Canter with a Killer (A Horse Rescue Mystery) by Amber Camp
About Canter with A Killer
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting - Arkansas
Crooked Lane Books (October 11, 2022)
Hardcover : 304 pages
ISBN-10 : 1639101802
ISBN-13 : 978-1639101801
Digital ASIN : B09S3G8PDD
Perfect for fans of Amanda Flower and Mollie Cox Bryan, Amber Camp’s debut novel will have you galloping through the pages, as a horse rescue owner races to find a killer and clear her name.
Mallory Martin left her marriage and her unfulfilling job to move back to her hometown of Hillspring, Arkansas, and start a horse rescue. It’s everything she’s been missing, with paddocks of happy horses and one very quirky donkey. But when her cantankerous neighbor and longtime critic, Albert Cunningham, is found murdered in his fancy show barn, Mallory becomes suspect number one. Since Sheriff Grady Sullivan is ignoring all good sense and focusing only on Mallory, she decides to take matters into her own hands.
Aided by her best friend Lanie and rescue volunteer Tanner, Mallory races headlong into the investigation in search of the real killer. But horses and murder aren’t the only thing on her mind when she meets Albert’s handsome son, Braydon. Sparks fly, and soon she’s got a new boyfriend. But there’s a case to be solved, and she redoubles her efforts to learn the truth.
The suspects mount quickly. There’s Albert’s girlfriend, Kathleen, who was on the farm when he was murdered; organic farmer Heather Rogers, who accused Albert of contaminating her creek; and Philip Atwood, who’d been trying for a right-of-way across Albert’s farm. None of the evidence is holding up though, and Mallory learns that she'll need to take the reins on this investigation if she's going to clear her own name.
About the Guest Post
I’ve loved cozy mysteries since I picked up my first Nancy Drew novel. I’ve always wanted to write a mystery, but I was afraid I couldn’t pull it off. When I lost my long-term job in 2020 due to COVID cutbacks, I decided to finally focus on the things I’d always wanted to do. Tackling a mystery was at the top of that list, and it was even pandemic friendly!
When I sat down to finally write a cozy mystery, I racked my brain for days (maybe weeks) about what my main character’s occupation would be. I know little to nothing about running a bakery or library work, which are favorites among cozies. I decided to throw caution to the wind and go with something a bit out of the box, but something near and dear to my heart. “Write what you know,” as they say.
I settled on horse rescue because I feel like it pairs really well with the cozy mystery genre. Working with abused and neglected horses is a little like being a detective. What works with one horse may not necessarily work with the next one. For instance, we have an ex-Amish cart horse who learned to trust us when we discovered she loves to be scratched. Learning that hands don’t always hurt was the breakthrough we needed with her. But that approach doesn’t work at all with our miniature rescue horse who doesn’t even remotely enjoy being scratched or groomed. While solving a murder is very different than scratching itchy horses, the process of finding clues requires an open mind and keen observation in each case.
I’ve been around rescue work my entire life. My mother did wildlife rehab and we frequently had raptors, orphans, and injured animals she was nursing back to health. When I was a teenager, she started taking in abused and neglected horses and I was introduced to a new aspect of rescue work. While most of the wild animals were orphaned or injured due to accidents, the horses that we took in had suffered at the hands of the people who should have protected and cared for them.
Mallory Martin, my main character in Canter with a Killer, grew up with a love of horses as well. She spent her days riding her gray horse, named Shadowfax after her love of Tolkien’s world, and dreaming about a life with horses. Mirroring my own experience, Mallory pursued a career in nursing and focused on the responsible path. After her marriage ends, and her daughter is off at college, she quits playing it safe and moves back home to focus on her passion instead.
When the book opens, we find Mallory nearly penniless having spent most of her savings and retirement on the rescue. Donations are down and she is trying to start a lesson program to generate some much-needed income. The truth is that many rescues operate on a shoestring budget, just hoping that donations will cover the cost of operation and any emergencies that might come along. In horse rescue, it can also be hard to budget for wild fluctuations in hay pricing due to droughts or extreme weather.
So, one of the decisions we must make as cozy mystery authors is how realistic do we portray the worlds we’ve created? Mallory’s horses have all come to her in varying degrees of need, and while I try to be as realistic as possible, I never want to lose the hope that drives all rescue workers. In reality, we lose animals. There are horses that are too far gone mentally or physically to save. The beauty of cozies, in particular, is that the animals have guaranteed plot armor. No matter how dire a case might seem, we don’t have to worry too much that the outcome will be positive. That’s just one of the many reasons I love cozy mysteries. There’s plenty of realism out here in reality. When I read, I want happy endings, dang it! And when I write, I get to imagine horse rescue in a perfect world, where funding comes through, and horses always find happy forever homes.
About Amber Camp
Amber has lived in Northwest Arkansas for twenty+ years, working as an RN at a rural hospital in the area. She has a menagerie of animals that includes dogs, cats, horses, chickens, and what has been described as the Mule from Hell, which may or may not be a slight exaggeration. Writing has always been a focus in Amber's life, something she describes as "food for my soul." An avid reader since grade school, she enjoys multiple genres and is always looking for new authors to add to her favorites. Amber is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America.
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