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An escaped Walking Horse that has been treated brutally is found wandering in Cary McCutcheon's pasture. Cary is the highly principled owner of a successful equine insurance agency and horse farm. At first sight, Cary knows exactly what has been done to the horse: he has been sored. Soring is a crime punishable in both federal and state law. Horrified and angry, Cary knows he can't let this go. He must open his own investigation into the crime. He asks his best equine insurance investigator, Connie Holt, to find out who inflicted the colt's injuries so the culprits can be prosecuted and punished. Cary and Connie realize that they have no hard facts to start with except the condition of the colt Cary entrusts to the care of veterinarian Mary Evans and farrier Jacob Sanders. The worst problem in finding the truth is that soring is a hidden, dark crime that most people don't want to talk about; moreover, many refuse to give information they have about people in their own horse communities who sore horses. Some are frightened when soring people threaten them; some don't want to lose the business the sorers give them; and some even prefer to deny that such a shameful treatment of horses exists, calling it a cultural practice and therefore acceptable. Both know that they will be risking physical danger as they build their case. There is good reason to believe that whoever hurt the horse will not give up easily, not where money and prestige in Walking Horse circles are motives. And Cary and Connie will have to be ready for unexpected developments that must be fitted into the equation. Nevertheless, they are determined to save other horses from this evil. While Connie is working on the investigation, she must deal with complications that at first, seem to have nothing to do with the Walking Horse problem. Before the case started, Cary had hired a friend's son, Tim Lomax, as an assistant because the young man had PTSD and was fast sinking into disabling depression at home. When the horse is found, Tim has recovered some self-confidence. When Connie takes on the case, she asks that Tim, with whom she has been working, help her with it; he's been making a modest improvement and she feels he will benefit by learning how to investigate a case. But he is still fragile. Another complication. High school student Mark Kemp enters the scene and with him comes the serious issue of child abuse. He has critical information they need. But his life could be threatened if he tells what he knows. And Tony Stephens presents a problem. The man Connie loves was implicated in the first case Cary and Connie worked on. Cary despises him, for good reason. Now Tony becomes alarmed when he hears about the investigation, fearful that Connie is putting herself in danger and will be hurt. In that case, he decides, he will have to go to Virginia from Denver to be there for her. If he does, it will probably mean a confrontation with Cary, a risk Tony is prepared to take. Cross of Gold Road features a plot that moves swiftly toward its climax, with a cast of characters that includes both people readers know from the first two books and brand new people introduced in this third Connie Holt adventure. The mystery takes place in a small, intimate setting this time, Bedford County, Virginia, the home of Cary's business and farm, Connie's small cottage, and the local high school and hardware store. This little world of Virginia horse country is explored as Connie works to solve the mystery of the sored colt. On the one hand, Cross of Gold Road is an absorbing story readers of all types will enjoy. But there is a dark question behind the tale which those same readers will find all too familiar. How do good people proceed when a vile crime has been committed for which there is no possible motivation?
