Lead a Horse to Murder (Reigning Cats & Dogs Mysteries, No. 3) [Mass Market Paperback]

Cynthia Baxter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 31, 2005

When it comes to sleuthing, she's not horsing around...

When full-time vet and part-time sleuth Jessica Popper is asked to treat a billionaire's ailing horse, she gets a deadly glimpse into the lifestyles of the rich and felonious….

Murder gallops after Jessie when an emergency call sends the traveling vet to a posh Long Island estate with her one-eyed Dalmatian, Lou, and her tailless Westie, Max. A prized Arabian steed needs minor medical care–but it’s the rider who grabs Jess’s attention. The handsome young horseman exudes plenty of animal magnetism as he canters across the field…and then takes an inexplicable, fatal fall.

The dead man was one of the finest polo players in the world, but it was no accident that killed him. The culprit was poison. And as Jess soon discovers, a number of people had the means, motive, and opportunity for foul play, from the hostile barn manager to the businessman’s disgruntled wife. But Jess will have to temper her feline instinct with good old-fashioned horse sense if she’s going to stop a killer from leading a certain sleuth to her death.

“Five paws up for Cynthia Baxter’s Reigning Cats & Dogs series!”—Carolyn Hart

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An early morning call brings Jessica Popper, D.V.M., to Heatherfield, an exclusive Long Island estate, in Baxter's cleverly constructed mystery chock-full of dysfunctional characters all hiding motives for murder. While tending to the sprained tendon of one of Andrew MacKinnon's prized horses, Jessie admires a breathtakingly skilled and handsome polo player practicing off in the distance. But by the time she's helped the horse back to health, the polo player, Eduardo Garcia, has been poisoned to death. Jessie can't get the image of the talented Argentine horseman out of her mind, and despite her humble roots, manages to ingratiate herself into MacKinnon's world and gain entrée to Heatherfield's many polo soirees and events. In a series of unlikely, though amusing, social maneuvers, Jessie gets to know everyone from Callie, MacKinnon's overweight and surly daughter, to Inez, the observant Puerto Rican maid, in an effort to solve the crime. Baxter (Putting on the Dog) relies at times on clunky dialogue to plug in needed details about the intricacies of polo, but this isn't likely to stop readers—and particularly pet lovers—from savoring this delightful cozy.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Delightful .... [A] cleverly constructed mystery chock-full of dysfunctional characters all hiding motives for murder."--Publishers Weekly

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (May 31, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553586432
• ISBN-13: 978-0553586435
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #771,509 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Cynthia Baxter is a native of Long Island, New York. She is the author of the Reigning Cats & Dogs mystery series, featuring vet-turned-sleuth Jessie Popper, and the Murder Packs a Suitcase mystery series, featuring travel writer Mallory Marlowe. Baxter currently resides on the North Shore, where she is at work on her next mysteries in both series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very entertaining!, September 26, 2005

By 

Kathleen Hamilton (New Albany, IN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lead a Horse to Murder (Reigning Cats & Dogs Mysteries, No. 3) (Mass Market Paperback)

Being a dog lover, and ex-vet tech, I really enjoy the Reigning Cats & Dogs series and hope there will be more to come! The characters are entertaining and it's fun to try to figure out who the killer is - and this time it was a little surprising. Have fun reading this latest book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fabulous veterinarian amateur sleuth, May 31, 2005

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lead a Horse to Murder (Reigning Cats & Dogs Mysteries, No. 3) (Mass Market Paperback)

On Long Island's Gold Coast, veterinarian Dr. Jessica Popper goes to Heatherfield Estates to tend to an injured polo horse Braveheart. Though the barn manager, Johnny Ray is nasty, Jessica checks the leg and concludes the steed suffers from inflammation. Jessica explains this to owner Andrew Mac Mackinnon when they hear a scream. They look outside to see a rider on the ground near a horse. Everyone races outside to find polo star Eduardo Garcia from Argentina dead.

Though she goes about her business tending to ailing animals, Jessica has concerns over the death of one of the "Argies" as he was too good a horseman to fall like that especially since she saw how Eduardo and his horse seemed like one creature. She begins to make inquiries not realizing that a vet can get into deep trouble when they play sleuth.

Jessica is a terrific lead character and fans will appreciate the descriptions of her work with animals, for instance helping King the dog with bloat or getting her two canines to heel (this reviewer is envious as my two dogs get me to heel). However, on the other hand, readers will question her lack of horse sense by getting involved in the homicide though the aesthetic seamless perfection of steed and rider she witnessed before Eduardo fell motivates her. Still LEAD A HORSE TO MURDER is a fabulous veterinarian amateur sleuth tale that the sub-genre audience will immensely enjoy while seeking out Cynthia Baxter's delightful previous works (see PUTTING ON THE DOG and DEAD CANARIES CAN'T SING) as this is a pure gold mystery.

Harriet Klausner

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jessica Popper Returns for Another Round of 'Cat and Mouse', August 12, 2005

By 

Erika Sorocco (Southern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lead a Horse to Murder (Reigning Cats & Dogs Mysteries, No. 3) (Mass Market Paperback)

Dr. Jessica Popper, DVM, is out on a house call treating Andrew MacKinnon's ailing horse in a posh area of Long Island, when she becomes witness to the fall of Eduardo Garcia, a handsome young polo player, who seems to be one with the stallion he is riding, until he just keels over...dead. With a bare minimum of sleuthing, Jessie quickly learns that Eduardo was one of the finest polo players in the world, being offered million dollar contracts left and right, so it's no wonder that the police categorize his death as murder, instead of an accident. The culprit? Poison. Now, with the persistence of an ace reporter known as Forrester Sloan on her tail, and an inquisitive mind of her own, Jessica must dive head-first into the sea of rich New Yorker's, many of whom have motive, means, and opportunity for wanting the young star dead, to figure out just who was angry enough to do the evil deed, while protecting herself from becoming the next victim.

It's hard to find a book series that gets better with each release, but Cynthia Baxter has managed to pen just that. Jessica Popper and her crew of wild canines, crazy cats, talking birds, and a staring Jackson's chameleon, have returned with two new housemates - one of the four-legged variety, and one of the human persuasion. With a menagerie of suspects - any of whom could be the killer - as well as a marvelous array of facts about the history of polo, and Long Island's upper-class communities, LEAD A HORSE TO MURDER is given an extra dimension that will leave readers begging for more.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper