Once again I was taken back by the talent of this Sasscer Hill as an author! In this installment of the Nikki Latrell Mystery Series Nikki takes her horse racing adventures to Florida.

The Sea Horse Trade is a thoroughly enjoyable thoroughbred mystery with just the right amount of authenticity, emotion and mystique.ĭisclosure: I received a free ecopy of this novel when I invited the author to be a guest on my blog. Hints of romance and undercover danger entice the reader as clues and mysteries combine in a thrilling climax, and the story ends comfortably-good people and good horses getting on with their lives. She trusts her old friend Mello’s sight, and she soon learns to trusts this stranger too as a trail of horseraces, drugs, missing girls, underage vice and more begins to jell around common threads. And she cares about horses, even devilish ones, about dead girls, and about loyalty and commitment. And this “trouble magnet” is resourceful, on and off the track. Nikki Latrelle’s personable voice and comfortable narration invite the reader in, even when she’s visiting the “hokey” home of that stranger with curious sight. Quick spare descriptions bring racecourse and town to life with well-chosen details. And a curious stranger knows entirely too much. The friend’s long-lost daughter is missing. The intrepid Maryland jockey has horses arriving soon in Florida.

The dead girl has a sea horse tattooed on her arm. She lives in Aiken, SC, with her husband, a dog named Rosco and a cat named Lola.Ī racehorse who fits his demonic name, a dead body, buckets of horsefeed and buckets of blood, and I’m only 20 pages into Sasscer Hill's The Sea Horse Trade. Sasscer was a breeder, owner, and rider of race horses for over 30 years. A novel of deceit, murder, greed and hope,Ĭurrently, Sasscer is writing SHOOTING STAR, her fifth novel in the 'Nikki Latrelle' mystery series. Her newest title, TRAVEL'S OF QUINN' (out March 2010) is a mystery-thriller based on the con artists known as the Irish American Travellers. Her second book in her two-book 'Fia McKee' series, THE DARK SIDE OF TOWN, received a Booklist Starred Review and was an Editor's Pick in the Toronto Star. Tony Ryan Award for Best Book in Racing Literature (FLAMINGO ROAD.) They have also garnered a Carrie McCray Award and been nominated for Agatha, Macavity, and Claymore awards. Sasscer Hill's books have won the $10,000 Dr. I want to create a world that’s a bit scary, sometimes funny, always informative, and a reliable destination for escape. I've never wanted to write the “Great American novel.” I believe my job is to entertain with stories about chasing a dream, fighting the odds, and helping the helpless.

The Sea Horse Trade by Sasscer Hill