Night Mare

Miles #1

by Franci McMahon

Jane Scott seems luckier than most. Inherited money and her profession as a journalist have placed her in a milieu she deeply loves, the world of championship horses. Yet she has reached a dark crossroads, one all too familiar: another lesbian relationship is coming to its predictable end. And the television images of the headline-making death of her parents continue, all these years later, to haunt her.

Jane has been investigating a cruel scandal in her world, the theft and/or killing of prized horses for their insurance value. When she accompanies her best friend to evaluate an Arabian horse, Jane knows its price is too cheap--way too cheap. Suddenly, shockingly, she is embroiled in a devastating murder, for which she blames herself. A murder that hurls her into the orbit of a beautiful, wild-spirited mare named Night. A murder that will take her to Montana, and to the ranch of a singular woman who holds the power to penetrate every border of Jane's well-guarded, grieving self.

Genres: Mystery, Romance, LGBT, Lesbian

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2001

About the author

Franci McMahon mines her years of riding and breeding horses to write novels of suspense for even those unlucky enough to be born without the horse gene. Rounding out her life as a writer, she has a previous novel, many works in anthologies, stories for children and adults in national magazines, a poetry prize, and an enriching stay at Hedgebrook. Beyond horses, Franci's life is filled with classical music, cooking, knitting, reading complex novels with a story, dancing close to a warm woman, and sitting in silence, often at Quaker meeting. These are some of her deepest pleasures. She divides her time between Montana and Tucson, Arizona.

Reviews

[Cab · Rating 2 out of 5]

Night Mare by Fanci McMahon
This story revolves around a horse theft/insurance fraud ring and I was really looking forward to a new kind of criminal mystery and I was not familiar with this author. Now, I can say that I liked the book because it was "OK" and I managed to finish the story without feeling the need to abandon it. However, if I'm honest part of the reason I was able to finish the story was because I was hoping I was completely wrong about who the bad guys were and that there just HAD to be some plot twist because the "heroine" couldn't possibly be so blind. Yeah, no. Blind, blind, blind. Three Blind Mice Blind.
Beyond that, here's what I personally found troubling. Early on in the story there is mention of Jane Scott being a Quaker and it's pretty strongly implied that this is a key element of her character. Here's my problem. The author implies that this is important, or maybe I infer it. Either way, there really are no details provided as to
1) Why it's important or
2) What the heck a Quaker is except they are not to be confused with the Amish and
3) What does being a Quaker bring to the story?
Seriously, I haven't in clue, except it made me feel like I was missing some vital piece of information about Jane. So much so that I double checked to make sure that there wasn't a book prior to this one. There wasn't. Then there was the sort of romance thrown in between Jane and Miles. I was ok with that too, but then the end of the story left me both puzzled and unsatisfied. I felt like I was left hanging and not in the good way where I think "Oh God I hope there is another book so I can find out what's going to happen next." For me the characters were developed just enough so I could finish the book and go, ok that was nice but I don't have any desire to find out what happens next in any of the characters lives.

[Katarina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A horse book with a mystery, sounds good to me. I really liked the book description and for the most part I really enjoyed the book.

there were some parts where I thought the story moved a bit too fast, and I didn't love all the characters, but all in all a good book

[Elizabeth Tanner · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit disjointed at times. I liked that the main character did not fall in love with her best friend. I liked the Montana cowgirl. Just a bit choppy. Good story line.