Pretty Fraudulent And Venomous: Two Short Stories: The Janet Simpson Mysteries

By Sasscer Hill

PRETTY FRAUDULENT

Recently widowed and wealthy, middle-aged Janet Simpson decides to buy a race horse – something her husband never allowed. When Janet and her money are targeted by a handsome con man, she must learn to follow her own instincts instead of the advice of men. Can she protect herself, her gullible friend Kate, and a racehorse marked for death?


VENOMOUS

A horse breaks down in a race, a trainer is murdered, and Janet Simpson stumbles on a clue that pulls her into the underbelly of the racing world. Can she outwit a cobra, unearth a murderer and still protect a young Latina groom?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wild Spirit Press
• Release date: May 24, 2017
• ISBN: 9781540175403

Sasscer Hill

Sasscer Hill, who was involved in horse racing as an amateur jockey and racehorse breeder for most of her life, sets her suspense and mystery novels against a background of horse racing, and the people and horses in the industry who dig deep into their hearts to find the courage and will to win against all odds. Her novels have won a Carrie McCray award and nominations for Agatha, Macavity, Claymore, and The Dr. Tony Ryan Best in Racing Literature awards.  

Book preview

Available together for the first time, PRETTY FRAUDULENT and VENEMOUS previously appeared in separate editions of Chesapeake Crimes anthologies.

REVIEWS FOR SASSCER HILL MYSTERIES

If you miss the late Dick Francis’s racetrack thrillers, you’ll be intrigued by Sasscer Hill’s Racing From Death – The Washington Post, August 29, 2012

Sasscer Hill brings us another exciting racehorse mystery  . . . the real asset of this excellent series is the hard-riding, hard-partying Nikki herself. Spirited to a fault, she doesn't suffer fools gladly . . . an utterly unique take on racetrack thrillers. - Betty Webb, Mystery Scene Magazine, Summer Issue, 2012

"New novel about a Laurel Park jockey is a wild ride.

While compared to Dick Francis and Sue Grafton, Hill's work reflects her respect for horse racing and the influence of the late Walter Farley. A page-turner, the book's sentences are short and crisp. The action comes off as authentic." - Sandra McKee, Baltimore Sun, April, 2012

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Sasscer Hill has hit her stride with her second, and hopefully one of many more, race track mysteries, 'Racing from Death'. A page turner that does not disappoint. - Martha Barbone, Horse of the Delaware Valley, April, 2012

PRETTY

FRAUDULENT

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At 3:00 A.M., heat lightening splintered the dark skies over Maryland’s Laurel Park Racetrack. Inside his stall, Sunny Days paced, apprehensive, receptive to a realm unknown by humans.

A man gripping a short, heavy pipe entered the barn. Horses raised their heads, nostrils flaring at the stranger moving along the stable’s dirt aisle. The intruder shoved his way through a stall gate, pausing to study his victim.

The racehorse snorted. His eyes rimmed white, legs scuttling in a backward dance as he retreated to a corner. The man tightened his grasp on the metal pipe and lunged at Sunny Days.

I entered the Jockey Club at Laurel Park, journeying back to a world grown distant since Ed’s death. I’d pushed through the web of grief that morning, fixing myself up for the first time since my husband’s funeral almost seven months earlier.

Ahead, my friend Kate Perkins lounged at a table, a martini glass at her lips. A man, partially hidden by a vase of blood-red roses, sat nearby. As I moved past a table of bettors poring over the Daily Racing Form and skirted a crowd studying simulcast monitors, I felt the low hum of gamblers’ tension.

A waitress hurried past with a tray. The almost forgotten scents of beer and whiskey, mingling with sliced citrus trailed behind her. I closed my eyes a moment. How Ed and I had loved our before dinner drink. Keep going, Janet.

"Janet Simpson, meet Greg England. He knows everything about horses." Kate sounded excited, as if she’d just won a prize. Her head, with its tight perm and pink designer glasses, bobbed in bird-like animation.

The man behind the roses came into focus. Immediately, I understood Kate’s enthusiasm. So attractive. Young, maybe thirty-five. Blond, wide-set blue eyes, laugh lines around a full mouth. Something stirred in me, and for a moment the weight gained during the years with Ed bothered me a little. My fingers brushed the knit collar of my gray silk suit, a flattering piece. Why had I worn such