[Gail McCarthy Mystery 11] • Going, Gone · A Gail McCarthy Mystery

Horse vet Gail McCarthy's life turns stranger than fiction when her old boyfriend, Lonny Peterson, is arrested for murder-by none other than Gail's childhood friend, Bret Boncantini, now a sheriff's deputy in a Sierra foothills town. Lonny is accused of the murder of two local livestock auctioneers, one his girlfriend and the other her brother. Both Gail and Bret are sure of Lonny's innocence, and decide to investigate. As they begin to turn up evidence and two more murders occur, the trail leads to Gail's home on the Central California coast. And as Gail closes in on the answer, the ruthless murderer may decide she needs to be eliminated, too. Going, Gone features all the elements that Laura Crum is known for: fine writing about beautiful landscapes and authentic horse lore, as well as an exciting mystery.

From Publishers WeeklyFormer vet Gail McCarthy, now a stay-at-home wife and mom, encounters trouble while she and her husband and their six-year-old son are vacationing in California's Sierra Nevada foothills in Crum's less than suspenseful 11th equine puzzler (after 2008's Chasing Cans). Soon after Gail and her family arrive at their friend Lonny Peterson's ranch, Martindale County deputy sheriff Bret Boncantini, a childhood friend of Gail's, arrests their host for the shooting murders of Lonny's girlfriend, Lorene Richardson, and Lorene's brother, Cole, who together ran the local livestock auction. Though Lonny's fingerprints are all over the murder weapon, Gail's positive he's innocent and sets out to prove it. Crum's easygoing approach to crime solving sometimes defies believability, but her solid knowledge of horses and the ranching life will appeal to horse-loving mystery fans who aren't expecting a plot worthy of Dick Francis. (Apr.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review"If you haven't discovered Laura Crum yet, please jump at any chance to catch up on the series. The Gail McCarthy books are among my very favorite contemporary mysteries and Crum is, for my money, the successor to mystery giant Dick Francis."-- Ron Miller, author of Mystery! A Celebration