I was ready to purchase another book by Bev Pettersen and noticed Jockeys and Jewels on a special free read so I downloaded it.
Wow! Great story line, good dialogue, and well constructed characters. I could barely put it down once I started reading it.
I spent a few years in the Thoroughbred racing industry and like reading romantic suspense/mysteries with a horse theme and Jockeys and Jewels was right up my alley. The backstretch, barn, and racetrack scenes were well constructed and typical of racetrack characters. I was transported back to my racing days, everything described as I remembered.
Kurk, an undercover cop has taken a leave of absence from his job after his supervisor talked him out of resigning, is training top ranked Thoroughbred racehorses. His former partner, Connor, is murdered at a racetrack in Calgary and his supervisor talks Kurk into taking a couple of horses there and investigate the murder. The top suspects are an abusive horse trainer, Otto, and Julie an apprentice jockey who was the last known person to talk to Connor. Julie is struggling to get trainers to notice her and let her gallop her horses in the morning workouts in hopes that they will let her ride their horses in races.
It is important to note that it is really tough for a woman to get ahead in the racing industry. It is still very much a good old boy's club and the men on the track can be really brutal to the women and not many want to give a female jockey a chance.
Kurk has Julie gallop his horses in morning workouts and she especially gets along with his ADD stallion Lazer. The exercise rides I found a little unbelievable in parts. Julie weighs 107 pounds which is the same weight I was back when I was galloping. The horses that got out of control on her she was easily able to get back on track. Its just not that easy. I've had stallions decide they're going to take another lap and it takes a lot of effort to bring them back under control, not just soft words, pulling back on the reins, standing in the stirrups, or tapping them on the shoulder. These are hot horses bred for one thing only - to run fast. Its not easy for a woman that size.
Kurk and Julie move into a romantic relationship with ups and downs and getting the wrong message and Kurk struggling with whether or not to reveal that he is working undercover. The ending was flat and a little disappointing to me. I would have liked to know what direction it was taking to lead to a happily ever after for this couple or at least find out if it was a serial and the characters would come back in the next novel where we'd see their romance deepen.
Overall it was a well written book and I'm looking forward to reading more of Bev Pettersen's novels!
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From the Publisher
A three-book series from USA Today Bestselling Author Bev Pettersen
Romance collides with mystery at the track where horses aren't the only things to threaten your hearts...and your lives.
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