A Horse To Die For

by Carolyn Banks

Who's beating a dead horse? Certainly not die-hard horse aficionado Robin Vaughan. She would never lay a hand on any four-legged creature, least of all the magnificent horse her friend Lola had just received as a Christmas gift. But Robin suspects that beautiful Noel isn't quite the horse he seems. For one thing, he killed his last owner. For another, he bears an uncanny resemblance to a horse called Wickie, who haunts Robin's past and whom she knows to be dead. In fact, she'd swear that Noel is Wickie. But can she prove it? She decides to try, and uncovers a scam so far-fetched it can hardly be believed and a villain too repellent to be real. But he's not only real, he's deadly dangerous, and Robin's on a breakneck ride with destiny toward confrontation, truth, and terminal terror...

Genres: Mystery, Adult Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Animals

129 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Her first national publication was her short story "Idyll," which appeared in Voyages , a literary magazine, in 1968, alongside the work of Anaïs Nin, Josephine Miles and Theodore Weiss. In 1972, the oft-reprinted "Growing Up Polish in Pittsburgh" appeared in American Mix (Lippincott). A version of this story appeared as "The Virgin of Polish Hill" in Plume's 1992 Catholic Girls. Her stories appeared in several issues of Yellow Silk.

Carolyn Banks is the author of a series of humorous equestrian mysteries: Death by Dressage, Groomed for Death, Murder Well Bred, Death on the Diagonal, and A Horse to Die For, all of which available from Amber Quill Press. In addition, Carolyn has written Mr. Right (a smart-ass parafeminist psycho-erotic thriller), The Darkroom, and Girls on the Row. She is also a journalist and videographer who recently wrote and directed "Invicta," a feature movie that is part horror story, part romantic comedy that is currently in post-production.

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jan 20, 3pm ~~ Review asap.

830pm ~~ The fifth book in this series, A Horse To Die For, defeated me. I simply could not forgive our Robin Vaughan her foolishness this time around. I paid attention until about halfway through, but after that, when she jumps on a plane to Los Angeles pretending to be someone else, and ridicules an obese woman after fussing during the previous four books about her own weight problems and then fell into her usual lying habits to try and find out what her nosy nose wanted to know....well, I just had to skim after that. It all rubbed me the wrong way today.

I had thought this one would be a return to more active involvement with the horses. It certainly seemed to start off that way. Robin's best friend and neighbor Lola was given a horse by her live-in partner. But the horse looked exactly like a horse Robin had known in the past. A horse that she knew was dead because it had died mysteriously while she had been horse-sitting for its owner. So how could this new horse of Lola's possibly be the same animal? What kind of hijinks would have had to happen if that were true?

Of course she had to prove her wild theories to herself, which is why she went to California. Six days before Christmas, without telling her husband (who was away at work in El Paso for the week) a single thing about her plans, as usual. In the other books I could kind of overlook my annoyance at this side of her character, but not this time. It all seemed a bit overdone this time.

This book was published in 1996 (which is why Robin could board a plane pretending to be someone else, right? Before 9/11 and all that) and as far as I can tell Banks has not written any additional books featuring this character. As much as she seemed to be reaching for ideas here, that is probably a good thing.

[Alton Motobu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Takes place in December but not a cozy Christmas mystery; this is more of a slapstick comedy like an 'I Love Lucy' episode with a Lucy-like character, Robin, who is 15-20 lbs. overweight and insecure about it. She cannot cook so makes a wreck of the kitchen when she tries to make tortillas; then she goes to LA on a whim because she suspects an unscrupulous veterinarian of faking the death of a show horse so he can resell it again and again. She loses her wallet at the airport so she steals credit cards from the vet; the cops chase her so she steals the horse of the grand marshal of a parade, and on and on. It is annoying and not very funny.

[Caryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot was interesting and more could have been done with it, avoiding much of the I Love Lucy slapstick segments with the main character. The horse aspects should have been developed more but what is in the book is at least accurate. The author's previous books were better, this one felt thrown together and I basically just skimmed it to see what happened.

[Marseydoats · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely LOVE this series! I read several of these when they first came out and loved them, and now almost 30 years later, I still do. Just sad that this is the last one.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another funny read with lots of fun horse stuff. :) This is the last book in the series of 5. I skipped #3, though, and will be going back to read that one. Loved this one, and adore the series.

[Sandy Weir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe my favorite of this group of Texas, horse mysteries! Delightful~ I wish she would wire some more!!

[Ricardo Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

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