Triple Cross - Hardcover

Ehrman, Kit

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1590583027 ISBN 13: 9781590583029

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Pr, 2007

Synopsis

Although 23-year-old barn manager Steve Cline doesn't expect to stray far from the horse world, he has enrolled in a private investigations course and is working on the final project. But when his father, racehorse trainer Chris Kessler, invites him to Louisville on a two-week, all-expense-paid vacation that will culminate with the running of the Kentucky Derby, how can he refuse? Except, it isn't really a vaction. Kessler has a Derby runner and needs a reliable fill-in when one of his employees is injured.

With only two horses to care for, the workload is light, and Steve decides to get that class project out of the way--a simple records search. But the very act of initiating the project triggers a chance encounter that plunges Steve into the world of the ultra rich. A world where greed and revenge and ambition drive some men to commit unspeakable acts amid the pageantry and glamour of thoroughbred racing.

In quick order, Steve finds himself the prime suspect in a murder investigation and the target of brutal thugs. From the relative security of the backside to the Derby festivities that transform downtown Louisville into Party Central to the opulence of a Lexington horse farm, Steve deals with his own personal demons and strained relationships as he attempts to stop a murderer before a power play culminates in shattered dreams and a bloody triple cross....

About this title

About the Author

Cold Burn is the third book in the Steve Cline mystery series, starting with At Risk and Dead Man's Touch.

Review

"Ehrman, Kit. Triple Cross. Poisoned Pen. Jan. 2007. c.336p. ISBN 1-59058-302-7 [ISBN 978-1-59058-302-9]. $24.95.This is the fourth book in Ehrman's (At Risk) Steve Cline series. Twenty-three-year-old Steve, supposedly on a two-week paid vacation in Louisville, KY, is actually working. His racehorse trainer father has asked him to muck out stalls and feed the horses he has entered in the Kentucky Derby. Steve soon discovers that managing the barn leaves him time to do

some homework for a private investigations course he is taking. Then the subject he picks to investigate turns up dead, and Steve becomes a suspect. At the same time, he is pursued by various people who do him bodily harm. Sound familiar? It is no coincidence that Ehrman's books resemble those of Dick Francis. Ehrman admits it was reading Francis's In the Fame that influenced her to switch from a lucrative government job to barn manager at a horse farm and writer of equine mysteries. Like Francis's protagonists, Ehrman's Steve Cline is tough, intelligent, loves horses, and is curious about people and their complex motivations. Highly recommended for all public libraries.-Patsy E. Gray, Huntsville P.L., AL" --Library Journal

"At the start of Ehrman's engaging fourth outing for barn manager Steve Cline (after 2005's Cold Burn), Steve visits Louisville for the Kentucky Derby, courtesy of his newly found biological father, trainer Chris Kessler, who yearns to have his talented son work full-time. But Steve, who lives in Maryland, is considering getting a PI license and uses the time in Louisville to complete a class assignment: find out all you can about someone. He chooses as his research subject Nicole Austin, a Churchill Downs employee he met only once. When Nicole's corpse turns up, Steve quickly becomes the primary suspect. While working to clear his name, Steve is invited into the rarefied world of wealthy racehorse owners by Rudi Sturgill, a cheerful playboy who may be the killer. Though Ehrman has yet to master the tightly focused plotting of jockey-turned-author Dick Francis, equine-minded readers will enjoy his capable, savvy young protagonist and authentic depiction of the gritty world of horse racing. (Jan.)" --Publishers Weekly

"Ehrman, Kit. Triple Cross. Jan. 2007. 336p. Poisoned Pen, $24.95 (1-59058-302-7).

When Steve Cline accepts his horse trainer father’s invitation to spend two weeks at Churchill Downs as one of two caregivers for Kentucky Derby contender Gallant Storm, he looks forward to an idyllic respite from his normal duties as a barn manager in Maryland. Cline wouldn’t be in his fourth crime mystery at the tender age of 23 if he weren’t a magnet for trouble, however, and within days of arriving in Louisville, he has befriended a young woman who soon turns up dead. Quickly, Cline has become the target of both the police and a couple of thugs bent on mayhem. His attempts to find out why the young woman was killed lead him deep into the exclusive world of Bluegrass bluebloods, where he becomes increasingly at risk as he gets closer to uncovering a shameful secret. There is plenty of action here, all set against the excitement and pageantry of the build-up to America’s greatest horse race. Neither race fans nor devotees of suspense will be disappointed." --Booklist

About this edition

• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Pr
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1590583027
• ISBN 13: 9781590583029
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 326