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1998

Race tracks and breeding farms and the colorful characters they attract offers a rich setting for any mystery. And in this one Pat Hewitt provides a rare insider's look into contemporary horse racing and life on the far side of the track.

Anthony Whiting, trading in his career as a lawyer for the life of the harness racing circuit, has become the leading trainer at a prestigious California race meet -- with Jessica Phillips, a smart, beautiful veterinarian, at his side and a barn full of the West Coast's top horses under his hand.

But then, inexplicably, the horses begin dying. Tony convinces himself that the deaths, however bizarre, are accidental. He's soon forced to abandon that conclusion when an accident convinces him that his life is in peril unless he can solve the puzzle. Who is attempting to ruin him? And why?

From the jumble of often conflicting clues Tony develops a startling theory that implicates people deep within the inner circles of not only the state's large horse-breeding industry, but the harness-racing industry across the country as well.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

After one of his promising trotters dies "accidentally," thirtyish horse trainer Tony Whiting sends the corpse for an autopsy. When someone steals the body and a subsequent "accident" kills another horse, Tony begins looking for a horse saboteurAespecially since these and other incidents may entail suspension of his license. With input from girlfriend/veterinarian Jessica, Tony questions various unsavories, visits a suspect breeding farm, survives a murder attempt, and finally sets a trap for a killer. First-timer Hewitt provides plenty of behind-the-scenes details for equine fans; excellent fodder for the Stephen Dobyns/Dick Francis crowd.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Anthony Whiting is a talented young trainer of standardbred horses who is on the verge of big-time success in the ultracompetitive world of harness racing. Then his best young horses start turning up dead. What seems at first to be incredibly bad luck begins to look more and more like a plot to ruin the trainer's career, or worse. Whiting's investigations turn up a gateload of suspects, increasing his peril and our fun as we race to uncover the real culprit. Hewitt provides a short course in harness racing as well as a dandy mystery in a story as fast and frantic as a running of the Hambletonian. Dennis Dodge

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 243 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub; First edition (June 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786705086
• ISBN-13: 978-0786705085
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,442,349 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars One of only a handfull of harness racing books., January 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Dead Horses (Hardcover)

I was glad to see a harness racing novel published. Unfortunatly, it didn't take long for me to start to find faults in the book. It seemed to me that the author did know harness racing but not from a stable point of view. Real trainers don't have that much time on their hands to run around and solve mysteries. The most obvious problem was how Tony, a trainer for only five years, could manage to have five hundred wins with the number of horses he had. Not likely.All in all, I did like the book it just seemed too tidy to be realistic.

4.0 out of 5 stars A fine mystery in an interesting harness racing environment., June 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Dead Horses (Hardcover)

I just finished reading Dead Horses. What a lot of insider information on harness racing! I especially liked the racing scenes. When I was about 60 pages from the end, I put the book down because I didn't want it to end. I couldn't leave it alone, though. I kept trying to figure out WHY the horses were being killed. Nothing made sense--until the end. The book has a good plot and I'd recommend it to anyone. Horse people will especially enjoy it, of course.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent horse racing mystery written by an insider, June 15, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dead Horses (Hardcover)

I greatly enjoyed "Dead Horses", and was impressed by the quality of the writing, the inventiveness of the story line, and the author's life-long familiarity with the world of trotting race horses. My only regret is that I couldn't put the book down, and thus finished it too quickly! It left me wanting more...

You don't have to know about horses to enjoy this book. For those who do, the story has the ring of truth plus the thrill of a good mystery tale, reminding me not a little of the stories by racing mystery writer Dick Francis.

I hope that "Dead Horses" is the first of many stories published by Pat Hewitt.