Rumors fly in Maryland’s horse country when Squire Dan, a leading contender for the Hunt Club Trophy, inexplicably goes lame in his stall. Did Jack Fielding’s stingy ways cause Dan’s illness? Or is it, as Jack insists, a case of sabotage masterminded by his old rival, Harry Montgomery. Everyone knows Harry covets the trophy. But would he stoop so low as to hobble the competition?
Tempers flare when Jack and Harry meet at the annual Hunt Club Ball. Rather than bury the hatchet, one of them buries a steak knife in the other man’s chest. The police have an open-and-shut case—until Dr. Ben Benjamin takes a look at the evidence. As veterinarian to some of the most pampered horses in Maryland, Ben examines the crime from a different angle. The good doctor’s equine expertise soon proves the undoing of a very clever killer.