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“A suspicious fire that claims two of trainer Carlin Underwood’s fourteen horses opens the gate to a long list of felonies past and present. Even after rescuing most of her stock, her barn is a total loss, and she’s more certain than ever that someone’s got it in for her. When investigator Jared McKean asks who, she’s quick to answer: one of the Big Lick crowd whose practice of soring horses deliberately burning or disfiguring them to produce an artificially high-stepping gait she’s long fought. Jared probes the Big Lick crowd, and the pattern that emerges reveals a lot of people who’ve accused the Big Lick have died prematurely. After a tense prologue, Jaden Terrell’s fourth mystery settles into a relaxed rhythm that allows all the complications you’d want from a 40-year-old conspiracy without ever breaking a sweat.” –Kirkus Reviews
“Terrell offers an intriguing glimpse of an insular world.” Publishers Weekly
“Sorting out an insurance claim after a barn fire, McKean finds bones that were buried long before the blaze. The owners, Zane and Carlin Underwood, have been at the center of controversy for years. Carlin has called out several of her neighbors for the cruel techniques they use to train and show their Tennessee walking horses. McKean and his half-sister, Khanh, investigate the high-stakes world of horse breeding and find that in a world where looks and lineage are everything, not everything is as it appears. Another entertaining entry in a consistently solid series.” –Booklist
“Author Jaden Terrell has written about Jared McKean before, and one of the powerful strengths of this series is the way details of past mysteries weave so naturally into the present. Characters grow and change convincingly, but each story stands alone as an intriguing, well-wrought mystery with evocative setting and great characters. A Taste of Blood and Ashes allows these characters to build on what went before, but entices new readers equally. It’s a well-woven chapter in a saga of uncertain knowledge, intense relationships, and changing lives.
Jared’s unexpected side-kick becomes a wonderful character in her own right as this story progresses; and balancing relationships against danger and risk might prove as painful for these investigators as the training of a horse to a winning gait. There are ethical gaits and ethical questions hidden in this mystery, creating a vision of beauty and pain that leaves behind a taste of the truth in between.” –Sheila’s Reviews
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