Fire Horse — Bill Shoemaker

Straight from the Winners Circle, the greatest jockey of all time draws on his vast experiences on and off the track to spin this suspenseful mystery starring jockey-turned-sleuth Coley Killebrew. . . .
It all starts when Johnny Rousseau, Coley's partner in the Horses Neck Bar and Grill, finds himself saddled with a little problem named Paula Dresner. Gorgeous, rich, and spoiled rotten, Paula has Johnny twisted around her manicured little finger--but he's not too love-blind to see that she's gotten herself mixed up in some very suspicious business. Coley follows her trail, and it leads him to some peculiar racetrack photos, cut-rate hoodlums making secret nocturnal shipments of high-priced thoroughbreds
. . .and murder. As Coley begins to put the pieces together, things get hotter and hotter. It's a fire that may consume some of the finest horses in the country. And Coley, too. . .
"Shoemaker continues to show a broader streak of fun than Dick Francis, and a more pronounced taste for intrigue...tossing off plot twists like thrown horseshoes."
--Kirkus Reviews
"There's plenty of action and excitement in his story, and it's a wild ride."
--The Waterbury Republican