Why a Booktrail?
Yee ha! We’re off on a rodeo adventure with 11 year old detective Laura Marlin
Kentucky Thriller
What you need to know before your trail
Laura Marlin is not your average 11 year old that’s for sure. FIf you’ve followed her adventures up to now you’ll know she’s been cove hunting in Cornwall, kidnapped in the Caribbean and now she’s kicking things off in Kentucky. She’s one busy girl!
She’s smart too – for she loves reading and she’s a huge fan of a certain fictional detective which makes her want to be like him. When she rescues a horse she is told she must try and find out who owns it before she can keep it.
But that in itself is going to be an adventure for Laura. Starting in Newmarket, she is soon headed to Kentucky where things get a lot muckier than the murkiest stable.
Travel Guide
How do you get from Newmarket to Kentucky? Well both places are very much synonymous with horses and the horsing world so when Laura rescues a horse and wants to keep it, Newmarket is the place nearest to where they live, where the famous racecourse is located.
This is the place to track down what turns out to be a stolen racehorse. The world of racing is so vividly evoked you can practically smell the hay, the ‘ rural smell’ as your granny used to call it.
The Kentucky Derby
“As for the Kentucky Derby itself, it’s an unforgettable spectacle”
All is not lost however as the reward for finding the horse is a trip to the famous Derby in Kentucky. Think rodeos, horses and more horses. A great adventure which turns out to be a murky world of race fixing and more.
Noble Warrior and Goldie are the two horse featured in the story and theirs is a world of palatial surroundings and a tight racing regime. This is quite in contrast to the murky world of race fixing however and the two show two very different angles of the horse racing world.
Lexington is the heart of the horse racing world in the US they are told and this world is as fascinating as it seems. Laura tells Kit she realises why he loves racing so much as it’s for the adrenalin and the rush you feel when watching the power and grace of the horses.
And the unsung heros of the racing world? The exercise riders who do the work before the jockeys take all the glory. So many insights into a fascinating world.
However this world as Laura finds out is ‘A magnet for chancers, gamblers, criminals and dreamers. Luckily for eleven year old detectives too.
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information:
Twitter: @laurenstjohn
Web: laurenstjohn.com
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