Big Apple — Richard S. Wheeler

Big Apple, a champion cutting horse, is assassinated on the eve of a major cutting horse competition. Rex Pattee, the owner, calls livestock detective Cletus Parr, wanting answers. Parr thinks maybe it is an insurance scam, and confronts Pattee. But it isn't, and soon Parr, an expert on horse racing scams, rustling, and rodeo fraud, finds himself hunting a calculating killer whose bullets find more champion horses, and might soon find their owners, too. Cletus Parr, who understands horses and their competitive owners, is baffled. He can't imagine why anyone would shoot champion horses, and the closer he gets to the truth, making powerful enemies along the way, the more danger he is in.