Introduction to Connie Holt, Continued

The Case of the Three Dead Horses starts during a November storm when the hilly roads in Central Virginia are covered with ice. At a breeding farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Connie Holt finds a prize stallion dead in his stall--and a dead man huddled in the corner. Connie suspects the horse was murdered but finds no evidence. Had the killer put the murder into motion only to be killed by his victim? Or was he himself a victim? Then two more horses die, and she must find the killer.

Tension and suspense mount as Connie moves closer to discovering the murderer's identity. Among the suspects are Rod Payson, a breeder whose wife's tragic death has plunged him into depression and financial ruin; Pres Carter, a vet who needs money to restore his ramshackle antebellum mansion; Tony Stephens, a mysterious northerner who presides over a fabulous estate but a touch-and-go horse venture; and Beau Taylor, a troubled stablehand. As she pursues the truth, Connie is helped by her boss, Cary McCutcheon, who shares her devotion to horses and their welfare.

But her investigation is complicated by her hopeless love for married vet, Jase Tyree, who cherishes their friendship but is consumed by problems with his faithless wife, and by Jake Wampler, a lustful state trooper who delights in harassing her on the road at night.

To Connie, the elements of the mystery are like "shards of colored glass with odd shapes." When at last she pieces them together, the completed mosaic reveals a horror she couldn't have foreseen.