Reviewed By Liz

ISBN 0-425-21290-4

Saddled with Trouble is billed as the first book in a new Horse Lover’s Mystery series and our main character is Michaela Bancroft, who trains horses on her horse farm. Michaela has been having some personal issues with her soon-to-be-ex-husband and hasn’t been paying attention to some of the things going on around her. When her uncle is murdered on his nearby farm, she starts to investigate her friends and family and realizes just how much she has missed.

This is a very solid mystery. Scott has multiple plot lines, which are nicely introduced as Michaela talks to the possible suspects. Everyone has a motive and some issue that intertwines with the murder mystery. The fact that absolutely everyone has a motive makes you a little paranoid about your nearest and dearest, but we get through it. The settings in the book are not described in great detail but, unlike many themed books, the horse theme is well executed as the horses, their care, and training get decent coverage.

My one complaint about this book is the budding romance between Michaela and Detective Davis, who is investigating her uncle’s murder. Every time they meet in the book, Michaela is tremendously attracted to him and then works to control this feeling, which she feels is inappropriate under the circumstances. This is classic romance writing and seems a little too much in this book - at one point, we get a description of the detective’s luscious lips. I’m not against a little romance, but don’t hit me over the head with it in a mystery.

Favorite character? Michaela’s friend Camden, who always has the margaritas ready. Did I guess it? Uh… I actually was looking for the author’s biography (which I sometimes read before I read the book) and turned one too many pages and saw the solution. Don’t try to read the end stuff on this book first! But I don’t think I would have guessed it, anyway. Will I read another? Yes.

Mystery Book Reviews by Liz at http://reviewedbyliz.com ©2007

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