The Silent Hoof: A Charlie Chan Mystery
A favored racehorse is sabotaged at the Melbourne Cup. Before the truth can be exposed, veterinary surgeon Dr. Felix Mercer is murdered.
Charlie Chan soon discovers that Mercer had uncovered something far larger than one suspicious incident. Across Australia and the United States, favored horses have weakened, been scratched, or collapsed after confidential information reached bettors before the public knew anything was wrong.
The evidence points in several directions at once.
A false time of death. A planted blue rosette. A missing veterinary file. Altered shipping records. Hidden financial accounts. A mysterious designation-47-B-that appears wherever horses, paperwork, and money seem to change direction.
The trail eventually leads from Melbourne to Kentucky, where the death of Silver Lark raises an even more disturbing question: was the horse merely meant to lose, or did someone deliberately return to finish what had begun?
With Jimmy Chan's photographs preserving details others overlook and Birmingham Brown uncovering the practical secret behind the "silent hoof," Charlie separates the people who sold information from those who moved horses, altered records, administered drugs, and committed murder.
Nearly everyone has something to hide.
But not everyone is hiding the same crime.
As the investigation closes around a respected figure within the racing world, Charlie must distinguish coincidence from design and motive from proof before the final pieces disappear.
The Silent Hoof is a substantially rebuilt 2026 Collector's Continuity Edition of the original 2023 mystery, expanded into a full-length Charlie Chan investigation in the tradition of the classic screen adventures: international settings, physical clues, multiple suspects, red herrings, ensemble detective work, humor at the edge of danger, and a final reconstruction in which the decisive evidence has been visible all along.
For readers who enjoy traditional detective fiction, historical mysteries, vintage Hollywood-style mysteries, horse-racing intrigue, and clue-driven whodunits.
Customer Reviews
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
