Deadfall

by Lyndon Stacey

Lincoln Tremayne, heir to a viscountcy and manager of his father’s Dorset estate, has one burning ambition—to be selected to ride on the British Olympic Three-Day Eventing Team. But his dream is about to be put on hold. Arriving at the stables late one night, Lincoln walks into a crisis. Thieves have viciously attacked the stable owners' daughter, leaving her unconscious. As she lies in a coma, what appears to be freak chance sets Lincoln on the trail of the attackers. Disregarding the advice of the police and the increasingly unpleasant warnings from those involved, he juggles sleuthing with a demanding job and competitive riding career. But, as the violence escalates, it becomes chillingly clear that someone is trying to kill him for reasons of their own—and the race is on to find out who, before they succeed.

Genres: Mystery, Horses

416 pages, 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/