Mystery Horse at Oak Lane Stable


Book Description

2022 Silver Medal Finalist for the Midwest Book Award, 2018 Royal Dragonfly Book Award Winner - Honorable Mention for Newbie Author




Dark Horse at Oak Lane Stable


Book Description

2023 Eric Hoffer Nominee Award, 2022 First Place Purple Dragonfly Book Award Winner for Middle Grade Fiction




Ghost Horse at Oak Lane Stable


Book Description

Two horses. No choice. How do you move on?




A Good Horse


Book Description

When eighth grader Abby Lovitt looks out at those pure-gold rolling hills, she knows there’s no place she’d rather be than her family’s ranch—even with all the hard work of tending to nine horses. But some chores are no work at all, like grooming young Jack. At eight months, his rough foal coat has shed out, leaving a smooth, rich silk, like chocolate. As for Black George, such a good horse, it turns out he’s a natural jumper. When he and Abby clear four feet easy as pie, heads start to turn at the ring—buyers’ heads—and Abby knows Daddy won’t turn down a good offer. Then a letter arrives from a private investigator, and suddenly Abby stands to lose not one horse but two. The letter states that Jack’s mare may have been sold to the Lovitts as stolen goods. A mystery unfolds, more surprising than Abby could ever expect. Will she lose her beloved Jack to his rightful owners? Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley raises horses of her own, and her affection and expertise shine through in this inviting horse novel for young readers, set in 1960s California horse country and featuring characters from The Georges and the Jewels.




Gray Horse at Oak Lane Stable


Book Description

What will 13-year-old Cassie do when she unexpectedly finds a threatening note buried in her show trunk from an unknown informant, warning her that she'd better watch out or face serious consequences if she and her new hunter mare, Snowdrops, continue to win blue ribbons? Will she cave in or set her heart on achieving her goals to qualify for the fall Children's Equitation Championship despite the odds against her? Who left the note? Would somebody really hurt her or her horse? It couldn't be her best friend from 3rd grade, could it?On top of the horse-show drama, Cassie experiences her first dance and crush, along with the challenges she and her friends face as they move through eighth grade. She will also face the hardest decision of her young life - a decision she puts off as long as she can.




A Shadow of Hope


Book Description

When a young girl named Kale and her parents are called to the Oak Ridge Racing Stables, they have no idea that they were about to be involved in one of the greatest mysteries in the stable's history. Something is spooking the horses and making them too nervous to race, and staff members are resigning because of how the horses keep bolting and charging unexpectedly. The owner of the stables is worried that he might have to sell the horses and close down the stables, but Kale desperately wants to do something to help. Kale has always loved horses, but will that be enough to save the future of the stables or will the answer to the mystery lie in a gorgeous black stallion that seems to trust only one very special girl? Find out in this first book of the series A Shadow of Hope!







Little Black Book of Murder


Book Description

Society columnist Nora Blackbird is thrust into the world of celebrity tabloid gossip when a billionaire buys the farm…. Nora’s assigned to write a profile on billionaire fashion designer Swain Starr, who recently retired to build a high-tech organic farm with his new wife, Zephyr, a former supermodel. But before Nora can get the story, the mogul is murdered. And now her boss wants her to snap up an exclusive on who killed Starr before the cops do. But solving this murder won’t be easy with a family as colorful as Nora’s. Mick, her sort-of husband, is associating with unsavory characters from his past. Her sister Libby is transforming into a stage mom for her diabolical twins. And Emma, the youngest Blackbird, is mysteriously kicked out of the house by Mick. Nora’s home life may be hogging the spotlight, but there’s also a matter of Starr’s missing pig, which just might be the key to solving this mystery and the way Nora can bring home the bacon….




The Snow Child


Book Description

In this magical debut, a couple's lives are changed forever by the arrival of a little girl, wild and secretive, on their snowy doorstep. Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart -- he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone -- but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees. This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.




Murder at Morrington Hall


Book Description

Stella Kendrick is an all-American heiress who can’t be tamed. But when the lively aspiring equine trainer tangles with British aristocracy, she meets her match—and a murderer . . . Like the Thoroughbreds she rides across the Kentucky countryside, Stella takes adventure by the reins when she’s asked to attend a mysterious wedding in rural England. But once she arrives at the lush Morrington Hall estate, her cold, ambitious father reveals that he has arranged to give away his daughter as bride to the Earl of Atherly’s financially strapped son . . . Stella refuses to be sold off like a prized pony. Yet there’s something intriguing about her groom-to-be, the roguish Viscount “Lyndy” Lyndhurst. The unlikely pair could actually be on the right track with each other . . . until they find the vicar who was to marry them dead in the library. Now, Stella and Lyndy must put their marriage on hold to prevent an unbridled criminal from destroying their new life together right out of the gate . . . “Delightful . . . Eccentric, humorous characters add to the intrigue . . . Fans of historical cozies will be enchanted.” —Publishers Weekly “Well-drawn characters, a richly described historical setting with details of horse racing, and a tentative romance distinguish this agreeable cozy.” —Booklist