Death at the Horse Show

by Vernon Loder

In the midst of Corton Magna horse show, a man is struck down and killed by the hoofs of a horse. Why should a normally quiet animal suddenly have become a killer? Then a groom discovers a tiny wound in the horse’s hide, and when Inspector Chace is called in to investigate, he has a difficult question to answer—was the man’s death accidental or murder?

Originally published in 1935 in Collins’s celebrated “Crime Club” imprint, this is a classic British mystery from the ‘golden age’ of crime fiction.

296 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1935

About the author

Vernon Loder was a pseudonym for John Haslette Vahey, an Anglo-Irish writer who also wrote as Henrietta Clandon, John Haslette, Anthony Lang, John Mowbray, Walter Proudfoot and George Varney.

Vahey started his working life as an apprentice architect, then an accountant before finally turning to writing fiction full-time.

extra bio info from a book blurb

Reviews

[Tracey Ball · Rating 2 out of 5]

Excellent premise but tailed off

I’m a huge fan of Vernon Loder and this promised to be another corker. A thoroughly unpleasant cove gets his comeuppance courtesy of the rear hooves of a heavyweight hunter, but foul play is soon suspected.

Personally, I wasn’t sorry for his demise and had a good deal of sympathy for the myriad of people and animals he mistreated. However, blackmail and further deaths soon muddy the waters.

Spoiler alert:
Unfortunately, Loder once again reverts to lazy stereotyping in this novel and the guilty parties are no exception with the resolution leaving the middle and upper echelons of society free of taint. Far too swiftly resolved, with two rather rushed final chapters leaving the reader feeling rather short-changed.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

The solution to this mystery comes out of nowhere, in a rather abrupt ending which is more concerned with the second death than with that of the obnoxious heir to a fortune, the investigation of which takes up most of the book.

It is quite interesting and very easy to read, but, ultimately, rather disappointing. My feeling is that the author had a good idea but could not work it all out. There are some very loose ends.

[Alex McCall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stupid

All the information points to a crime but that is all disregarded in the last chapter.
What nonsense.
Don't bother.