Eleven-year-old ace detective Laura Marlin finds herself deep in the murky world of race-fixing, trickery and horse thieves in her third mystery adventure, from award-winning author Lauren St John.

Laura Marlin's two greatest loves in life are detective novels and animals, so she is ecstatic when her uncle agrees to let her keep a horse after they rescue it, crazed with fear, from an overturned horsebox. But he has a condition. Before he will allow her to adopt it they have to find its former owner, just to ensure that it hasn't been stolen. A visit to Newmarket to investigate the thoroughbred's origins leads Laura to the Kentucky Derby in the US and deep into the murky world of race-fixing.

Eleven-year-old ace detective Laura Marlin finds herself deep in the murky world of race-fixing, trickery and horse thieves in her third mystery adventure, following the BLUE PETER AWARD-winning first book DEAD MAN'S COVE.

About the Author
Lauren St John grew up surrounded by horses, cats, dogs and a pet giraffe on a farm and game reserve in Zimbabwe, the inspiration for her bestselling White Giraffe and One Dollar Horse series, as well as her YA horse novel, The Glory. Dead Man's Cove, the first in her Laura Marlin Mystery series, won the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award. Before becoming a children's author, she worked as a journalist for The Sunday Times, writing about sports, music and spies. Along with her veterinary nursing training, it served as perfect research for her Kat Wolfe mystery series and The Snow Angel, a standalone MG novel. A passionate conservationist, Lauren is an Ambassador for the Born Free Foundation, a patron for horse sanctuary, Mane Chance, and the founder of Authors4Oceans. When not rescuing leopards and dolphins, she is a full-time valet to her rescued, and not in the least demanding, Bengal cat, Max. To find out more, visit her website at www.laurenstjohn.com

Reviews
... a well told story full of excitement and adventure. There is plenty of information about farms and racing to please animal lovers, and a plot which is sufficiently realistic for readers to dream of solving similar mysteries themselves. Fans new and old of Laura Marlin will thoroughly enjoy it, and will be keeping their fingers crossed that Laura will soon be back to beat the bad guys and solve further crimes. * THE BOOK BAG *
Lauren St John delivers a fast-moving plot filled with doubles and doppelgangers in this exhilerating read. As always, Laura Marlin makes for a redoubtable heroine who can teach the professionals a thing or two about mystery solving. * BOOKTRUST *
The thrills of the Kentucky Derby are at the heart of this exciting new Laura Marlin Mystery. When Laura saves the life of a stolen race horse, the reward for her and her best friend Tariq is a once in a life time trip to say on a farm in the US. But all is not as it should be on the farm and soon Laura is at the heart of a thrilling new mystery which is takes all her tenacity to resolve.11-year-old ace detective Laura Marlin finds herself deep in the murky world of race-fixing in her third mystery adventure, following the Blue Peter award-winning first book DEAD MAN'S COVE. -- Julia Eccleshare * LOVEREADING4KIDS *



Book Information
ISBN 9781444006476
Author Lauren St John
Format Paperback
Page Count 192
Imprint Orion Children's Books
Publisher Hachette Children's Group
Weight(grams) 172g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 15mm