[Deadfall] [By: Stacey, Lyndon] [July, 2005]

by Lyndon Stacey

Lincoln Tremayne, heir to a viscountcy and manager of estate, has one burning ambition – to be selected to ride in the British Olympic three-day eventing team. But his dream is about to be put on hold. A vicious attack on the stable owner’s daughter marks the start of a chain of increasingly violent events and it soon becomes chillingly clear that someone is trying to kill him. Now, the race is on to find out who, before they succeed . . .

Genres: Mystery, Horses

Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Lyndon Stacey lives in a quiet village in the Blackmore Vale in Dorset, with three assorted dogs and a cat, and her books are set in the surrounding counties.

Although she started writing fiction as a very young child, she worked in many and varied jobs after leaving school, alongside which she gained a very good reputation as an animal portrait artist. Writing was always her first love, however, and when she hit on the winning combination of everyday (if tough) heroes and a rural background abounding with dogs and horses, her first publishing deal was not far behind.

Her many interests include reading (unsurprisingly!) horse riding, Canicross, animal psychology, gardening, music & dance, genealogy and motorcycling, but her overriding passion is for dogs, their training, and all kinds of dog sports.

Reviews

[Sandi Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. More in my next Good Reads blog at https://www.sandiwallace.com/blog/.

[Dlora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good action story about Linc Tremayne, manager of the family estate and heir to a viscountcy, who bucks his father by owning and riding horses in show-jumping. His father's antipathy comes from the death of Linc's mother when she was show-jumping years ago. The father and son relationship is strained and neither one is very good at reconciliation. The horse connection was well done and I learned about competitive dressage and three-day eventing, which is quite different from horse racing. However, the novel doesn't spend enough time on horses for my liking. It throws in some dog racing too but the story mostly revolves around death threats escalating to actual attempts as Linc tries to resolve the attack on a young 15-year-old girl during the theft of the saddlery and tack equipment in a stable where Linc boards his horse, Noddy, even though there are stables on his own estate--see his dad's adamant insistence there are to be no horses on their property.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good read

Good pacing, likeable characters and hints to keep you guessing without giving the mystery away. The horsy element added interest.

[Helle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mystery, set in the world of horse eventing, will pique my interest any time, but of course it is even better when it is also executed well. Deadfall definitely is. The characters are a marvel to read about because of their diversity, their little pet peeves and interesting interrelations. The mystery is clever and develops really well. The detailed descriptions of eventing are instructive without getting boring. Two minuses though: the ending is somewhat predictable, and reducing a 100 pages would have improved the pace.

[Mary]

Entertaining, well-written. Characters are not necessarily who you think they are. Thoroughly enjoyable and I look forward to reading more of Mr. Stacey's books.

[Margareth8537 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a good Dick Francis trype thriller

[Christine Meunier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like Dick Francis? Check out Stacey. More at http://equus-blog.com/deadfall/