Customer Reviews

Lead a Horse to Murder (Reigning Cats & Dogs Mysteries, No. 3)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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

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

Great book to read. I learned more about horses than I ever knew.

Another winner by Cynthia Baxter! I learn something about the animals Jessica Popper treats and about the industry that is behind them in every book I read by Popper.

I never received this book from the seller and despite several e-mails was unable to elicit a response. I give up. They have a one star rating because I was unable to go any lower.