A galloping loose horse on a dark November dawn threatens trouble for Helen Murray's thriving livery business. An unknown hand has opened the door of a very special stable and the valuable star of the yard is running wild.

Who has tried to steal him? No time now to search for the culprit, for with half a dozen horses due to hunt that day, the stable staff are at full stretch. Clients pay high fees for their thrills and spills, and though hunting foxes is taboo, class warriors and saboteurs use dangerous methods to disrupt trail-hunts with hounds, and galloping full speed over unknown obstacles produces heart-stopping moments before the huntsman blows for Home.

A shortcut across forbidden territory leads to a painful loss for Helen, and worse follows as a brutal double murder rocks her world. Brutal ? and inexplicable. Is it a former client with a grudge? What is the role of the nearby Chinese cultural centre, and how do you protect a horse worth millions from a determined enemy?

When DCI Martin Robb responds to his eldest daughter's appeal for help, he discovers the murky truth beneath the surface of this horse-loving community. Though their shared passion unites the owners, those who buy with borrowed money are in trouble when payback time looms.

A colourful, characterful parade of horses and riders fills the pages of this action-packed thriller.

AUTHOR: After a career in magazines and journalism, D.P. Hart-Davis was fiction-buyer for the Mirror Group. She has had 18 novels published and was a columnist for the Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail, as well as for several country magazines. Death of a Dealer is the fourth in Hart-Davis' highly-acclaimed sporting thrillers, following the success of The Stalking Party, Death of a High Flyer and Death of a Selkie. Married to author and journalist Duff Hart-Davis, she lives on a small farm in Gloucestershire.