Book 74, 2021

[chez_jae]

Reining in Murder by Leigh Hearon

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I brought my "work" book home this weekend to finish it. The book was Reining in Murder by Leigh Hearon, and it's the first in the "Carson Stables" mystery series. Story is in third person point of view from the perspective of the main character, Annie Carson.

Annie owns and trains horses, and she also works with a horse rescue group. For that reason, she's called out of bed on a blustery night to take charge of a horse from the scene of an accident. A man was delivering the horse to one of Annie's neighbors, wealthy Hilda Colbert, when he lost control and was killed. Later, when Annie attempts to deliver the horse to its rightful owner, she finds Hilda's dead body. Now there are two deaths associated with this horse, and Annie can't help but be curious. She also can't help but be annoyed when her flighty half-sister, Lavender, pays her a surprise visit. The two of them have nothing in common, and having Lavender underfoot simply aggravates Annie. Hilda's estranged husband, Marcus, becomes a person of interest in Hilda's murder, but after meeting him, Annie's gut tells her he's no killer. When the sheriff refuses to listen to her, Annie finds herself trying to suss out hints and clues as to who the real murderer is. Once Marcus disappears, the sheriff thinks it means he's guilty, while Annie hopes it doesn't mean he's as dead as his wife. Will she be able to solve this case before she ends up the next victim?

Hm. I enjoyed the aspect of Annie being a down to earth horsewoman, and I really enjoyed all the narrative that included the horses, both the good and the bad. Adding Lavender to the mix seems like something completely unnecessary to the story. Lavender had nothing of any worth to contribute; the subplot was a waste of time, in my opinion. I also didn't like that stoic, practical Annie fell so hard and fast for Marcus. Good grief, woman. Get yourself a battery-operated toy instead of mooning about over a man who is at best newly widowed and at worst, a cold-blooded killer. My respect for Annie as a character fell several points because of this. As for the story, it was okay. It didn't focus on Annie's sleuthing, which I appreciated. I did like how people opened up to her more than they would to the police, and that she had a knack for thinking of people to question that the police didn't. The ending seemed somewhat rushed and abrupt, and I wasn't surprised by the identity of the killer.

Favorite line: At the moment, she was following Trotter around like a moonstruck teenager, yet another equine with flawless breeding who had fallen head-over-hooves in love with a donkey.

I don't believe I'll seek out any others in this series. It was an okay read, but why waste my time reading just okay? Three stars.