THE BLUE HORSE

A fight over wild horses may provide the motive for murder.

The wild horse roundup that Lincoln County, Nevada, Sheriff Porter Beck and his deputy, Tuffy Scruggs, watch is a contentious event pitting horse advocates against ranchers who want every blade of grass on public land to go to their cattle. The use of helicopters to chase the frantic horses into corrals leaves some of the animals injured or dead. The roundup is run by Jolene Manning’s Bureau of Land Management crew, whose rough methods are decried by CANTER, a horse rescue group run by Etta Clay. When the helicopter crashes, Beck and Tuffy discover that the pilot was shot out of the sky. Jolene blames Etta, but Beck is open to other theories. Beck’s dealing with his Pop, the former sheriff, whose dementia is worsening; Covid-19, which is just starting to ravage the area; and his upcoming move to work alongside his girlfriend, state Det. Charlie Blue Horse. Despite his private opinion, Beck doesn’t take sides on the horse roundups, but he has a feeling that the CANTER crowd didn’t kill the pilot, who was having an affair with Jolene. On top of that, Beck’s adopted sister, Brinley Cummings, rescued from a horrendous childhood by Pop, was volunteering with a group dealing with troubled youth and hasn’t returned from following a runaway. When Jolene is buried up to her neck and trampled by wild horses, tensions flare. The FBI suspect Robert Lewis Northrup Jr., who suffers from PTSD. Enter the bosses of a politically sensitive lithium mine whose land impact reports may be false. Beck and his crew have a wild ride tracking down the murderer.

Characters you immediately care for fight Covid and killers in exciting adventures touching on politically sensitive topics.