Fire Horse

by Bill Shoemaker

Book Overview

Bill Shoemaker, the greatest jockey of all time, made a smashing fiction debut with his first novel, Stalking Horse, starring jockey-turned-sleuth Coley Killebrew. Now Coley is back, and this time he's up against the toughest odds he's ever faced. It all starts when Johnny Rousseau, Coley's partner in the Horse's Neck Bar and Grill, finds himself saddled with a little problem named Paula Dresner. Gorgeous, rich, and spoiled rotten, Paula has Johnny...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0449905969
• ISBN13: 9780449905968
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 298 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

A different take on the genre created by Dick Frances

Bill Shoemaker was one of my heroes years ago. As a child growing up in Northern California and a lover of horses, I naturally followed the exploits of "The Shoe", arguably the best jockey of all time. Well, I can't yet claim that Shoemaker is the best mystery author, but he does a good job in his second novel, "Fire Horse". Corey Killebrew is a retired jockey who left the track after a suspicious loss in an important race. He's now a restauranteur in "Bay City", partnered with a love-struck Las Vegas casino owner who asks him, as a "favor", to keep an eye on his latest flame; the spoiled daughter of a despised (or beloved, depending on your politics) radio and TV pundit. This seemingly innnocent request draws Killebrew into a complex game of horse racing, blackmail, fraud and, of course, murder. The plotting is effective, although it stretches a bit thin in a few places. The charcters are interesting and generally well-drawn but at times stereotypical. The dialog needs work in a few places (in others, though, it crackles). But, Shoemaker's knowledge of racing and horses shines without being obtrusive or pedantic -- it makes "Fire Horse" believable and a real page-turner! I'm a big fan of Dick Frances; Bill Shoemaker isn't quite up to his level, but he's not too far away, either. If you enjoy a good action mystery (that favors the action side), you'll like "Fire Horse".